Great Smoky Mountains NP 4K (Part V): Zero Day in Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

On this September trip to the Great Smoky Mountains, we visit Shenandoah National Park, Skyline Drive, James Madison University, Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg Tennessee, Cades Cove, Fontana Dam (North Carolina), The Devil's Tail, and much more.
We hike some of the Smokies' most iconic hikes (Chimney Tops, Clingman's Dome, The Appalachian Trail, Mount Collins, Abrams Falls, Alum Cave, and an awesome overnight backpacking/packrafting trip to camp on an island in the middle of Fontana Dam in North Carolina.
There is a lot more exploring of the local area in this video series than many of our other, more wilderness-centric, series. As you'll see, it was basically impossible to ignore the wild and wonderful surrounding area of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
This fifth video in the series finds half of noBear heading to Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge Tennessee to enjoy a lay-day “zero” before our final backcountry adventure of the trip. Gatlinburg is unlike any other National Park border town that we’ve seen. Miles of shops, restaurants, and tourists… for as far as the eye can see. Typically, this isn’t the vibe our group yearns for on these trips… but it was definitely a cool place to experience.
Pigeon Forge, otherwise known as “The Mountain Mile”, is also a garish, fun, neon-sign laden oasis in the middle of the mountains. You could call it “The Jersey Shore” of the Smokies, and you wouln’t be far off.
You could spend an entire vacation just visiting these towns. We tried to cram it all into a day!
As always, enjoy and we hope it inspires some of you to walk on some of the same paths. -
Sincerely, noBear (Buldo, Evan, Drew, Austin, Connor, Steve, & Will)