Bicycling

Jim Bennett Photo

Where to Bike in the Smokies

Bicycles can travel on most roads within the park. However, due to steep terrain, narrow road surfaces, and heavy automobile traffic, many park roads are not well suited for safe and enjoyable bicycle riding.

Cades Cove Loop Road is an exception. The 11-mile one-way road is a popular bicycling area. It provides bicyclists with excellent opportunities for wildlife viewing and touring 19th-century homesites. Cades Cove access is motor vehicle-free all day on Wednesdays from May through September to provide opportunities for pedestrians and cyclists to experience Cades Cove without motor vehicles. During summer and fall, bicycles may be rented at the campground store (located near Cades Cove Campground).

There are no mountain biking trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Gatlinburg Trail, the Oconaluftee River Trail, and the lower Deep Creek Trail are the only park trails on which bicycles are allowed. Bicycles are prohibited on all other park trails.

Other areas suitable for bicyclists include the roads in the Greenbrier and Tremont areas in Tennessee, and the Cataloochee Valley and Lakeview Drive in North Carolina. Download a park map to locate these areas.

Safety

Safety is always a major concern where cars and bicycles must share the road. The states of North Carolina and Tennessee require that children age 16 and under wear helmets. We strongly recommend that all riders wear helmets, use rear view mirrors, and ride properly-fitted and well-maintained bicycles. Please obey all traffic regulations

Only Class 1 and Class 2 electric bikes (e-bikes) are permitted in the park. All bikes must follow the posted speed limit of 20 miles per hour.

Mountain Biking Nearby

Mountain biking trails are open on national forest and recreation lands outside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For information on mountain biking near the park, please visit the following pages:

Chattahoochee National Forest
Cherokee National Forest
Nantahala National Forest
Pisgah National Forest
Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area
Mount Rogers National Recreation Area
Tsali Recreation Area

 

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