After talking to a park official last week, it seems the Smokies have reverted back to their pre-Covid regulations on shelter camping. Over the past three years, we’ve had the option to legally tent/hammock in the areas surrounding shelters in the Smokies. Being a hammock camper, this was a game changer for me and I found myself camping more and more at shelter sites than I did before.
The park has finally reverted back to their original rules according to a park official I talked to last week, and after going on the backcountry permit site it seems that they did indeed remove the message that said something like ‘to allow social distancing, staying in the area around the shelters is permitted’
Sad news. Wish we could petition to allow it again.. honestly I didn’t really notice firsthand much resource/environmental damage but they probably realized everyone was camping outside and hardly anyone was using the actual shelters. Curious what others think on this topic.
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