Pigeon Forge Trip

My parents booked a cabin for my family (parents, siblings, nieces/nephews, etc..) in Pigeon Forge last week. We missed the Jeep Invasion by one week unfortunately!

It was a great trip, and we had some good time with the family. Despite the weather being hot/humid, and outdoor activities being difficult with small kids, I got to go out a day into the Smoky Mountains. Nothing difficult by any means, but it made me really excited for future adventures.

First things first. My wife and I went to Townsend a day early to go to the Cades Cove Outpost Seven Slot Supply! This store was amazing. Everything from Jeep merch to bumpers/lights.




It was well worth the stop. My son and I bought shirts!

On our way out of Townsend we stopped by the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company Museum. Steam engines have always been extremely interesting to me. So seeing this old Shay logging engine built in 1909 was a lot of fun.



After doing tourist things with the family, I took an opportunity to venture out to Greenbrier Road. A less popular entrance into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The temperature dropped as soon as I got back into the park, and the humidity seemed to disappear. This was a welcome change from the weather we had been experiencing all week. The cool breeze and mist coming off of the Little Pigeon River felt amazing. The rush of the water drowned out the sound of the Gladiator through most of the road. This drive turned out to be exactly what I needed.

Parsons Branch road is accessible from cades cove loop, again nothing too challenging for even a stock jeep but it's beautiful and you end up on the dragon which makes for a cool drive home too. Make sure you have plenty of gas before heading out as it's a good haul between cades cove and back. If you need gas when exiting Parsons Branch road make a left to go to the start of the tail of the dragon, if you make a right it's 50+ miles to a station

bleda2002 said:

Parsons Branch road is accessible from cades cove loop, again nothing too challenging for even a stock jeep but it's beautiful and you end up on the dragon which makes for a cool drive home too. Make sure you have plenty of gas before heading out as it's a good haul between cades cove and back. If you need gas when exiting Parsons Branch road make a left to go to the start of the tail of the dragon, if you make a right it's 50+ miles to a station

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I’ll have to remember Parsons Branch Road for the future. I was wanting to hit Rich Mountain Road off of the Cades Cove loop as well. Sadly my wife was pretty nauseous due to all of the curvy roads, so we didn’t get to explore much. My Gladiator being a manual didn’t help things.

One of the backroads we took into and out of Gatlinburg had some turns that required me to downshift to first gear because of how tight they were!

My wife and I did a Tennessee, Kentucky and Maryland road trip last year (pre-Jeep days). We flew into Knoxville, rented a car and hit the road. Hit Dollywood (of course), did a Pink Jeep tour through the Smoky's and hung around in Gatlinburg for a few days. Then drove to Kentucky we did a bourbon distillery tour. Then drove to Maryland for some crab.

While in Tennessee and Kentucky (first time for both of us), we must've said 2 dozens times, "I could live here.". Unbelievably beautiful.

Mud Pie said:

My wife and I did a Tennessee, Kentucky and Maryland road trip last year (pre-Jeep days). We flew into Knoxville, rented a car and hit the road. Hit Dollywood (of course), did a Pink Jeep tour through the Smoky's and hung around in Gatlinburg for a few days. Then drove to Kentucky we did a bourbon distillery tour. Then drove to Maryland for some crab.

While in Tennessee and Kentucky (first time for both of us), we must've said 2 dozens times, "I could live here.". Unbelievably beautiful.

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They absolutely are. I completely understand that.

We want to go visit Maryland sometime! We’ve heard great things about it.

That sounds like such a great mixed‑family and wheeling trip. I love those moments where you sneak off for some solo driving time after family plans.

Mud Pie said:

My wife and I did a Tennessee, Kentucky and Maryland road trip last year (pre-Jeep days). We flew into Knoxville, rented a car and hit the road. Hit Dollywood (of course), did a Pink Jeep tour through the Smoky's and hung around in Gatlinburg for a few days. Then drove to Kentucky we did a bourbon distillery tour. Then drove to Maryland for some crab.

While in Tennessee and Kentucky (first time for both of us), we must've said 2 dozens times, "I could live here.". Unbelievably beautiful.

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Tennessee is a beautiful state, the parks are incredible and the lakes offer a lot of seasonal activities. However living here 14 years has been too long . My stay here is just about over and I’m more than anxious to leave. I could list a mile long things that are NOT so good… yeah the pro’s diminished quickly after experiencing some backwards thinking.

The Smoky Mountains area is my favorite area to visit. Looks like you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing! I'd love to retire there someday.

The Smoky mountains is my favorite place to visit. We try to go every year. We just did Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg again as well and it is always a blast. We tried a couple of the Jeep Badge of Honor trails close by but most were closed during our trip. We got to hit one though.

Wmkresse said:

The Smoky mountains is my favorite place to visit. We try to go every year. We just did Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg again as well and it is always a blast. We tried a couple of the Jeep Badge of Honor trails close by but most were closed during our trip. We got to hit one though.

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That looks like a good trail! I think I’ve definitely fallen in love with the Smokies. We will definitely be going back for hopefully some more trails!

Which BOH trails did you complete there? I only saw one on my app and it was unfortunately too advanced for my current setup.

If you need to enter the area from the west, check out the Cherohala Skyway. Tellico Plains, Tennessee, to Robbinsville, North Carolina. Scenic Byway. Ends up next to Tail of the Dragon.

Wmkresse said:

The Smoky mountains is my favorite place to visit. We try to go every year. We just did Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg again as well and it is always a blast. We tried a couple of the Jeep Badge of Honor trails close by but most were closed during our trip. We got to hit one though.

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Yeah which trail is this?

GregtheGrey said:

That looks like a good trail! I think I’ve definitely fallen in love with the Smokies. We will definitely be going back for hopefully some more trails!

Which BOH trails did you complete there? I only saw one on my app and it was unfortunately too advanced for my current setup.

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This was Brown Mountain. It’s on the BOH app and about 2-3 hours from pigeon Forge. We did Windrock Park last year, and that was sure something

bleda2002 said:

Yeah which trail is this?

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Brown Mountain OHV, Morganton NC

bd100 said:

If you need to enter the area from the west, check out the Cherohala Skyway. Tellico Plains, Tennessee, to Robbinsville, North Carolina. Scenic Byway. Ends up next to Tail of the Dragon.

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That sounds awesome. Thanks for the recommendation!