Campgrounds near Gatlinburg w/ electric?

I think there is a federal park in Cosby. Its in the Smoky mountian national park. I think (not sure) that would be close. Hope this helps.

 

None of the campgrounds in the GSM national park have electric. Also they don't have showers only bathrooms, but a few years ago we stayed at Elkmont in the middle of July. I can not sleep if I am HOT it was so cool at night that we had to use a heavy sleeping bag. Solar showers worked well for us.

 

If you want to be certain of being cool, choose a high elevation campground. Balsam Mountain is the park's highest at over a mile high, but it's on the North Carolina side. Look Rock and Cosby are the highest on the Tennessee side, and each is about a half hour out of Gatlinburg.

I'd much rather be IN the park than in the surrounding towns myself. In fact, as a Tennessean, we avoid Gatlinburg and especially Pigeon Forgery any chance we can. The park campgrounds are very nice. Maybe since you won't need AC, you can get by without electricity.

 

We stayed at Smokey Bear campground back in April it a nice campground well maint they are out side of Gatlinburg here is there web-www.smokybearcampground.com 1-800-850-8372 ad here is there email-smokybearcamp@comcast.com.

 

There are exceptions but in general national parks don't have hook-up sites.

 

Google campsites in Townsend, TN. They are about 20 miles away from Gatlinburg on a lot quieter side of the Smokies.....still a lot to do wihtout the crowd. Tremont campground and Little River KOA are both well maintained. As mentioned before, none of the National Parks in the Smokies have electricity.

 

I am staying in Cades Cove at the end of May and have converted all my bulbs to leds so I dont drain the battery. Im looking foward to no electric or water hook up myself. With a 20 gallon holding tank and a propane hot water heater and outside shower I really dont need hook ups. Staying in the park at higher elevations like said will be cooler and no need to have the ac. You can run fans from your bunkend lights and be ok I would say. Just my yet again.

 

Freddy, looking forward to see how much differecne the LED's bulb make. You can take a cold shower at Cades Cove....LOL The trip should be a blast!

 

You're set, and will have a great time. One piece of advice: you'll want to bring a Rubbermaid tub to stand in with that outside shower, as the park will require you to dump that water in the dump station or a utility sink, and not on the ground.

 

Could not say it better myself! Lol.. we live in Knoxville.. we have camped at Elkmont last year for the firefly show.. it was in June and was quite cool at night.. very comfy even in our tent.

 

Here we are at Cades Cove. No hookups. No problem. Dont let that stop you. This is what our pups are made for.

 

Hello, we are here in Pigeon Forge now at the Foothills Campground. On June 4th and 5th we stayed at Mt. Pisgah NC. We had a great time. The Flame Azalea's, Purple Rhododendron and Mountain Laurel is in full bloom there. The campsites surround you with blooms and the high temps in the 70s.. But this is not near Gatlinburg.

About were I am now. We checked the reviews for the best RV camping in the smokies and found that the Foothills campground had many great reviews. Foothills campground is the last campground as you leave Pigeon Forge going into Gatlinburg. It's just a short 10-20 minute drive according to traffic to Gatlinburg.

If your looking for all the comforts of home plus some then this is the campground for you. This is a small campground with around maybe 40 sites. They have Wifi, Internet, Pool, AC/heated bathrooms, hot showers with music playing in the bathhouse. This is a small campground that is up on a hill just a short work to a local trolley and located above the Rivers Edge Campground a much larger RV type of campground for the big rigs.

Foothills is really not so good for the large class A or bus type campers. I would say something smaller like a popup to a 5th wheel camper. They also have these lovely little cabins you can rent at a great price. I would suggest those up the hill which are brand new. These would be good if you have friends or family that can not fit in your camper and you can still hang out together.

I have a popup and I will admit the spots are pretty tight. A guy besides me built a fire and about smoked us out. I believe he realized this and put it out. Since the spots are pretty close I would not recommend the sites to someone who had to build a fire. I am located by the pool in the corner at it is real nice but we do not have anyone beside us which is great. Our spoiled kids get a little of what they want for a few days and off to Cades Cove to a more real camping experance. We expect the heat to be much worse and for me is the worse part but its early June so not so bad in the eveing. We spent the day yesterday hiking to Clingmans Dome, visited the Elkmont Campground to look at a site we have reservered for Oct 2011 and played at the Chimneys picnic area and watched the fire fly show at Sugarlands visitor center a long day.

 

I'm booked for a week in August at Gatlinberg Aventure Bound Campgrounds.
http://www.abgatlinburg.com/index.php

This came as a referral from a coworker that has a pup and generally likes the less touristy CG's. With it being August, we did want someplace with at least a pool but this place has all kinds of neat stuff that has the whole family excited. I will do a trip review once we return.

Besides the pool it has a 500' waterslide, trout pond, many sites with creek running just behind it, internet, laundry and gives us a 15-20 minute trip to Gatlinburg if we get some rain days or are getting overpowered by the heat/humidity and want to find something indoors to do.

 

Good topic, we have been planning to go back to the GSMNP with our pop-up. After searching a little, I found a private campground called upthecreek RV park, 7 miles from the park entrance. looks really nice. Anyone stayed there?

 

We are leaving today for Up the Creek campground, so I will know soon! It has no bathroom facilities, you have to have your own. It is full hook-up, so that helps. I hope it is as nice as the website says. Let you guys know in a week.

 

Awesome! We came really close to booking one of the outdoor kitchen sites, but I was unable to get the time off of work. Hope you guys have a great time! Looking forward to your review of the campground.

 

Just got back from Up the Creek RV Camp ( http://www.upthecreekrvcamp.com/ ) in Pigeon Forge TN. It was wonderful! This was probably the most beautiful campground I have ever been in. Yes, it is geared more for TT, 5ers and motorhomes as there are NO FACILITIES, bathroom or shower. Every site is huge and over half back up to a creek. Each site is full hookup, including cable. The campground has wi-fi, but from our site, it was hit and miss. We were at the back at site #9. The website truly give an accurate description. The owners were extremely nice. They said that if we needed anything like firewood and they were not there, just take what we needed and let them know later! The honor system! It is very small and does not have a playground or anything. There was a dog area, a fenced area that you could let your dog loose if you wanted. There didn't seem to be people out and about like we usually encounter at state parks, but that could be because of the weather. It rained (stormed) every evening we were there. I didn't even get to grill outside! (shameful, I know!) I thought the price was pretty fair, $36 per night. The campground is just outside of Pigeon Forge, away from the traffic. It would probably take about 7 minutes to get to the main road and maybe 20 min. to Gatlinburg, according to the traffic. We will definitely be going back!
There are pics of our site on my Flickr account. http://www.flickr.com/photos/38023143@N02/5867116189/#in/photostream/

 

We're planning on camping in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge during the kids' fall break in October. Last year we went to Cherokee and stayed at Yogi in the Smokies and had a great time. DW wants to take them to Dollywood for a day during this trip, though. I figured we'd try to stay a little closer to the park. I understand there is a Jellystone near Gatlinburg but it looks like it might be one of those "pack 'em and stack 'em" campgrounds. Anybody been to this one or have more ideas for a kid-friendly CG in the vicinity of Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge?

Thanks!