Camping in the Smokies | Tennessee

We love photographing in Great Smoky Mountains so much. This was our very first time camping in the Elkmont region just outside of Gatlinburg and it was very nice. The scenery on the trip in was stunning. And while the campsites in the Smokies were private and wooded, they did not have any hookups. In other words, camping this week was basically like more of a luxurious tent camping experience. Sure, we had the water reservoir, the propane stove, and we had some battery- but we didn’t want to test the limits, so we used our headlamps and the public camp water as much as possible.

At the time we arrived, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park service weren’t accepting campsite reservations, but we were able to get a creekside spot. Listening to that running water all night was wonderful! We’ve been trying our hand at cooking over the fire with our cast iron dutch oven, and really maximized that during our stay. While I’ve made some soups, lasagnas, and roasted potato dishes in our dutch oven, this is the first time I had the chance to cook with it. I made a delicious chili! Yum yum.

The next day, we went off for a hike on the Little River Trail located right down the road from the Appalachian Club. More on that in our next post :) ~ Shelley Western North Carolina + Tennessee Wedding Photographers