Local offers advice on avoiding crowds during your next Smoky Mountain vacation
There was a time when I didn’t mind the crowds in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. When you’re young and life sprawls out before you, spending a couple of hours in traffic breathing gas fumes from the out-of-state SUV in front of you isn’t the torture it is later in life when you can count the grains of sand draining from the hourglass.
When you’re young, the crowds are half the point. You’re there in the middle of something. You can even find some competition in getting around better, making good time and proving yourself the superior navigator. But when you’re older? The crowds and traffic can cut into your nap time. So here are my best tips on avoiding crowds around the Smoky Mountains:
1. Use back roads
Being mountain communities, neither Pigeon Forge nor Gatlinburg has a lot of opportunities to navigate around the crowds but there are some.
For Pigeon Forge:
If you’re coming from Maryville or Knox County, you can avoid some of the traffic on the main route via Chapman Highway. However, Wears Valley Road brings you right to the heart of the strip and offers you direct access to Teaster Lane, the skeleton key of avoiding the crowded strip in Pigeon Forge. Chapman Highway spits you out in Sevierville. Therefore, if you turn right at the Parkway, you still have quite a bit of traffic to manage to get into Pigeon Forge. However, if you drive past the Parkway, it’s not far to Veterans Boulevard – aka the back way to Dollywood – which will take you to the far side of Pigeon Forge and again give you access to Teaster Lane.
If you’re coming from North Carolina, Virginia or other points North, accessing Highway 411 gets you to Veterans Boulevard and skips a heckuva a lot of traffic. In Pigeon Forge proper, Teaster Lane and Veterans Boulevard are the best answers for getting around crowds. Teaster Lane runs parallel to the main strip from roughly Dolly Parton’s Stampede to the Biblical Times Dinner Theater and Sky Pirates of Mermaid Bay Mini-golf. It’s incredibly useful.
For Gatlinburg:
Coming into Gatlinburg, we almost always come in on Highway 321 from Cosby. We rarely go through Pigeon Forge. If you do come in through Pigeon Forge, the Gatlinburg Bypass can be dead useful. Especially if you’re trying to get to the far side of Gatlinburg or the National Park. Inside Gatlinburg proper, River Road runs parallel to the Parkway but is not quite as useful as Teaster in Pigeon Forge. It’s not as wide and doesn’t have as many access points to the main road as Teaster does.
Some would recommend Little River Gorge Road if you’re coming from Maryville or Blount County way. It will save some time. But I can’t in good consciousness recommend it as I dislike that road with a passion. It swerves along the river bed surrounded by mountains. Having lived near Townsend for years, I always took Wears Valley into Pigeon Forge and just dealt with whatever crowds and traffic rather than ride that awful stretch of gorge-bottom road.
2. Utilize the off-season
Do you want to avoid crowds? Go when there are fewer people. In general, the off-season runs from December into March in the Smokies as traffic and crowds slow down in the winter. Now, there’s a reason for this. The mountains are better in the spring, summer and fall and the area is generally less fun in the winter. However, winter isn’t without its benefits. Many shops, stores and attractions run specials just to get people in the door and make some money to stay open until the crowds return. But, if avoiding crowds is your thing, roll the dice on a wintertime visit. You might get lucky and get some snow in the mountains. Better yet, you might get lucky and visit during one of our unseasonably warm stretches. Be aware, however, that many attractions also keep off-season hours and may be closed.
3. Visit the Smokies after dark
The late-night scene in the mountains is getting better but for the most part. A lot of what draws people to the region closes relatively early. One of the tricks we used to use would be to wait until late in the day to start our adventure, aiming to hit whatever we wanted to do about an hour before closing. I don’t recommend rolling in just before the doors close. But if you can time your walking in to match the same time others are walking out, you’ve done a good day’s planning. To a lesser degree, getting an early start can offer some of the same advantages. A lot of people don’t like to get up early while on vacation meaning if you’re there when the doors open, you can make hay while others are still abed.
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