Hello smoky mountain friends

I was hoping you could give me some advice about a roundtrip in the smokys.


We are 5 friends from Belgium that are going on a trip to the states over a month.
After a weekend in Vegas we’ll be taking a flight to Atlanta were we’ll be picking up our rental car at 6 am. From there we’ll go straight to Gatlinburg to drop off 1 friend who won’t be hiking with us (he’s disabled). This will be on Monday September 26th.

So 4 of us will be driving the car to somewhere in the smoky mountains from where we’ll be hiking.
I expect us to start our hike around noon, we’ll be taking tents with us for 1 night in the park. This will be backcountry camping so we’ll have to reserve a place in advance.

Now I’d like to get some advice on what route we can best take and which campsite we would have to book.

We’re not experienced hikers but in our early 30’s, so quite fit.

Really want to see some viewpoints, animals and if possible swim under a waterfall.
Preferably we’d take another route back so we don’t pass the same sights, maybe we can take a shuttle?


Thanks already!