ThunderChunky

Me and a buddy are looking to go camping at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park around May/ June. Just wondering what the back country camping was like there at this time? Are they pretty lenient or is there designated sites for the back country camping. Cause we are just going with sleeping bag, pack, and a little hooch tent. Nothing ridiculous and really don't want to be confined to a traditional camper with 30 foot tents and RV sites.

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ShredLife

Bear bag your food for sure. Closest in proximity I've ever been to a black bear was in the smokies...

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get the hell off my lawn.

ThunderChunky

We definitely will. We are most likely gonna just bring a few MREs. Packing as light as possible since we plan on packing up our shit and hiking around the park with it.

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ShredLife

If you can travel with access to water I'd use bulk/backpacking food instead. Saves a lot of space/weight compared to mres

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get the hell off my lawn.

ThunderChunky

Might do that. He is probably just gonna have MREs since he gets em free and I'm not sure about me. We are just gonna pack about a gallon of water between the two of us and just get the rest from streams and heat it up. It's only a three day trip because that's all they allow for back country. Probably gonna have a few of those add water meals and eat some of his MREs.

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linvillegorge

In the NP itself, the only (legal) camping is in designated backcountry sites. Pretty sure most, if not all of them, have bear proof storage units now.

I wouldn't pack a gallon of water. A good chunk of the Great Smokies are technically classified as a temperate rainforest. Unless it's a really, REALLY dry spell, there's a water source in every little valley.

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"People say that marijuana smoking is going to get in the way of my career. I say to them that on the contrary, my fighting career is getting in the way of my marijuana smoking." -Nick Diaz

ShredLife

One thing about mres is - you're not in a war zone so no littering. You'll likely have to pack around all the dirty packaging... Basically 0 serious backpackers use mres. Check out the sawyer (i think that's the brand) squeeze pouch water filter...

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get the hell off my lawn.

ThunderChunky

Thanks for the help. Are the sites like single sites to your self. I read a few trip reports from there and they said there were other hikers that were at the site, but they stayed at a shelter. Looking to stay at a site away from other people. Don't really feel like camping with a bunch of strangers.

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linvillegorge

There's quite a few of them and they're spread out quite a bit. Pretty sure you have to reserve them, so you should be able to see if anyone else is gonna be there.

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"People say that marijuana smoking is going to get in the way of my career. I say to them that on the contrary, my fighting career is getting in the way of my marijuana smoking." -Nick Diaz

ThunderChunky

This is nice to know. We actually didn't want to pack any more water than just our two canteens, but figured we'd play it safe. Nice to know now we can just have our canteens and be able to get water fairly easy.

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