re: Questions about Cades Cove

Just got back from there last week. We hit Cades Cove twice. First time was ~10AM Memorial Day and the other was ~3PM Tuesday. 10AM on Memorial Day, it wasn't too bad. However the Tuesday afternoon we went it was absolutely horrible. Traffic was so bad, we didn't move a foot in over 30 minutes (that happened a few times). People were getting out of cars trying to get to the front of the traffic to figure out what the hell was going on. It took us hours to get out of that mess.

A few people have mentioned Parsons Branch road. We took it as an unexpected exit (I was low on gas and needed to get to a gas station instead of sitting in more traffic). I enjoyed the drive. It was extremely quiet (we saw 2 cars in the 7 mile stretch). I think there were 11 water crossings, but they all have concrete bottom and were pretty shallow. The deepest crossing was probably 6". We did see about 15 bears during our 3-4 days in the park.

We never made it to Laurel Falls as parking was a nightmare. Every lot even remotely close was always full. Parking on the side of the road is restricted in many areas (many cars were getting tickets). Clingman's Dome was really nice. It's a 1 mile roundtrip hike over a paved trail. It is about a 12% grade so keep that in mind. We saw 2 bear and a couple deer near the top of the trail not too far from the lookout tower.

If they're still active when you go, try to check out the synchronous fireflies in Elkmont area. It's about a .5-1 mile roundtrip hike down Jake's Creek trail. When we were there, the fireflies came out about 9-9:30PM.

Another thing to keep in mind are the damn people trying to get Instagram worthy photos of themselves. We went to one of the falls and there were these 2 girls that took over 30 min (that I witnessed) trying to get their best photos. Meanwhile about 5 other families were trying to wait to get pictures of the falls that didn't have 2 bimbos in the background. We eventually yelled at them to ask how much longer they planned on staying. They got the hint and moved on so.