Elkmont Campground Great Smoky Mountains.
Tucked along the Little River on the west side of the park, Elkmont is the largest campground in the Great Smoky Mountains — over 200 sites spread across several wooded loops, with the ghost-town charm of the old Elkmont Historic District a short walk from your teardrop. It's a favorite home base for teardrop trips through the Smokies, but like every campground in the park, it's tent-and-trailer camping in the truest sense: no hookups, no shore power, no spigot at your site. Here's what to expect and how to camp it comfortably.
About the Campground
Elkmont sits about 8 miles inside the park from Gatlinburg, split across loops that run along the Little River and up into the Jakes Creek and Sugarland Mountain drainages. It's a genuinely quiet, shaded campground — big hemlocks and rhododendron thickets between sites — and the river is close enough on most loops to hear it from your camp chair. Beyond the campground itself, the old Elkmont Historic District is right there to explore: a cluster of early-1900s vacation cabins from the Appalachian Club and Wonderland Club era, left standing and slowly being reclaimed by the forest. It's an easy, flat walk straight from the campground, and one of the more unusual sights in the park.
Reservations are required for every site — there's no first-come, first-served camping here — and they're handled through Recreation.gov, generally open up to six months out. Elkmont is also ground zero for the park's synchronous firefly event in late May and early June, which is worth planning around if you want to catch it (or avoid the crowds if you don't).
On Site at Elkmont
What's Provided
Bath Houses
Flush-toilet restroom buildings are spaced throughout the loops, each within a reasonable walk of every site.
Dish Wash Sinks
Bath houses include utility sinks for washing dishes and cookware — bring your own basin and biodegradable soap.
Potable Water Spigots
Shared water spigots are staged along each loop for filling jugs, tanks, and water bottles — not piped to individual sites.
Picnic Table & Fire Ring
Every site includes a picnic table and a fire ring with grill grate for cooking over an open fire.
Gravel Parking Pad
Each site has a defined gravel or paved pad sized for a vehicle and trailer — check individual site pages for length before booking.
Camp Store Nearby
A small camp store operates seasonally near the campground entrance for ice, firewood, and basic supplies.
Come Prepared: No Hookups
This is the big one to plan around: there is no electric, water, or sewer hookup at any site in Elkmont. Every campsite in the Smokies is dry camping — you're running fully self-contained for the length of your stay. For a teardrop, that means your battery bank and solar setup are carrying the load for lights, the fridge, and charging, and every drop of water you use comes from what you hauled in or filled up at the shared spigots. Bath houses cover flush toilets and dish-washing sinks, but there are no shower facilities anywhere in the campground — so if a hot shower matters to you after a day on the trail, that's on you to bring.
Camp Shower & Water Storage
With no showers at the bath houses and no water hookup at the site, the simplest fix is a camp water supply that doubles as a shower. Keep it full and it's just extra drinking and cooking water on hand between spigot refills — good insurance for staying hydrated on hot days in the park. Then, when you get back to camp after a long hike, hang it from a tree branch or your teardrop's awning arm and it becomes a gravity-fed shower, warmed up by an afternoon sitting in the sun. It's a two-birds solution that takes up almost no space packed flat, and it means you're not choosing between hydration and hygiene on a multi-day trip.
The Sea to Summit Watercell ↗ is the one we point people to — a collapsible water cell that packs flat when empty, holds pressure well when full, and has a shower hose/rose fitting built into the cap. It comes in a couple of sizes depending on your crew and how many nights you're stretching between refills:
Nearby Things to Do
Elkmont Historic District
A flat, easy walk from the campground through the fenced-off but visible remains of the old Appalachian Club cabins.
Cucumber Gap Loop
A 5.6-mile loop through old-growth forest and creek crossings, starting right from the historic Elkmont area.
Little River Wading
Cold mountain water right along the campground loops — a free way to cool off after a hike, no drive required.
Synchronous Fireflies
Elkmont hosts one of the few places in the world to see synchronously flashing fireflies. The park runs a lottery for parking access during the peak window — apply well in advance at the NPS fireflies page ↗.
Planning a Smokies Trip?
Elkmont is one of the stops on our Smokies Grand Loop guide — a 5-day base camp trip rotating through Elkmont and Cosby. Check it out for a full day-by-day plan.
See the Grand Loop GuideDisclosure: KnoxDrops is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases — if you buy through a link on this page, it costs you nothing extra.
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