Gatlinburg, tn

[drogos]

I am on my way to Gatlinburg. Any recomendations on what to see/shoot???
I would appreciate any hints
thx

[fritz1]

Plenty there it'll come to you, stop at Pigeon Forge if you can and Cherokee NC I used to go there in film days

[siuleung]

Clingman's Dome. Tricky drive followed by halfmile walk, but it's the highest point around.

[drogos]

Clingman's Dome. Tricky drive followed by halfmile walk, but it's the highest point around.

thx, also recomended by American photo magazine :)

[johnthebaptist]

You need to hit the Roaring Fork motor trail. It starts and ends in Gatlinburg and loops around one way. There are some old farmsteads and some nice waterfalls. Also ride up the Sky Lift at night for some great shots of the city lights.

[BillsBayou]

Well, geeze. Where are you staying? When are you going?

We've been to Gatlinburg several times. I started out shooting my G3 then learned what I was doing wrong. Shot some more next vacation. Upgraded to my DSLR gear pack then shot the hell out of the Smokys.

First of all, upgrade your gear with a 2X extender for that 70-200 IS. Your gear list has similar focal lengths as mine.

Second, find out everything you can about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That is where all of the best shooting takes place. You need to know about the hiking trails, waterfalls, wildlife, Cade's Cove, Clingman's Dome, Newfound Gap, and the Cataloochie Valley.

Third, make sure to have ND2, ND4, or ND8 filters for shooting waterfalls. Learn how to shoot waterfalls.

Equipment list that I will NOT leave behind when visiting this July:
5D
17-40mm
24-70mm
85mm
70-200mm
2X Extender
Lensbabies G3
Sekonic L-558R
Filters: ND2, ND8, Circ-Pol, Starlight
Tripod
Monopod
Lowepro Nature Trekker AW II Backpack
AquaTech Sport Shield
Lowerance iFinder Hunt GPS receiver
Hiking stick
Hiking boots
Chest waders (yes, the vulcanized rubber, up to your chest waders)
Maps maps and more maps I've purchased from the National Park offices

Places to visit and shoot:

Miegs Falls: Easy to see an shoot. It's at a wide part of the road which runs through the western side of the park. It's between Elkmont Road and Metcalf Bottoms. Open Google Earth and punch this in: 35°39'47.23"N, 83°36'31.80"W. Since you'll be 100-yards from the falls, the BEST way to shoot Meigs Falls is to park and ford the river. Hence, the chest waders.

Grotto Falls is another "worth it" waterfall. It's the only one you can walk behind. The trailhead to the falls is off of the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.

Just down stream from the Grotto Falls is a smaller set of cascades. To get down to the stream, you have to do some easy climbing. I think the photos down there are worth it.

Abrams Falls is a very dramatic waterfall. It has a high volume and a steep drop. It's trailhead is inside of Cade's Cove.

Laurel Falls is very nice. Very nice. So nice and easy to get to (short hike), they've put in a large (for GSMNP standards) parking lot and paved the trail the entire way. Thus, it's crowded. If you take a photo of these falls, I recommend making the climb down to a spot below the falls. Unless you go early early early in the day or the year, you'll expect to see people in your shot.

Rainbow Falls is beautiful. It's a bit of a hike to get there, but it's very pretty the way the water has cut into the rock.

Do a search on the web for the waterfalls. You'll get an idea of what you can see.

There are also numerous photo opportunities on many of the non-waterfall areas:

Clingman's Dome has an awesome view. It's a short hike but fairly steep. At least the trail is paved.

Newfound Gap is the only way to go "straight" through the park. Strait is a relative term when you look at how kinked up the road is. It actually loops around itself at one point. We went to Cherokee, NC via the Newfound Gap road. It was dark when we went back. If you enjoy night driving through moonlit hairpin turns, I recommend this highly. We stopped to admire the moonlit view and I took a couple of night shots. I forgot my lens cap there. I didn't realize it until I was back in Gatlinburg. I got the thrill of doing the trip there and back in the dark of night and without the wife with. Very nice and exciting thing to do in the dark.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is another nice drive with spectacular views.

The Cataloochie Valley is home to a new elk herd they've reintroduced to the area. This is NOT a road to take at night. It's gravel, narrow, and filled with hairpin turns. The valley is very nice. Photos of the elk can be made after 4 or 5pm. That's not the rule, that's just when the elk come out of the woods at the end of the day.

There are numerous settlements in GSMNP where they've preserved the original homes. My daughter went upstairs in the Cataloochie Valley's Palmer House. Apparently there's bats living in the attic. It was a tough time getting her back out of the house.

For photos I've taken, take a look at THIS THREAD (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=488609&highlight=meigs). I guess I could have just said that to begin with, but I like talking about the Smokys.

I also have a short primer on ND filters on that thread. Note on some nomenclature changes I've noticed: ND2, ND4, and ND8 filters are now called ND.3, ND.6, and ND.9 respectively. They still cut the light the same and affect the f-stops the same.

[stathunter]

Have fun. It is a great place with lots of tourist traps---- enjoy them.

[BillsBayou]

Have fun. It is a great place with lots of tourist traps---- enjoy them.

Pigeon Forge is the worst. At least Gatlinburg is limited by the amount of growth it can make. Downtown is one tourist shop after another interspersed with restaurants.

GO AND EAT AT CALHOUNS! Damned fine ribs. Very kid friendly. It's the restaurant with the waterwheel out front. It's at the higher end of traffic light numbers in Gatlinburg.

Pigeon Forge suffers from poor planning and big tracts of land. It's as if you took every bad idea for milking tourists of their money and put them all in just a few miles of highway.

If you like outlet malls, there's one or two in Sevierville.

If you need to take the kids to the show, the only one in the area (that I know of) is north of everything at 713 Winfield Dunn Parkway. It's behind Buddy's BBQ and easy to pass up.

[Stephie Baby]

Thanks for this thread! I'm traveling from Chicago to Gatlinburg in June. Now I have a ton of places to go. I've been to Clingman's Dome before and its amazing!!

Are you flying? I was going to take my camera, but I was afraid TSA would harass me about it. :-(