Smoky Mountain Camp Stew Recipe
Smoky Mountain Southern Camp Stew is a delicious dish any time of year! photo credit : Susan Vickery
Five Great Smoky Mountain Fishing Spots
Cast your line in the Smoky Mountains for the catch of a lifetime!
Five Great Smoky Mountain Fishing Spots. Smoky Mountain Fishing is one of the most popular activities in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Smokies have over two thousand miles of streams and rivers within the park boundary. If you are ready for the challenge, fishing opportunities abound in the Smokies.
Anglers from around the globe visit the park to test their skills in our pristine waters. If you are a novice or a seasoned pro you will be hollerin’ “Fish On” before you know it. Folks often ask HeySmokies, “What kind of fish do you have in the Smoky Mountains?” The five most common game fish in the Smokies are Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Rock Bass, and Smallmouth Bass. Each of these beauties are a thrill to catch. The HeySmokies fly rod squad agrees that the most beautiful fish we ever caught is the one on the end of our line right now!
The HeySmokies fly rod squad has trekked across the Smokies from end to end over the years and we know where the fish tend to be biting. For those who are unfamiliar with the park here are a few fishing destinations you will want to explore. If you are after Smallmouth bass and Rock bass a couple of good places to begin would be the Big Pigeon River on eastern edge of the park. The Pigeon is easily accessed in Hartford, TN via Interstate 40. The Waterville road I – 40 exit, five miles south of Hartford near Big Creek, is another spot with easy access. If you are after trout you can’t go wrong in Big Greenbrier five miles east of Gatlinburg. Porters Creek and the middle prong of the Little Pigeon river are popular spots in “Big G.” If you plan to visit the North Carolina side of Smokies make plans to cast a line in Cataloochee near Maggie Valley or Deep Creek near Bryson City. Both places offer solitude and a sense of immersion in the mountains.
Brook Trout is the only species of trout native to the Smoky Mountains. This fish is known as “spec” or “speckled trout” by Smoky Mountain natives and is one of the most elusive and difficult to catch. Many anglers are not aware that spec is not a true trout but a “char.” The historic range of char stretches from Canada to north Georgia. “Brookies” in the Smokies usually have a life span of less than three years and rarely grow larger than 8 – 9 inches.
Brown Trout are the largest game fish species in the national park. Primarily found in the
Deciding which stream to fish may be the most difficult thing about angling in the Smokies!
lower elevation streams, they thrive in slow moving water with good cover and lot’s of hiding spots. “Brownies” were brought to the the United States from Europe and compete with other species in the Smokies. They are long lived and it is not uncommon for them to survive up to twelve years. The majority caught in the Smokies are six to twelve inches in length and have been known to become thirty inches long weighing eleven pounds. Can you imagine the feeling of reeling in one of those bad boys?
Rainbow Trout are the most common game fish in the Smokies and are highly prized by anglers. Rainbows are found in almost every stream in the national park and are recognized by their familiar pink-toned stripe on their side. Like Brownies, Rainbows are not native to the Smokies, they were introduced from stock in the Northwestern United States. They were released into our mountain streams by logging companies in the early 1900’s. Most Rainbows reeled in by anglers are six to ten inches in length with an average age of three to five years. It is extremely rare to find rainbow trout over twelve inches in length.
Smallmouth bass and rock bass inhabit the lowest elevation streams and rivers in the Smokies on the borders of the park. They prefer cool deeper pools and shaded areas near the banks of the river. These species are native to the Great Lakes region and the Mississippi river. Smallmouth bass are the largest of the two and are usually six to fourteen inches in length. Their lifespan is five to seven years and a five pounder is considered a trophy fish. Rockbass are smaller in size ranging from four to eight inches in length but occasionally reach up to ten inches. Their typical life span is six to eight years.
Bonus angler tip: Did you know only one fishing license is required to fish Great Smoky Mountains National Park? With roughly half the park in North Carolina and the other in Tennessee a valid license from either state gives you total access to over 500,000 square miles of fishing heaven. As if you needed another reason to come fish with us!
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Increases Frontcountry Camping Fees
Sunset at the Cosby campground entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Increases Frontcountry Camping Fees. The increase for frontcounty campgrounds and picnic pavilions became effective March 1, 2018. Over the past year, officials reviewed public comments, operating costs, and projected budget levels to determine the rate of the increase from a range of 10% to 25%.
Park officials report the rate increase is necessary to meet the rising operational costs, reduce a growing backlog of maintenance on park facilities, and begin much needed improvements. Park officials are also working to improve the efficiency of campground management by adding three campgrounds to the national reservation system through Recreation.gov.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash
“Park visitors have long enjoyed camping and picnicking across the park in spectacular settings that offer space for relaxation and renewal,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “Maintaining and servicing these facilities in the mountains presents a unique set of challenges and, with increasing costs, these fee increases are necessary to ensure the continual care and operation of these special places.”
The park operates nine open campgrounds, seven group campgrounds, six picnic pavilions, and five horse campgrounds. The current fees have not been increased since 2006 or earlier at any facility aside from Cataloochee Campground which had an increase in camping fees in 2011 when it was added to the reservation system. The park is also adding Abrams Creek, Balsam Mountain and Big Creek campgrounds to the National Recreation Reservation System to improve operational efficiency. Beginning in early March of 2018, all sites will require advanced reservation and payment prior to arrival in the park through Recreation.gov either online or by phone. By placing these three geographically remote campgrounds on the reservation system, the park can reduce campground operation costs by eliminating the need for staff time for the collection of fees. The reservation system also provides a more efficient process for visitors to secure an overnight stay without traveling to the remote locations to check for vacancies.
By law, the park retains 100 percent of the camping and pavilion fees. The fees are used primarily to operate these facilities. This includes maintaining buildings, grounds, and utilities, providing visitor services, and funding rehabilitation projects, such as road resurfacing and replacing picnic tables and grills. Some revenues are also used to maintain park infrastructure and other special projects beyond these sites. Over the years, the park has had to compensate for rising costs from inflation by reducing visitor services, delaying maintenance repairs and improvements, and, at many sites, shortening the length of the season when facilities are open, having a particularly adverse impact on visitors during the shoulder seasons.
The park completed a 2016 comparability study with campgrounds in the surrounding communities and the study revealed that, while camping fees in the park have remained mostly constant since 2006, campgrounds in the surrounding communities have continued to rise. Even with the fee increase, park campgrounds will remain among the least expensive in the area.
For more information about campground facilities in the park, please visit the park website at NPS.gov.
Smoky Mountain Fathers Day Fun Activities!
Happy Fathers Day Smoky Mountain Style! Photo credit Chedzcakes.
Smoky Mountain Fathers Day Fun Activities! Ten ways to celebrate Father’s Day in The Great Smoky Mountains Sunday, June 18, 2017. The Great Smoky Mountains offer a myriad of ways to celebrate Dad’s special day. Whether your Dad prefers, hiking, biking, fishing, great food or a cold brewski, the forests, towns and valleys located around the park have lots to offer.
1: Begin with breakfast by enjoying a stack of golden pancakes at the Log Cabin Pancake House up the hill on Airport Road after turning at red light # 8 in Gatlinburg ( readily identified by the covered wagon on the roof.) The restaurant opens at 7 a.m. and features a full breakfast. Parking is available in a lot just behind the building which is handicapped accessible. Not up for a large meal? Mosey on down the cobblestone alley in The Village (located at traffic light #6) downtown Gatlinburg and enter the Donut Friar’s, which offers an amazing variety of delicious donuts and pastries. The Friar also features great coffee, including espressos and cappuccinos. Cake donuts are available beginning at 5 a.m. and you can park on the street until 9 a.m. After 9, the staff recommends turning at traffic light #6 to access one of the city parking lots.
2: Pack a basket with delectable food and head to one of the many beautiful picnic facilities in the great Smoky Mountain National Park (My Dad’s personal favorite was the Chimney’s located a few miles south of Gatlinburg on Newfound Gap Road.) Most are located near flowing rivers, and feature tables and grills to make preparing that special treat for Dad an easy task. Don’t want to cook? Many local restaurants and sandwich shops like Old Dad’s General Store on the strip in Gatlinburg offer take-outs with all the fixings. All you need is a cooler, a bag of ice and a big jug of iced tea. Don’t forget to take folding chairs (all the better to sit in while dipping your toes in that cold mountain stream) and a couple of blankets for an afternoon nap.
3: Angling for the best present? A gift certificate from Smoky Mountain Angler provides beginning and advanced fly-fishing
Fathers Day Catch of the Day!
lessons. You can also book a professional guide which will allow Dad to test his fishing skills at some of the more remote areas in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. If Dad wants to test his luck solo, plan a trip to the Oconaluftee River, one of the best stocked trout streams in North Carolina, located on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in Cherokee, N.C.. Required tribal permits cost $10 per day and are available online or at the welcome center or fly-fishing shop. Anglers may keep up to 10 fish per day UNLESS you are fly-fishing on a 2.2 mile stretch on Big Cove Road which is catch and release only.
4: Has Dad’s outdoor gear had it? Check out some of the innovative new gear at GSM Outfitters. Camping has come a long way since the days of the clunky folding camp stove. Space-age technology has introduced lightweight and efficient ways to enjoy the outdoors. Most gear (tents, stoves, etc.) are compact enough to make backpacking a pleasure. Hiking boots are waterproof and the addition of Gore-Tex and other materials makes for warmer toes on winter hikes. Clothing has also undergone a transformation. T-shirts and shorts are designed to wick away moisture and will quickly dry after a dip (unexpected or otherwise) in a mountain stream.
5: Hike your way to big fun on Father’s Day in the park with a
There are over 800 miles of hiking trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park!
leisurely stroll down one of the many nature paths like Fighting Creek trail at Sugarlands Visitors Center or something a little more strenuous. Your intrepid dad will enjoy a hike two miles up to Alum Cave Bluffs. This hike has it all with amazing views, a climb through arch rock, rushing streams, and a diverse forest. If you have the energy you can continue on to the summit of Mount LeConte for the best view in the Smokies!
6: Plan an overnight camping trip to one of the dozens of campgrounds located in the Great Smoky Mountains. Whether Dad prefers “glamping” in a luxiourous motor home, or less glamorous pop-ups and tents, or opts to really rough it in the backcountry, Park campgrounds offer an opportunity to reconnect with nature. Some of the more popular sites include Elkmont, Smokemont and Cosby. It is not too late to catch a late night firefly show or watch for shooting stars in the dark summer skies as you are lulled to sleep by the soothing (and sometimes a bit startling) sounds of Mother Nature.
7: Maybe dad is not the sharpest knife in the drawer but at Smoky Mountain Knife Works on highway 66 in Sevierville he does not have to be. The knife works offers the worlds finest selection of blades you can imagine. Don’t forget to check out the kitchen gadgets in the basement. You won’t be disappointed!
8: Looking for an adult beverage option for Dad? Check out the Smoky Mountain Brewery and restaurant located on the Parkway in Pigeon Forge ( the brewery also has sites in Knoxville and Gatlinburg) and enjoy one of the six locally crafted beers on tap. The facility is open from 11 a.m.-midnight and features live local music nearly every night. Or, cheer Dad at the Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery which specializes in dozens of flavors and proofs of corn liquor in downtown Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Live music in an outdoor setting is featured regularly. Check out the HeySmokies events calendar to find the dates and times!
9: Dining options abound in and around the Smokies. The iconic Smoky Mountain Trout House is a long-time favorite and a great place to chow down on delicious mountain Rainbow Trout. Another visitor favorite is the Cherokee Grill and Steakhouse. The Boursin Filet is to die for! For a more down-home meal, check out the Bush Beans Café located about 15 miles east of Sevierville, just across Highway 411 from the massive Bush Bean manufacturing plant. We enjoyed the fried catfish, fried okra and a heaping bowl of greens. While there check out the country store that offers a variety of Bush products and the museum that provides a history of the Bush family and the manufacturing process. The cafe is open from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; the store from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and the museum from 10 a.m -4 p.m.
10: If all else fails and you need one more idea for a Smoky Mountain Fathers Day gift just give ol’ Dad a great big HeySmokies bear hug. They are free, feel great, and never get old. It may be the best gift ever invented!
Let Dad know you love him! Photo credit Mabelhood.
Winter Hiking in the Smoky Mountains | What You Need To Know and Where To Go!
The best thing about the Smokies is that every season of the year offers its own joys! Get out today, hike one of the park’s beautiful trails and get a taste of winter’s glory in East Tennessee or Western North Carolina. From frozen waterfalls to forests laced with light snow, everyone from beginners to experienced hikers will find winter hiking in the Smoky Mountains delightful! What’s more, local outfitters can get you the base gear you need to enjoy a day in the heart of Great Smoky Mountain National Park. A few of them share with us what you need to know and where to go for winter hiking fun in the Smoky Mountains!
When the leaves are gone a whole new Smokies reveals itself!
Michael Shepperd of GSM Outfitters in Wears Valley enjoys hiking in winter for a number of reasons. “Oftentimes I like to hike the most popular trails in winter, mid-week, to have a quiet, peaceful hike that would otherwise be very crowded and congested. I hiked on a Wednesday in the beginning of December to Abrams Falls (in Cades Cove). Besides myself and my wife, we saw no one. I took long-shot photos of the falls without one person being in the frame. Hikes like Abrams or Ramsey Cascades are great to go to in the winter if you enjoy owning the falls. For photography, oftentimes these experiences are priceless!”
Shepperd, whose store offers hikers just about everything they need to stay comfortable on a chilly day, including base layers of clothing, great winter coats, hats, gloves, boots, Microspikes (to keep feet from slipping on icy trails), trekking poles and more, has plenty of other reasons for hitting the trails of the Great Smoky Mountains after the weather turns cold.
“Hikes like Bote Mountain, Rich Mountain, or any ridgeline hike are great in the winter. With dramatically reduced foliage, the views on these hikes are even more spectacular only during late fall, winter and early spring. Winter is also a great time to do waterfall hikes. Water tables are up, normally thirsty plants are not taxing ground water, and with most of the leaves gone there are vantages that are not available in the summer. Hikes like Mt. LeConte and Charlie’s Bunion will oftentimes render views of frosted peaks, dense clouds and land contours that are normally hidden under blankets of green,” Shepperd says. For more info, give GSM Outfitters a call at 865-366-2608.
John Northrup of the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Gatlinburg, says that if the area has recently been hit with decent snowfall or ice affecting roads, visitors still have options. “Odds are if the roads are icy or snow-covered, access to the heart of the park via US 441 will be prohibited until they are deemed safe for vehicular traffic. If that’s the case, one will be limited to the roads and trails that can be reached around the park’s perimeter. Depending on how low the snowline is, parking at the entrances to Cherokee Orchard or Greenbrier can afford visitors opportunities to walk the gravel roads or trails with comfort and ease. It doesn’t take long to achieve that sense of solitude in the woods and still be so close to Gatlinburg,” he says. For the more experienced hiker, there are even more exciting options under these conditions. “Take the drive east from Gatlinburg to I-40 and enter the park at Big Creek (exit 451). Park by the ranger station and walk the gravel road toward the campground or ascend any of the trails emanating from the ranger station that ascend Mounts Cammerer or Sterling. The views of snow-covered mountains on a clear day from either summit’s observation tower are breathtaking,” Northrup advises. For more info, call NOC in Gatlinburg at 865-277-8209.
Steve Ellis, owner and chief guide at Hike the Smokys, a company offering guided hikes in the GSMNP, doesn’t let a little cold weather keep him from hitting the trails. In an email interview with HeySmokies, Ellis says “for me, the ‘best’ winter trails are the trails that foliage has restricted my ability to see historic structures, artifacts and views during the warm weather months. These trails are often in the lower altitudes, where you have easier access, and where communities once existed, such as Greenbrier, Old Settler’s Trail, Porter’s Creek, and the Old Sugarlands Trail, where the CCC Camp and the Old Stone House remain. I also like Baskins Creek (you’ll need to hike in from Cherokee Orchard Loop Road as the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is closed from November 28 – March 24) and the Elkmont area, which is also a great place to find hidden and not-so-hidden ruins.”
Ellis, like Shepperd and Northrup, also enjoys grabbing some altitude on a cold day in the Smokies. “The higher altitudes are fun to explore, and see even greater views than in the warmer seasons, due to the incredibly clear visibility on clear days. I really enjoy a day hike on the Appalachian Trail heading east from Newfound Gap Park area to ‘The Jumpoff,’ located on the Boulevard Trail, and Charlie’s Bunion, further east on the Appalachian Trail,” he says.
