Elkmont Campground

Elkmont Campground is one of several campgrounds within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  I chose to stay here because it seems fairly well located as a base camp for undertaking a variety of adventures in the park, and it happily has a few trailheads on location as well.  You’ll find a ranger station, a very small camp store that only sells a handful of items such as ice (there are bigger and better stores at other campgrounds in the park), campground bathrooms featuring flush toilets and running water, but no showers (See my info about how to shower here).  Something you won’t see mentioned elsewhere is that the bathrooms have utility sinks.  I was completely concerned about how I’d be able to wash dishes before my trip, but this was a wonderful thing to find on site.  This campground has some great spots for both tent campers and RV campers and lots of scenery including the Little River flowing through it.  I’m now rather fond of the place.

There are very strict bear rules in place wherein you will have to sign a form agreeing to be fined if you leave food and other scented items out unattended or in your tent.  In spite of this being a large campground with lots of human activity, creatures are none the less highly active.  I had a coyote try to sneak through my camp, turkeys seem to walk around in the day without fear, and on a little hill just behind my campsite a bear tried to discretely escape my notice in the afternoon.

A few trailheads exist in this area, including the Little River Trail, Jakes Creek Trail, and the Elkmont Nature Trail.  While I did not have time to do everything this trip, I’d like to note that somewhere down the Little River Trail is Husky Branch Falls.  I’ll get back there some day and check it out.  But I did do the Elkmont Nature Trail (see trail picture below) which is a pleasant walk that goes right through where the bear was behind my campsite.  I also hopped on Jakes Creek Trail and made it to Jakes Creek Falls.  The picture below does not do it justice, but it was worth the hike and let me figure out where the Cucumber Gap Trail connects that I intend to explore in the future.  Seems to be a lot of historical stuff up Jakes Creek Trail as well, featuring a lot of chimneys standing where full structures must have once been.

From Elkmont Campground you can strategically get to a lot of other Great Smoky Mountains National Park destinations.  Laurel Falls is very nearby heading eastbound on the main road, followed by the super popular Sugarlands Visitor Center (includes Cataract Falls) and of course from there you can easily pop into the hellish crowded tourist area known as Gatlinburg, TN.