One rafting site I viewed said the water is 45 degrees, even in summer. Not sure it would be much cooler than that in March!
River levels might be up, depending on spring rains. The dam doesn’t start releasing water until May.
Why is the park so popular? Is it just a matter of proximity?
I’m blown away that it’s roughly twice as popular as Yosemite.
proximity.
That and it is a very nice vista-which attracts a lot of people. But mostly-proximity.
Air temps next week in the Cherokee area are going to be mid-30’ for lows and high-50’s to low 60’s for highs. Might be a bit nippy for rafting! You would want to arrange to rent wet suits, for sure, and not all outfitters offer them.
Enjoy the park, during the week (as opposed to the weekends). Hiking is outstanding in the Great Smoky Mountains. Do NOT venture into Cades Cove on a busy weekend as it’s a loop. You can get stuck in a traffic jam for hours.
Skip Cherokee.
Avoid Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge unless you want to venture down to dinner. Sometimes the traffic jams last for hours.
Asheville is a great side trek.
How was the trip?
My wife and I have a family event in Knoxville/ Oak Ridge the weekend of 6/11. We are planning on spending a few days vacationing on the front end of that trip.
I’m currently thinking of a night in Asheville and then two nights at a lodge of some kind in the park to keep the driving to a minimum.
I was there a few months ago and even then the parkway thru Pigeon Forge was terrible. I do know how to avoid it on the way to Oak Ridge!
Any tips on lodging??
Thanks for reminding me. We had a great trip. We rented a house on Lake Junaluska, which isn’t as close to the park as a couple other places mentioned above but is generally a good location and a really nice serene setting. It’s only a few minutes to Waynesville which has a lot of good restaurants for a small town. The first day we were there it was cold, and in the 20s up at Newfound Gap. There was snow up there as well as thick ice fog–fog that was freezing onto the trees. After that day it got a lot warmer and we went on three other hikes in the park, including to Alum Cave. However, the water levels were really low which detracted from some of the stream and lake views. We thought about renting a boat but apparently none of the boat rental places were open that early in the season. We rented mountain bikes in Bryson City and did a lot of biking in Tsali Recreation Area.
If you’re not camping, lodging in the park is limited–this is on their web site:
CookingWithGas:
I gots t’know–did you eat at Joey’s Pancake House?
We may have driven past it but we didn’t eat there. We rented a house and were eating breakfast in every day. I’ll make sure we make a stop next time we go down there!
Glad you enjoyed your trip! I discovered that same info on the lack of lodges so we decided to change things up. We’re going to spend 2 1/2 days in Asheville (AirBnB in the Montford District) and see a bit of the Smoky’s as we drive to Oak Ridge.
Since we have relatives in Oak Ridge we’ll stick to day trips on subsequent visits.
Now I’m off to get some Doper advice on Asheville…