Worst Times To Visit the Great Smoky Mountain National Park

A local breaks down the times to avoid when booking your Smoky Mountain vacation

When are those sub-optimal times? It varies depending on what it is you want to get out of your mountain trip. For instance, many people believe the fall is the best time to visit. They are enthralled by the cornucopia of color the changing of the season provides.

Me? I prefer when the mountains are lush and green. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the fall color – there’s a spot near Cades Cove where all the leaves turn a homogenous bright yellow that I think may be the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen – it’s just that I enjoy the vibrancy of the mountains in full growth. There’s a little bit too much forewarning of the coming winter in the fall for my liking.

But, to each their own. Maybe you want to avoid crowds, you prefer a little extra privacy in your mountains. Maybe you prefer the wildflower season when the mountains recover from their long winter’s nap in bright, resounding colors.

The worst times to visit the Smokies:

Mid November

This is maybe the worst time of the year. The color show in the mountains is over, replaced by a smorgasbord of brown. The weather is more likely to be drab and dreary. While the cities and shops have begun their full-blown Christmas push, it’s hard to jump into the Christmas spirit with both feet while Thanksgiving is more than a week away. The shopkeepers haven’t really broken out their real Christmas-season deals yet either.

Hard-to-access roads in the mountains have begun to shut down but the weather won’t likely be bad enough to be interesting. Snow capped mountains are at least picturesque, but they are still statistically unlikely. It’s just more likely than not, going to be an underwhelming time.

January

You’re already dealing with the existential crisis of the post-holiday doldrums. The mountains are either cold and drab and dreary or cold and icy. The sun rises late and goes down early, meaning hiking time in the mountains is limited. Wildlife is pseudo-hibernating as are the shopkeepers who are recovering from the holiday and beginning to think about their plans for the upcoming season. Dollywood’s closes. Honestly, we probably just ought to take January out in the mountains.

Early June

Theoretically, early June is one of the best times to be in the mountains – which makes it one of the worst. Early June is when the vacation traffic hits full steam. Traffic in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge is untenable. It’s hard to get a reservation anywhere and the mountains’ most popular spots are teeming with crowds. Early June in the mountains is wonderful, which is why maybe you shouldn’t go.

Late August/Early September

The late summer heat is still high and though kids have started going back to school, you’re still a couple of weeks away from the leaves starting to turn and the arrival of fall. Maybe it’s human nature, but arriving somewhere on the cusp of change feels a little bit like a letdown. Whether it’s a season, an opening or a festival, being on the precipice of change makes it harder to focus on the present. In late August and early September, it doesn’t feel like you’re capturing the last days of summer so much as you feel like you’re missing out on the start of fall.

Early April

A similar concept to No. 4. In early April, Spring has sprung in the lower elevations but remains quietly resting in the higher elevations. The sky is blue. The sun is bright. But the mountains haven’t begun to burst forth with color. The streams remain too cold to enjoy and the wildlife is still shaking off the winter doldrums. Early April in the mountains is arriving and getting the faintest notion of the coming Spring without getting any of the real experiences of it.

What do you think is the worst time to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park? Let us know in the comments!