INTRODUCTION

      The Southern Appalachians. The very words give rise to images of misty, tree-topped mountains; clear whitewater streams; lush woodlands; and a biodiversity unmatched in temperate climes. At the heart of the Southern Appalachians are the Smokies, the 500,000-acre master mountain chain containing the highest, wildest country remaining in the eastern United States. The crown jewel in the chain—Great Smoky Mountains National Park, straddling Tennessee and North Carolina—justifiably attracts millions of people per year.

      The allure of the national park, however, often overshadows adjacent special areas. Encircling the park are millions of acres of state-park and national-forest land that expands the range of Smoky Mountain country. This book covers not just the Smokies but also the highlands of eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, western South Carolina, and northern Georgia.

      The Southern Appalachians are a region steeped in human and natural history. These mountains played a significant role in the formation and westward expansion of our country, an expansion that oftentimes came at the expense of the Cherokee, who battled settlers and lost but eventually managed to hold on to some of their ancestral lands.

      Aside from a few Civil War skirmishes, this land became a forgotten backwater, the land of “do without”—that is, until logging interests discovered its magnificent forests and began to cut them down. Thankfully, some stands were left intact; the Smokies still contain some 125,000 acres of old-growth woods. After the tree harvest in the early 1900s, the U.S. Forest Service took over the fire-scarred and eroded lands, protecting and managing the area for commercial and recreational purposes. Other special mountain places came under state protection, creating a nucleus of fine state parks.

      A trip into the Southern Appalachians is sort of like a thru-hike along the Appalachian Trail. The elevation rise—from 700 to nearly 6,700 feet—creates climate zones that foster plant and animal life found from Georgia all the way to Maine. These conditions create the biodiversity that makes the Southern Appalachians special.

      Generally speaking, spring takes six weeks to climb the mountains; conversely, autumn descends the mountains six weeks earlier than in the surrounding lowlands. All of this adds to the biodiversity and makes for varying weather conditions to suit your whims as you seek the wildflowers of spring, the lushness of summer, the colors of autumn, and the snows of winter. Luckily for us, we can find plenty of campgrounds tucked away in and near Smokies country.

      HOW TO USE THIS GUIDEBOOK

      Menasha Ridge Press welcomes you to Best Tent Camping: Southern Appalachian and Smoky Mountains. Whether you’re new to camping or you’ve been sleeping in your portable shelter over decades of outdoor adventures, please review the following information. It explains how we have worked with the author to organize this book and how you can make the best use of it.

      Some text on the following pages applies to all books in the Best Tent Camping series. Where this isn’t the case, such as in the descriptions of weather and wildlife, the author has provided information specific to the area covered in this particular book.

      THE RATING SYSTEM

      As with all books in the Best Tent Camping series, the author personally experienced dozens of campgrounds and campsites to select the top 50 locations in the Southern Appalachian and Smoky Mountains. Within that universe of 50 sites, the author then ranked each one according to the six categories described below.

      Each campground is superlative in its own way. For example, a site may be rated only one star in one category but perhaps five stars in another category. Our rating system allows you to choose your destination based on the attributes that are most important to you. Although these ratings are subjective, they’re still excellent guidelines for finding the perfect camping experience for you and your companions.

      Below and following we describe the criteria for each of the attributes in our five-star rating system:

		The site is ideal in that category.
		The site is exemplary in that category.
		The site is very good in that category.
		The site is above average in that category.
		The site is acceptable in that category.

      INDIVIDUAL RATINGS

      Each campground description includes ratings for beauty, privacy, quiet, spaciousness, security, and cleanliness; each attribute is ranked from one to five stars, with five being the best. Admittedly, these ratings are subjective, but we’ve tried to select campgrounds that offer something for everyone.

      BEAUTY

      In judging beauty, I took into account what the general area has to offer as well as the campground. The most beautiful campgrounds have sites that you just don’t want to leave and locations with easy access to breathtaking scenery.

      PRIVACY

      This rating is determined by how much your neighbors can pay attention to what you’re doing, and vice versa. The best campgrounds provide plenty of green space—shrubs and trees—between adjoining sites. Such campgrounds also stagger their sites so that, for instance, the entrance to the site across the road isn’t directly opposite the entrance to yours.

      QUIET

      My evaluations were influenced to a great extent by the presence of RVs and the kinds of visitors a park tends to get. (Campgrounds near urban areas, for example, tend to be noisy, as are those that cater to families with children.) I also considered the extent to which you could get away from the fray at a particular campground. You can expect