View Full Version : Camping in Smokies
Lots of questions about camping the Smokies:
Do you have to stay at the shelters when hiking through the Smokies? Can you pitch your tent at the shelter area? Can you pitch your tent wherever you stop for the night?
Thanks for any information.
Corvis
SGT Rock
07-22-2005, 23:13
From the NPS regulations for GSMNP: http://data2.itc.nps.gov/parks/grsm/ppdocuments/2005-compendium.pdf
Backcountry Camping:
Permit: A backcountry permit is required for all overnight stays in the backcountry. The permit must be in the camper's possession while in the backcountry and must be exhibited upon the demand of an authorized person.
Backcountry permits and the permit system aid the park in distributing and monitoring use and in locating lost/overdue persons.
Stay limits: Persons may not stay more than three (3) nights in a row at any backcountry campsite or more than one (1) night in a row at any backcountry designated shelter. Persons may not stay more than 30 consecutive days in the backcountry or 60 days total in a one year period.
Stay limits at backcountry sites are imposed to minimize the impacts associated with longer-term use and/or to offer additional persons the opportunity to use highdemand sites.
Party size: Backcountry camping parties are limited to a maximum of eight (8) persons and ten (10) horses or pack animals from the same group. For the purpose of this use limit, a party is defined as people and their associated horses/pack animals from the same group who travel together and/or assemble together each night at a common backcountry campsite or shelter. A group is defined as people and their associated horses/pack animals who come from the same organization, come from a common location and/or who otherwise assemble at the park for the purpose of camping together in the backcountry.
Groups which exceed eight persons and ten horses or pack animals must divide into two or more camping parties. The number of people and horses/pack animals from the same group who stay at a campsite on any single night cannot exceed eight people and ten horses/pack animals, regardless of the number of parties into which the group is divided.
This limitation is intended to preserve the tranquility of the wilderness setting. Groups larger than eight tend to develop more social interaction than are found in smaller groups. The social noise and commotion is disturbing to other visitors and detracts from the wilderness experience of those within the group.
LEAVE-NO-TRACE principle #1 recommends group sizes of 4 - 6 people in backcountry areas. Larger groups also generate the need for larger fires resulting in greater impacts to natural resources
Reservations obtained from the Backcountry Reservations Office are required for backcountry shelters and campsites which are designated as "rationed". Rationed sites are limited to a specific number of persons and/or horses that may occupy a given site on a given night. The rationed campsites and shelters and their capacities are listed below:
Rationed Backcountry Campsites And Shelters
9 Anthony Creek (12, 4H)
10 Ledbetter Ridge (8, 8H)
13 Sheep Pen Gap (15, 8H)
23 Camp Rock (12)
24 Rough Creek (15)
29 Otter Creek (10)
36 Upr. Walnut Bottoms (20, 20H)
37 Lwr. Walnut Bottoms (20)
38 Mount Sterling (12)
47 Enloe Creek (8)
50 Lwr. Chasteen Creek (15, 15H)
55 Pole Road (15, 15H)
57 Bryson Place (20, 12H)
61 Bald Creek (12, 6H)
71 CCC Camp (12, 12H)
83 Bone Valley (20, 10H)
113 Birch Spring Gap (12, 12H)
SHELTERS
Davenport Gap (12, 12H)
Cosby Knob (12, 12H)
Tricorner Knob (12, 12H)
Pecks Corner (12, 12H)
Icewater Spring (12)
Mount Collins (12)
Double Spring Gap (12)
Silers Bald (12, 12H)
Derrick Knob (12)
Spence Field (12, 12H)
Russell Field (14, 14H)
Mollies Ridge (12, 12H)
Mt. Le Conte (12)
Kephart (14, 14H)
Laurel Gap (14, 14H)
Reservations are required because of the high demand for the limited space available.
The use of tents at shelters is prohibited except by persons qualifying as thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail (by definition an Appalachian thru-hiker is a backpacker who is using the Appalachian Trail exclusively while in the park and whose trip begins and ends a minimum of fifty miles outside the park). Thru-hikers may pitch tents outside shelters only when all bunks are otherwise occupied.
It is unrealistic to expect thru-hikers to obtain advance reservations when they do not know when they will be entering the park.
Note: A Compendium of Orders for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail sets forth additional restrictions which apply to specific sections of the A.T. outside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For information, contact the Appalachian National Scenic Trail office in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
So yes you must stay in a rationed site or shelter. Yes you must stay in the shelter unless you are a thru-hiker. And yes you must register in advance and have a reservation unless you are a thru-hiker.
Corvis,
Shelters...only located on AT...must stay in them and MUST HAVE A PERMIT.
Sometimes there's a "group" that doesn't know the regulations that will take over a shelter...and there you are with no bunk and a permit in hand.
You can inform/educate the "group" of there mistake & see what happens....either way someone is going out.
Only if this would to happen would I go ahead and tent just to not have to hassle with dealing with the mob...you've got proof of purchase with the PERMIT...they don't.
Campsites...some are "rationed"...meaning you'll need a permit...others don't need the permit.
One time, during a rainy day out of Newfound Gap, thru-hikers had taken over Icewater Spring Shelter. A bunch of, five to be exact, doofuses showed up (they were, dressed in jeans etc.) and announced since they had a 6 person permit and one didn't show up there'd be an extra spot for a thru-hiker. Oh goody!
Hello, a 6 person permit and only five are here? Null and void!
We let them stay anyway. :)
The Icewater Spring Shelter would be the last place I would ever plan on staying. "Groups" have been known to come in at 2am from Newfound Gap, causing all kinds of chaos with those settled in. Even if the shelter is full they will use the fire-ring and make all kinds of noise, and stay up all night partying. No doubt, my least favorite place. Hikerwife
Only if this would to happen would I go ahead and tent just to not have to hassle with dealing with the mob...you've got proof of purchase with the PERMIT...they don't.
See, I almost hope the shelter is full so we have to put up a tent. I don't really want to stay in the shelters; I prefer the tent.
Who enforces the rules? And what are the penalties for breaking them?
SGT Rock
07-25-2005, 16:27
See, I almost hope the shelter is full so we have to put up a tent. I don't really want to stay in the shelters; I prefer the tent.
Who enforces the rules? And what are the penalties for breaking them?
Back-country Rangers and it could cost a few hundred if you are in violation if I heard the story correctly :D
When I was doing my section this summer, I came to Russel Field Shelter, one of the shelters that still has the fencing on the front. Inside were 14 men, all set up and ready for sleep. The only two women there were me and a thru-hiker named Dreamcatcher. I found it quite amusing that these 14 men were well protected behind the fencing, and the only two women there had to pitch tents. Suited me just fine. The last thing I wanted was to share a shelter with 14 loud, stinking, snoring, farting men. Ended up having two deer come in camp that evening and chose to graze right next to my tent. Sweet......
NINpigNIN
05-01-2007, 13:10
Corvis,
Shelters...only located on AT...
Not counting Mt Collins, Spence Field and Pecks Corner Shelters which are 0.4, 0.2 and 0.4 miles off the AT on side trails (respectively), there are three other shelters in the backcountry.
Mt Leconte Shelter at the summit of Mt Leconte, Kephart Shelter at the junction of Kephart Prong, Sweat Heifer Creek and Grassy Branch Trails, and Laurel Gap Shelter along Balsam Mountain Trail.
And there is only 1 official backcountry campsite on the AT in GSMNP. Campsite #113 between Fontana Dam and Mollies Ridge Shelter. It sits on the site of the old Birch Spring Gap Shelter and is rationed so you have to have reservations for it just the same as the shelters (unless you are a thru-hiker starting and ending 50 miles away from the park borders).
SawnieRobertson
05-01-2007, 14:27
In 1999 at Ice Springs Shelter, there was an official-type person stationed there to oversee the use of the shelter. As I understood it, there were such people doing such duty all along the trail at the shelters. Are the shelters still overseen in this way?--Kinnickinic
Ramble~On
05-01-2007, 17:21
Planning to stay "in" the shelters and reality are two different things.
Having an optimistic plan of "where" you're going to be at the end of a given day gets a lot of "day-hikers" in trouble when it comes to GSMNP permits. You must register and list where you will camp each night.
Planning on where you will camp each night and actually making it to that location doesn't always happen to those on their first visit to the park.
The GSMNP isn't flat...it's mountainous and travel in the mountains is slower going than the vast majority of users to the park are prepared for.
The shelters are most often overflowing and not the most sanitary.
If you camp in an area other than the site you have listed on your permit, don't have a permit or simply camp where you please....you'll be given a fine.
Tipi Walter
05-01-2007, 17:55
It's Big Brother and the Nanny State. What's left of the mountain men and the free born backpackers will be nitpicked and henpecked by those authorized by the State Park Police to make them cough up their permits or reservations or backcountry overnight fees and to convince them to eventually discard their worn backpacks in favor of the stinking automobile. My dog even wonders why his paws pose more of a trail threat than horse hooves.
Corvis -- It's a sad day when you have to ask such questions about a simple camping trip to the woods.
SGT Rock
05-01-2007, 18:17
In 1999 at Ice Springs Shelter, there was an official-type person stationed there to oversee the use of the shelter. As I understood it, there were such people doing such duty all along the trail at the shelters. Are the shelters still overseen in this way?--Kinnickinic
No official person stationed at a shelter. BUT there is a ridgerunner that moves along the trail Greybeard I think is his trail name. As a ridgerunner he has no "real" power, but he is a good friendly warning and he does have a radio to call someone with real power if someone doesn't listen. Also there are the rangers that can go into the back country. My understand is the shelters like Mt Crammer, Icewater, and Davenport gap can get special attention because of their proximity to the roads and access by people that may knowingly or unknowingly violate the rules.