![]() Traffic is heavy during the tourist season in summer and fall and on weekends year-round. Allow at least two to four hours to tour Cades Cove, longer if you walk some of the area’s trails. Pick up the self-guiding tour booklet available at the entrance to the loop road for information about the buildings you’ll see in the cove and the people who lived here.Īn 11-mile, one-way loop road circles the cove, offering motorists the opportunity to sightsee at a leisurely pace. Scattered along the loop road are three churches, a working grist mill, barns, log houses, and many other faithfully restored eighteenth and nineteenth century structures. Longer hikes to Thunderhead Mountain and Rocky Top (made famous by the popular song) also begin in the cove.Ĭades Cove offers the widest variety of historic buildings of any area in the national park. Numerous trails originate in the cove, including the five-mile roundtrip trail to Abrams Falls and the short Cades Cove Nature Trail. Large numbers of white-tailed deer are frequently seen, and sightings of black bear, coyote, ground hog, turkey, raccoon, skunk, and other animals are also possible. It offers some of the best opportunities for wildlife viewing in the park. “ Cades Cove is a broad, verdant valley surrounded by mountains and is one of the most popular destinations in the Great Smokies. The National Park Service website writes: If you’ve seen some paintings of Gatlinburg’s historical buildings at the Arts and Crafts Community or on postcards to send to friends and family, chances are they’re the historical buildings and wildlife you can find at Cades Cove. You could spend half a day or longer in Cades Cove alone as it’s an 11-mile loop that includes ALL of the motor nature trail stuff you came to see. The first of these motor nature trails that we can recommend is the also-famous Cades Cove Loop, which also doubles as a historical tour of those who settled in the valley. The obvious solution for being able to see the wondrous forests, flora and fauna of the Smokies are the motor nature trails we have where visitors can see nature, historic sites and wildlife for free (not counting the cost of gas, mind). Between seeing the views from high up attractions like Ober Gatlinburg, Anakeesta, SkyBridge and even Dollywood with their rollercoasters, the options for Smoky Mountain viewing are plentiful but potentially expensive. So famous that you likely know about this to some extent already. So famous that people come from all around the world to venture into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park just for a few days. The Great Smoky Mountains are famous for its many ways to allow visitors to see miles and miles and miles of thick, forested foliage with unbelievable color changes during Autumn.
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