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tucker0104
10-15-2018, 19:37
Hey, my friend and I are thinking about hiking the AT through the Smokies first week of December. From Fontana Dam to Chestnut Branch Trail. What can we expect for this hike? Do you have to stay in the shelters or can you camp near them? Looks like elevation gain/loss is mostly at the beginning and end, right? Should we go north or south? Where can we park at Fontana Dam? Thanks for the help. I did this hike before about 10 year ago in July and paid for a shuttle back to Fontana.

illabelle
10-15-2018, 19:53
Be sure to get your shelter/campsite reservations for each night. (Google smokies permits, and choose general, not AT thru-hiker).
Yes, regulations require that you stay in shelters, with the exception of campsite 113. Elevation changes are mostly at the ends, but there's enough in the middle to keep it interesting.
Clingman's Dome Road will be closed, so Newfound Gap is your only bail-out point.
Plenty of parking at Fontana.
Have a good hike!

Analog_Kidd
10-15-2018, 20:57
The park service has been hanging sheets of plastic across the shelter openings during winter. That definitely helps to keep the wind down. And many of the shelters have fireplaces inside, so if you can find firewood, you can keep pretty warm at night.

Venchka
10-15-2018, 21:15
Take two cars. One at each end.
The park service closes the highway across the park quickly if the weather turns bad - snow, sleet, freezing rain.
Have fun.
Wayne

HooKooDooKu
10-15-2018, 21:59
At the upper altitudes, seasonal average calls for highs in the 40s lows a little below freezing. Normal temperatures will easily be +/- 10 degrees from there, with extreme weather events creating temperatures that can be +/- 20 degrees. On any given day, snow on the ground is unlikely... but snow 1 foot deep could also be possible.

Here's the PERMIT (https://smokiespermits.nps.gov/index.cfm?BCPermitTypeID=1) website illabelle mentioned (I keep a shortcut to it).

In GSMNP, you're only allowed to camp at designated camp sites, and all camp sites along the AT is a shelter except for the 1st (Birch Spring Gap) where the shelter was torn down about a decade ago and now known as #113.

Here's the best GSMNP Elevation Profile (https://tnlandforms.us/at/gsmnpat.html) I've seen online.
The elevation on each end is a 3,000' change... all uphill (or all downhill)... in about 7 or so miles. But you can see there are many places with 1,000' to 1,500' of nearly constant elevation change.