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Parking fee in Smokies aims to improve visitor experience
Visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will still be able to drive through the park with no entrance fee, but anyone who plans to park for a while
Parking Fee In Smokies Aims To Improve Visitor Experience
By Sinclaire Carr
scarr@themountaineer.com
Aug 16, 2022
Visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will still be able to drive through the park with no entrance fee, but anyone who plans to park for a while will soon have to purchase a parking tag.
The Park It Forward parking tag program will cost $5 to park for a day, $15 for up to a week and $40 for a parking tag that’s good all year long.
The decision comes after months of collecting public comment. A total of 15,512 comments were collected:
• 51% offered support for the program
• 34% made neutral comments
• 15% opposed
Haywood’s response to the parking tag program was largely neutral, coming in with 34.7% of comments supporting, 50% neutral and 15.3% opposing the parking tag program.
“Those negative comments did weigh heavy on us,” said Smokies Superintendent Cassius Cash. “We want the park to remain around for the next generation, and we want to still be the most visited park. This will allow us to meet and exceed people’s expectations.”
The parking tag program offers the park a way to raise funds without establishing an entrance fee, keeping true to an agreement that was made when the park was being formed in the early 1930s.
As descendants of Cataloochee area residents can attest, tensions were high between locals who lived on the land and the federal government trying to preserve the natural area.
But today, increased visitation has put pressure on the park to keep up with public demands. Entrance fees at major national parks are standard, some up to $35 per vehicle or $20 per person.
The Smokies gets more visitors than a few popular western national parks combined — Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. A little more than 14 million visits to the Smokies were recorded in 2021, while each of the western parks netted fewer than 5 million.
“When you get that kind of use, that means we have deferred maintenance. The other piece is will it increase the number of flat hats in the park, the rangers, and we’ll be able to hire the staff that the park needs to improve things that are directly tied to the visitor experience,” Cash said.
As far as enforcing the use of the tags, park rangers will be authorized to write citations for not displaying a tag, but the park would first aim to educate visitors about the importance of Park It Forward and the benefits gained from it.
“This is not a change that we’re looking to make overnight. We know it will take some time for people to get used to it, so we’ll be using a wide range of tools for compliance,” Cash said. “We want people to understand that we’re reasonable.”
As for finding a place to park, a parking tag will not guarantee a spot. The tags will not be location specific, and roadside parking will no longer be allowed. The tags will be good only for designated parking areas.
“We’ll never have enough parking to accommodate everyone, but we have plenty of parking opportunities across the park,” Cash said.
Parking tags will be required starting March 1, 2023.
Camping Fees
Along with the parking tag program, the cost for camping in the park will increase to fund upkeep of the camping facilities.
Backcountry camping fees will be $8 per night, with a maximum of $40 per camper.
Frontcountry family campsite fees will be $30 per night for primitive sites and $36 per night for sites with electrical hookups.
Group camps, horse camps, and picnic pavilions fees will primarily increase by between 20 and 30 percent depending on group size and location.
Rates for daily rental of the Appalachian Clubhouse and Spence Cabin in Elkmont will be $300 and $200, respectively. For a complete listing of all rates, visit the park website at nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/2023-fees.htm.
