Spring Photography in the Smokies Trip Journal

Introduction

There is nothing better than spending a few spring days in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park after a long cold winter to kick your photography year off. Between the park's large variety of wildflowers and access to animals in Cades Cove there is plenty to keep you busy.

The spring wildflower bloom is just the opposite of the fall leaf change. In the fall the changing of the leaves will start at the higher elevations and work down the mountains to the lower elevations. However, in the spring the wildflowers will begin to bloom at the lower elevations first and then work up the mountains to the higher elevations. This can really work in your favor. Often all you will need to do is move to a higher elevation if you arrive at the park and the peak flower bloom seems to have already occurred at one elevation.

When you arrive check with the rangers at one of the visitor centers to find where the best flowers are currently located. Often the best way to enjoy the flowers is to get out of your car and go on a hike. The rangers will also be able to tell you which hikes have the best flowers at that time. If you are in the Gatlinburg area you may wish to check with a store called the Happy Hiker. It is located on the south side of town nearest the park entrance. They can certainly point you in the right direction of a nice hike.

Newfound Gap Road - Great Smoky Mountain National Park

There are several routes into the park but most people seem to enter from the north side at Gatlinburg, TN or the south side at Cherokee NC. While there are some nice areas to explore on the southern side of the park we have found the north side of the park to be our most productive area. In addition, the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge areas have a lot to offer in terms of traditional tourist attractions.

The two sides of the park are connected by the only road across the park, the Newfound Gap Road. The narrow and winding road is around 30 miles long and will take you past some classic smoky mountain overviews that can offer many wonderful photographic opportunities. If you are entering from the southern Cherokee side of the park you will quickly find the Oconaluftee Visitor Center on the right side of the road. The visitor center is home to the Mountain Farm Museum and it preserves a nice example of a typical mountain farm. It is worth a stop and can offer many photographic possibilities.

As you leave the visitor center set your car’s odometer to zero (if you are entering from the north side set your odometer to zero at the highway intersection by the Sugarland Vistor Center). Drive north on the Newfound Gap Road for approximately one half mile when you have finished visiting the Mountain Farm Museum. The Mingus Mill will be on your left and is a working mill that operates much of the year.

We have found one of the best wildflower locations on the Newfound Gap Road to be at the Chimney's Picnic area (24.6 miles, 4.6 from north side). In early April you will be able to find great carpets of wildflowers that will keep you entertained for hours. As you exit the Newfound Gap Road into the picnic area look to your right and you will see a trail heading back into the flowers.

The Newfound Gap Road you will give you access to some great overlooks. Chances are if you are visiting for the wildflowers it will still be to early in the season for many leaves to have appeared on the trees at the higher elevations.

As you travel up the road, stop at the various overlooks and explore them for compositions. No matter what time of year you visit sunrise and sunset on the road can be special.

While you can enjoy the views from many different overviews, below are listed some of the most popular with photographers.

Sunrise Locations:

Deep Creek Overlook (13.7 miles, 15.5 from north side)
Oconaluftee Valley Overlook (15.3 miles, 13.9 from north side)
Newfound Gap Overlook (16 miles, 13.2 from north side)
Clingmans Dome Overlook (exit near 16 miles)

Sunset Locations:

Clingmans Dome Overlook (exit near Newfound Gap Overlock)
Morton Overlook (16.7 miles, 12.5 from north side)

Near the Newfound Gap Overlook you will find the entrance to the Clingmans Dome Road. This road will carry you to the top of Clingmans Dome which offers great sunset views. Sunrise is also possible here but success can be difficult as it is often covered in morning fog.

Roaring Fork Road - Great Smoky Mountain National Park

The Roaring Fork area of the park is one of our favorite locations no matter what time of year we visit. However, if the weather is overcast and a little rain is falling we really enjoy shooting here. This type of weather really saturates the colors and wets the rock, making it a special place. The road passes many great historic buildings and beautiful streams that provide endless photography opportunities. The six mile road looping through the area is very narrow and winding so expect some slow driving.

We always try to be at the first cabin on the loop just as the sun is beginning to rise. If you can visit the Roaring Fork area on an overcast day you will likely be able to spend the entire morning photographing along the road. However, sunny mornings often make it hard for us to complete the loop before the sunlight gets too harsh for good images. You may need multiple mornings on the road to cover the entire area if you have only sunny mornings to work with.

To find the entrance to the Roaring Fork area, leave the park’s north entrance via the Newfound Gap Road and head into Gatlinburg. When you reach Light #8 turn right and reset your car’s odometer to zero. Around 2.6 miles from the light you will find the Noah “Bud” Ogle Farm. It is easy to spend several hours in this area and on some mornings we never make it any further around the road. While at the farm you may wish to walk around the area’s nature trail. As you walk towards the cabin from the parking lot look for the trail leading off to the right. If you follow this trail for about one half mile you will find an old tub mill beside a stream. Continuing along the trail past the mill will return you to the cabin.

Once you have finished visiting the farm return to the road and reset your car’s odometer to zero. After driving up the road for about one mile you will find the turn into the actual Roaring Fork drive. While there are several great locations and hikes along the drive but we typically head 3.8 miles to the Jim Bales cabin in order to try to beat the harsh light. If you park on the left side of the road there is a short path to the left that will carry you to an old cemetery. If you walk right across the road and bridge, you will find the Jim Bales cabin.

As you leave the Jim Bales cabin watch the stream that is flowing beside the road and look for compositions of moss covered rocks. If it has been a wet spring moss will be growing everywhere and you can spend hours capturing those classic moss covered boulders and water. There are several small pullouts along the road where you can park and explore the area. Two more cabin locations are found at mile 4.1 and 4.6.

There is also a nice tub mill beside the road that offers really nice photographic opportunities. If the water levels are low enough you may be able to rock hop across the steam to compose nice images of the mill with the stream as your foreground. If it is raining or there has been a recent rain you will find a nice waterfall at mile 5.7 called "Place of a Thousand Drips" on your left. Much of the time there is little water flowing but when it does you can capture some really nice images here.

Greenbrier Road - Great Smoky Mountain National Park

If you enjoy exploring rivers then proceed east from Gatlinburg on US Highway 321 for about five miles and turn right onto the Greenbrier Road. We have found the best concentration of wildflowers on the Porters Creek Trail (located at the end of the road). As you travel up the road watch for a bridge and a road that exits to the left. You may wish to explore the area around the bridge for some nice stream images. At times we have also found the left road to be pretty productive areas towards the end and along the Ramsey Cascade trail.

Little River Road - Great Smoky Mountain National Park

While we enjoy the area around Gatlinburg our favorite side of the park is near Townsend. It is a much quieter area and does not have near the vacation traffic that Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge have. To reach the Townsend area of the park travel back south from Gatlinburg towards the Newfound Gap Road. Just before starting back up the mountain you will see the Little River Road exiting to the right. This road will carry you across the north side of the park and into the Townsend area.

As soon as you turn onto the Little River Road you will see the Sugarland Visitor Center on your right. The center is a good place to get information about the park and it also houses a small gift center. Before leaving the visitor center set your car’s odometer to zero. The first area of interest as you drive along the Little River Road is the Laurel Falls located at 3.4 miles. This falls is located at the end of a 1.3 mile paved pathway and is a very popular location. In order to obtain images without crowds of people, you may need to hike to the falls early in the morning. If you have the energy the view from the river below the walkway is great. Be careful climbing up and down as the slope can be very slippery.

Elkmont Road is found 4.3 miles from the Sugarland Visitor Center. This short road will carry you past more river scenes until you reach the old town site of Elkmont. This town site contains numerous old vacation homes that the park does not seem to know what to do with. This area was one of the last locations where people were allowed to live in the park. Depending on your photographic taste this area may or may not appeal to you. In any case it is interesting to see nature taking back the area.

At 9.5 miles you will see the Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area on the right. Turn right; continue through the picnic area and out the backside. Once you leave the picnic area watch for a small road exiting to the right. Drive up this road for a little ways and you will find a small school house and cemetery that can offer many nice images.

Once back on the Little River Road, the Sinks area at 11.1 miles from Sugarland Visitor Center can offer numerous opportunities. However, be careful as you explore this area as there have been many deaths here over the years. Near mile 12.1 you will find the Meigs Falls on the left side of the road. The falls sits well back from the road so a telephoto lens will greatly help.

Continue to watch the river for possible images as you drive along the road. Around 16 miles from the Sugarland Visitor Center you will arrive at a junction in the road. Turning right will carry you out of the park and into Townsend. Not only is Townsend much quieter than the Gatlinburg area but it is a very convenient location to spend the night and makes reaching Cades Cove for sunrise pretty easy.

Tremont Road - Great Smoky Mountain National Park

If you do not turn right at the junction but continue going straight you will head into the Cades Cove area. Shortly after passing the junction look for the Tremont Road exiting to the left. As with the Greenbrier Road discussed earlier, the Tremont Road follows the river and offers continuous photographic opportunities. In this area you can create some nice images of dogwood trees and the river if you can catch them while they are blooming. Simply drive along the road and find an area that interests you. Often the level of the river will allow you to rock hop out into the middle of the river for unique images. We find parking at the end of the road and the trail that leaves the parking lot to be productive wildflower locations.

Cades Cove - Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Our favorite and most productive area of the park is Cades Cove. To reach Cades Cove leave Townsend and turn right at the Little River Road junction. Simply follow this road until it reaches the cove. The road into the cove does not open until sunrise but you should arrive at the gate at least 30 minutes before sunrise in order to get in line with the many other photographers that will be there.

If you are there between May and September the road will not open until 10am on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This allows hikers and bikers to enjoy the cove without any car traffic. We highly recommend you ride your bike in the cove during this time if you ever get a chance. It is a wonderful experience. Unless you love sitting in a parking lot, you should visit the cove at either sunrise or late in the afternoon. During the rest of the day it will likely take hours to creep through the cove due to the heavy traffic. We find this to be a miserable experience.

The road through Cades Cove makes a large one way loop around the outside of the cove that is around 11 miles long. There are two cross roads that can be used to shorten the drive and allow you to exit the loop without driving the entire 11 miles. Any time in the cove is very special but a morning when it is filled with fog is really special. The most challenging part of photographing in the cove is deciding where to go when the gate first opens in the morning. We would suggest that you spend an afternoon exploring the cove the day before your morning visit. This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the cove and develop a plan for the next morning.

If you are primarily looking for wildlife images then your approach will be pretty simple, you should begin looking in the fields just inside the gate. Often you will find horses, turkeys, deer and other animals as soon as you enter the cove.

When looking for animals we simply drive around the loop and watch for them. Most of the time we will attempt to photograph from our car in order to not scare them off but often it will be necessary to get out a walk out to deer located in the fields.

Just stay far enough back not to change their behavior. If they are stopping and watching you then you are getting to close.

Typically when we arrive at the gate we will look out into the cove to see if there is any fog present. If fog is present then we will try to head towards the back of the cove as soon as the gate opens. If this is your first trip into the cove during foggy conditions and you are looking for landscape opportunities, we would suggest you drive as quickly as possible to the second cross road (Hyatt Lane) about 2.7 miles from the gate. The Hyatt Lane is a two way road so you can drive back and forth on the road as much as you like looking for subjects. The fog will often illuminate as the sun begins to rise and can make nice scenes turn into great scenes.

After spending some time on Hyatt Lane drive back onto the loop and continue around the cove. Near mile 3.4 and 3.8 you will find some nice overlooks of the Hyatt Lane area. Just keep in mind that the loop is a one way road and you cannot get back to Hyatt Lane without driving around the backside of the loop. When clouds are in the area these overlooks can be very productive as the light dances across the cove. If you are visiting for more than one day or have photographed Hyatt Lane already, you may consider exploring Sparks Lane as it also offers many great subjects. It will be the first cross road that you find after entering the gate.

One of the highlights of Cades Cove is the preserved buildings. Unless you have an overcast sky to work with, it is pretty hard to cover many of the building before the light gets to harsh for good images. The largest group of buildings is located at the Cades Cove Visitor Center and Cable Historic Area at the back of the cove. It is not too far from Hyatt Lane so if you are limited on time and have just finished shooting sunrise on Hyatt, you may wish to head there before the sun gets too harsh.

If you enjoy hiking and waterfalls you may consider visiting Abrams Falls. The trailhead can be found at the back of the cove and it is a five mile round trip. If you don’t have time or energy to hike this far then you may consider visiting the Elijah Oliver Place. There are two ways to reach the cabin but we enjoy starting at the Abrams Falls trailhead. As you leave the parking lot the trail will split and instead of going left to the falls simply turn right and follow the 0.5 mile trail to the cabin. We enjoy this approach to the cabin because it has a very remote feel and it is very easy to image how life must have been one hundred years ago.

Foothills Parkway - Great Smoky Mountain National Park

If you are in the Townsend area and are looking for a sunrise location other than Cades Cove you may wish to visit the west section of the Foothills Parkway. To find the parkway, travel towards Maryville from Townsend on Highway 321 (about 10 miles from the Smokies Park entrance). The start for the parkway will be on your left and after driving up the parkway around 1.3 miles you will see a large parking lot on your left. Often fog will fill in the valley below you and the early morning side lighting can create very nice images.

Final Thoughts

If you are eager to get out of the house after a long winter and create some nice images you can never go wrong with a visit to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The wide range of possible images throughout the area is amazing. No matter whether you enjoy photographing animals or landscapes, the area offers it all.

If you ever have any questions, suggestions on how to improve this guide or just wish to send us an email with a great photography spot, please contact us at ginnphotography@comcast.net.

Thank you and good shooting,

Jo and Phil