Smoky Mountain June 2026 Trip

Had a great trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). We spent 10 days camping along the bank of the Little Pigeon River at Riverbend Campground. Very well kept, quiet and peaceful with the cascading water right behind our campsite.

Always a good time when you you get to visit with family. Since Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg gets crazy busy on the weekends, we made a long day trip over to see my sister and brother in law, and my niece and nephew in law. Even got to see Mindy’s and Jeff’s new construction that is underway.

my routine was pretty much much Cade’s Cove in the mornings for bears, while Sharon slept in with the dogs. Then we hiked in the mountains after lunch, or I made sure Sharon got plenty of retail therapy. Hikes included Spruce Flat Falls, and Cataract Falls.

Wednesday Cade’s Cove is Auto free day. Meaning bikes and walkers only. I had always wanted to bike Cade’s Cove. So, I rented us a pair of E-Bikes from Vee Hollow Bike Shop in Townsend. Sharon and I did one lap in the morning. Car parking is an issue. The parking fills up before 6:30 AM. Volunteers and rangers stop all traffic, and use radios to direct incoming cars to the open parking spots. We go it line about 10, hoping the rush would be over, as Sharon clearly stated no way in Heck, she was getting up at 5:00 AM on vacations. We got lucky and the sent us to park at the camp store within 8-10 minutes. She did Excellent and had a blast. So much so we ordered a pair of E-bikes for trails at home and to take camping! After one loop and a couple bear jams, I took her back to the camper and her and the dogs took a nap. I threw my bike on the charger in the back of the truck. 2.5 hours later it was back to 100% charge. I headed back to the cove to photograph bears. This time I was loaded for bear. My 600 on my shoulder and my 100-500 in the saddle pouch. Saw 18 different bears. Photographed a few but nothing great. Too hard to focus on riding the bike and road to be able to search for bears. No real bear jams to speak of. Finally on my 3^rd loop, I got some full frame clear cub shots finally! Everything had been way out in the fields so I had the 1.4 teleconverter on my 600mm prime. The momma bear bought her 2 cubs right across the road, 30-40 years in front of me. I had too much lens, and no time to dig my second camera with the 100-500 lens out of the saddle bags. All in all, great relaxing trip with lots of time in nature and a few “keeper” photos! Here are a few of my favorites.