Recommendations for Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg activities in July

Spend a night in one of the camping shelters inside the park. Wake up at sunrise, look at the view to the west. Spectacular.

take a couple hours to drive the dragon and go up the cherohala skyway.

the kids will love it.

and fudge!


lots and lots and lots of fudge.

i have no idea why fudge is so popular because its honestly been years since i had it but there are eleventy billion fudge places around this area.

also, don't even try to go anywhere in pigeon forge on saturday mornings its coffee, cars and rascals for as far as you can see in every direction on the main drag.

get a 6-pack and pull up a lawn chair and enjoy the show.

quote:

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Nobody in your family makes fudge at Christmas?

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no.

i wouldn't even know how i personally make tons of christmas goodies but fudge isn't something i ever think about.

Go through Smokey mountain park and do the hike to the top of klingmans dome.

Worth the hike.

Just got back Sunday evening. We took a little different approach. Skipped out on Dollywood and the dinner shows. We also had issues locating ziplines or rafting (Upper Pidgeon) due to my daughter not weighing enough. By the time we located a place, we couldn't fit it in our schedule (looking like the Upper Pidgeon is closed on Fridays due to controlled water releases).

We drove in from Cherokee Sunday afternoon. It was a pretty cool drive thru GSMNP to get to Gatlinburg. The clouds were extremely low that day for a good portion of the drive.

Spent Monday in GSMNC. Hit up Cades Cove fairly early to avoid some of the traffic and to catch the wildlife earlier in the morning. We say 100+ turkeys, a coyote, and 6-7 bears. I realized I was low on gas and the quickest way our of the park was a road to the south (Parson Branch). I didn't realize it until I had already headed a few miles that direction, but it's a 1 way 4WD required road. The 4WD portion is about 7 miles long, gravel, and has several very shallow water crossings (concrete bottoms). It made for a fun ride with absolutely no traffic. The no traffic part was one of the best parts since GSMNP is by far the most visited national park by more than 2:1 over #2. That road pops out on US 129 (also know as tail of the dragon). I had no idea about this stretch of road, but it has 318 curves in 11 miles and is a very popular place for motorcycles and sports cars. There were dozens of photographers stationed off the road in the curves taking pictures and videos. It was pretty neat and very unexpected.

Tuesday we went to Tuckaleechee Caverns and the Titanic museum. Kids really enjoyed both of these.

Wednesday we spent a good portion of the day at Wonderworks (it's a children's museum). My girls are 9 and 12 and they enjoyed it. 3 story ropes course, laser tag, rock wall, 4D theater, etc Wednesday evening we went back to GSMNP and hiked about 1/2 mile down Jake's Creek (in the Elkmont area). We sent to see the synchronous fireflies. They are only there for a month or so each year. We were early in the season as the ranger said this was only the 2nd day they had seen them.
We hiked in about 7:30PM; saw a bear about 50yds off the trail headed in the opposite direction of us. About 9:15-9:30 is when the fireflies started to really go off. It was pretty amazing to see the woods just light up everywhere all at once. By 10 we had to head out. My 9yo wouldn't stay any longer as she was getting scared. I couldn't really blame her. We were a half mile in the woods, it was pitch black, and we had passed a bear on the way in knowing we had to walk back that direction on the way out. That walk back took a while as you couldn't use flashlights unless you had a red filter over the lens. That allowed you to light up the ground directly in front of your feet. We passed probably 100 people on the way back to the truck, but you could only tell they were they if you heard them talk or stumbled upon them. Without lights you could only see MAYBE 10ft in front of you.

Thursday we spent the entire day at Ober Gatlinburg. Kids did absolutely anything they wanted with the longest wait being maybe 15 minutes One piece of advice about Ober is if you plan on riding the mountain coaster, ask the attendant to hold/delay you a little longer before you start. The coaster has sensors and will automatically slow/stop you if you get too close to the person in front of you. We had issues twice where the person in front of us was cautious/scared and went rather slow. The 4 of us all went wide open. One of our rides, we came to a complete stop 10 times. It was horrible. Every ride after that (we went 5 or 6 times) my 9yo requested the attendant hold us for a minute or so to give us more space between the group in front of us.

Friday we hiked to the top of Clingman's Dome. It's only a mile roundtrip hike, but it's ~12% grade and paved. There were a lot of people struggling to make it (which is pretty sad). The views were amazing from the observation tower at the top. You could watch the clouds roll over the top of some of the ridges. When a cloud would pass over the trail, it felt like the temp dropped 10-15 degrees. On the way back down the trail, my oldest and I spotted 2 bears about 15 ft off the trail. Most people were completely oblivious to them. It was a momma and a baby behind a briar thicket eating dandelions. We watched them for a few minutes until they made their way down the ledge and out of sight. We tried to hit Laurel Falls a couple times, but there was no parking anywhere remotely close. All of the lots we passed were completely full and you cannot park along the road (rangers were out in full force giving tickets). Friday night we played some mini golf. On the way back to our cabin (~10PM), we saw another black bear run out of a hotel parking lot, across 5 lanes of traffic, and up some church stairs. When we got to our cabin, the 9yo wouldn't get out until I went to the cabin, unlocked the door, and turned the outside lights on.

All in all we say about 15 bear and they started freaking her out since they were in the city, on the trails, in the fields, etc. I honestly think one of the best parts of the trip was not having any cell service in GSMNP. Being forced to disconnect from technology to spend more time with nature and family was very rewarding. Bring some games, pack some lunches and snacks, and just head off into GSMNP. Just check your gas before you go in. The park is HUGE.

While my husband and boys learned to fly fish at Orvis, my daughter and I went to Parrot Mountain .. not sure if it's still open but it was pretty cool.

We also went to Wonder Works and spent one day in Gatlinburg and the rest in the Smokies.

Yep but my kids were younger and the youngest was a girl who wasn't going to be super impressed with the mountains/creek/fishing/seeing bears thing. We needed to appease her as well lol.

are you asking if its cooler at higher elevations than at sea level?