View Full Version : Parking at Newfound Gap
Is it 'ok' and safe to park at Newfound Gap in the Smokies for a few days of hiking?
Is it 'ok' and safe to park at Newfound Gap in the Smokies for a few days of hiking?Yes, as long as your hiking party has registered/reserved for campsites or shelters. I don't think the car itself has to be checked in with a ranger. I have met up with my group late at night with a seperate vehicle while being included with their permit. I had no trouble. "Safe", I can't help you with that. I will say that Newfound Gap ought to be a place that theives would rather avoid. Too easy to get trapped by Rangers. No turn offs in either direction for many miles.
springerfever
09-14-2006, 19:48
Lots of traffic, except when closed due to ice. Keep that in mind if you are winter hiking......they will completely close off the road due to its elevation, sharp turns and grade if there is ice on the road. Call for conditions....
Otherwise, perfectly safe to park there. Just make sure to lock car and leave valuables out of sight. Parking lot is patrolled regularly and plenty of tourists milling around.........
I agree that it's generally safe to park here. I left a relatively new Explorer there for five days last month. I was very happy to see it had not been touched, as I was a little concerned about this issue as well. Nice views too!
Sky Rider
(walessp)
TIDE-HSV
09-15-2006, 07:30
there many times with no problem. I think the NPS has had more trouble at the Alum Cave trailhead, although I've parked there also many times without trouble. A couple of times, I've even forgotten to lock the car. I guess any thieves thought it was a trap. All that said, my wife and I are doing a three day in that area starting Monday, and I've opted to pay for a shuttle, with the shuttlers to park our car at their house and pick us up. The reason is that we are continuing on with a week-long trip, and I have a laptop and other items in the car that I can't afford to take even one chance in 1,000 on. The only thing that ever broke into my car at the gap was mice. They built a nest in the A/C louvers, and, when I turned it on, I got a face-full of mouse nest - not pleasant...
fivefour
09-15-2006, 09:10
good to hear ... i plan on parking there for my 10 day hike the end of oct. into nov. it will also be my first time hiking truly alone ... eek !
berninbush
09-15-2006, 14:14
A bit off topic...
I have fond memories of that particular parking lot. The Tennessee-North Carolina state line runs through it, complete with a little sign to show you where it is, and the summer I turned 9 years old my family started the tradition of taking family pictures there. Since then we've added two more siblings and various pets, so we have a whole series of pictures with that beautiful mountain backdrop showing how our family has grown (in numbers and height!).
We've never had problems with parking there, unless it's with finding an empty spot! But we've never left a car there for more than an hour.
I parked there two weeks ago for an overnighter. I didn't park at the back of the lot but more towards the front. No problems at all.
i've parked there a few times in the past. you can actually make a figure 8-ish loop with the lot in the center, and use it as a cache to resupply midway! i think there is a water fountain and spigot there too. i tended to park closer to the newfound gap road, thinking heavier traffic nearby would deter thieves, and that the park service, when they made their rounds, would be more likely to check that part of the lot.
berninbush
09-15-2006, 16:34
i've parked there a few times in the past. you can actually make a figure 8-ish loop with the lot in the center, and use it as a cache to resupply midway!
There's also a bathroom with showers there, if you bear right down the paved path at the place where the trail goes northbound out of the parking lot. (It's a little downhill from the trail itself.)
TwoForty
09-15-2006, 18:24
There's also a bathroom with showers there, if you bear right down the paved path at the place where the trail goes northbound out of the parking lot. (It's a little downhill from the trail itself.)
I didn't know they had showers! Are they hot?
humunuku
09-15-2006, 20:34
good to hear ... i plan on parking there for my 10 day hike the end of oct. into nov. it will also be my first time hiking truly alone ... eek !
I'm gonna be wondering around the smokies that same time period...maybe i'll see ya out there
I have never seen showers in the bathrooms that are there
TIDE-HSV
09-15-2006, 23:24
thinking the same...
Whiskyjo
09-15-2006, 23:51
No showers at the gap and last year somebody slashed two of my tires while parked there for a week of backpacking but have parked many times all around the park without any problems other then that one time,, Have fun if,, it happens it happens keep up the insurance and a good spare tire.
berninbush
09-18-2006, 13:58
I didn't know they had showers! Are they hot?
I didn't use the showers there; I thought I saw some when I went in the Ladies' Room. Since nobody else seems to think they exist, perhaps I was mistaken. I didn't look very closely. Sorry if I'm spreading false information. Could someone who lives closer check it out?
white rabbit
09-18-2006, 18:43
It's safe to park there since there is so much traffic. A theif wouldn't risk it, IMO, but I would still empty out the glove box and leave it open. Good parking out at Clingman's Dome, too.
OldStormcrow
09-19-2006, 15:30
I'm pretty sure that there are no showers in those restrooms, as I have actually camped out in them on one occasion when it was well below zero and I was stranded there. The Rangers are a real pain about locking up the gates in the winter now (with you stranded at the top), although that wasn't the case in years past. I was talking to a ranger after hiking for 5 days in the dead of winter and he told me that the gate on the NC side would be open, then he drove down that way. I followed, on wicked black ice, all the way down to the gate he had just gone through and locked behind himself, leaving me locked in! We then had to drive all the way back up and over to the Tenn side, on wicked black ice all the way up and down, then hike over to the Tenn ranger station and insist that they come and let us out. I have never had any problem at all with vandalism or theft there, though, to get back to your question.