Tenting still permitted at shelters in Smokies, due to COVID. Next question is, are there decent tent sites? Heard from another hiker that the areas around the shelters are not good for tenting - no flat spots, etc. Any truth to that?
Tenting still permitted at shelters in Smokies, due to COVID. Next question is, are there decent tent sites? Heard from another hiker that the areas around the shelters are not good for tenting - no flat spots, etc. Any truth to that?
I don't know but if the area has that kind of problem I usually pull out the hammock. Heck. who needs the shelter I can stop anywhere.
Tri-corner knob, didn’t see good tent spots. Russell Field plenty. Gatlinburg, no tenting.
I got to Russell Field shelter fairly early NOBO, and there were already six tents staked out, way before the shelter was full. Later that evening there must have been ten tents staked within 50 ft of the shelter which by then was full. This was in mid April. A lot of people prefer tenting, for obvious reasons.
In general AT thru hikers have found spots to tent (legally) at all AT shelter sites. Some easier than others. Also scout out for poop before you set up camp, some shelters have poop fields instead of privies and people don't always stay in the places they should.
Best Tri-Corner tent spots are near the horse hitch rail at the top of the knob.
Swung through Spence Field Thursday April 21st and by 4PM the shelter seemed to be fully occupied and I counted 26 tents in the surrounding area. Most I've personally seen there over the years.
It varies by location. Most limited at Siler's Bald, Double Springs, Peck's, and Tricorner. Mollies has some decent sites and Derrick has great sites.
Be aware that Russell Field is already closed due to bear activity.
Report was that hikers left Russell Field Shelter to go look at a bear while bear #2 stole their food
Not necessarily wrong. I think his point is that you can hang a hammock where there are trees, so pretty much anywhere. So, yeah, he can't just stop anywhere in GSMNP to camp in the hammock. But at the places he can, he's allowed to hang within reasonable vicinity to the shelter (nearest trees).
"I wonder if anyone else has an ear so tuned and sharpened as I have, to detect the music, not of the spheres, but of earth, subtleties of major and minor chord that the wind strikes upon the tree branches. Have you ever heard the earth breathe... ?"
- Kate Chopin
And now Cosby Knob closed due to bears. Got a text this morning from NPS and confirmed with call, reservation at Cosby Knob cancelled.
I was at tri knob 3 days ago- lots of hammock options and very little flat ground.3A289256-F7B2-4C52-9724-EC900CB197C1.jpg
Tri corner…
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A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White