Cade's Cove Smoky Mts

SRD · 03-13-2019, 01:58 AM

Have reservations at Cades Cove campground in the Smokys for mid June. Looking forward to being set up in the park and not having to drive every day to visit. We will be in loop b and plan on using an inverter generator. This is first time to use a generator and it will be only to charge batteries. Just wondering if anyone has done this and if it is a common thing other campers do also. We are quiet campers so this is out of our norm. Any advise would be appreciated

Rber1234 · 03-13-2019, 03:06 AM

Are you in a site that doesn’t have an electric hookup? From what I’ve read about Cades Cove it had electric on sites. That is one of the places I’ve been looking into for a trip but if not all sites have electricity I’d definitely have to watch which sites to get. Let us know how you like the place.

SRD · 03-13-2019, 03:55 AM

There are no electric sites at Cades Cove only a few with 5 amp for medical devices no water only at restroom but they do have dumpstation. Hope it works out for us

Tooth Ferry · 03-13-2019, 06:45 PM

It takes a long time to recharge the batteries with a lot of the OEM chargers. We did not want to stay at the site for several hours trying to get them charged . We don't have solar and don't need it often enough to justify it now, maybe in the future. Maybe some others will chime in with their solutions. You know they have limited generator use hours in most campgrounds.

gearhead · 03-14-2019, 04:50 PM

Give it a try.
If you need some food try Elvira's or Hillbillies in Wear Valley.

NotyetMHCowner · 03-20-2019, 07:04 AM

We camped there a couple of years back and plan on again this Spring but we have 4 golf cart batteries and didnt need the generator for the 4 days we were there. In loops A and B there will be plenty of people using generators. One guy had a construction generator (like a 7k to 10k size) in the bed of his truck running it everyday for an hour or two. That sucked, but dont worry about noise. Other than that, its a nice peaceful place to camp. Also on Saturdays (and I think Wednesdays) during much of the "camping season", the Cades Cove loop is closed to vehicles for the first hour or so. We rode our bikes through and it was quite nice, without the cars.

xrated · 03-20-2019, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotyetMHCowner

We camped there a couple of years back and plan on again this Spring but we have 4 golf cart batteries and didnt need the generator for the 4 days we were there. In loops A and B there will be plenty of people using generators. One guy had a construction generator (like a 7k to 10k size) in the bed of his truck running it everyday for an hour or two. That sucked, but dont worry about noise. Other than that, its a nice peaceful place to camp. Also on Saturdays (and I think Wednesdays) during much of the "camping season", the Cades Cove loop is closed to vehicles for the first hour or so. We rode our bikes through and it was quite nice, without the cars.

That closure usually starts sometime in May......check their website for specifics. And the hours for closure is from Sun up till 10:00 AM...Wednesday's and Saturdays. We rode the loop last year on our bikes, with me towing a cart with our puppy in it.

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