KOA Campground, Townsend, TN: 9 - 14 September 2018

Reserving the site:  Made the reservation by directly calling the Townsend KOA Campground.  We paid 50.00 a night which included a 10% military discount  

Travel to site:  From Frankfort, KY it was about a 3.5 hour drive South on I-75.  In Knoxville take I-40 West to Alcoa highway.  Go South through Maryville.  The KOA in Townsend is just outside the Smokey Mountain National Park on the west side.  The roads are good and easy to navigate.  The only town traffic is going through Maryville.  .  

Checking in:  Arrived at the campground at 1500.   You have to check in at the gate coming into the campground so you may be in a line of vehicles if you check in at peak hours.   Got a mirror tag and was escorted to our site. 

 

Site:  Our site was #57.  The sites are fairly close together in the center of the campground.  The sites are angled at about 45 degrees making backing in very easy.  This was a flat gravel site angled for easy backing into with minor leveling needed front to back and side to side.  There was plenty mature trees making for shade all day which was a good thing as it was in the mid 80's all week.  Unfortunately there was no place to hang the hammocks 😞.  The site had a brick patio with a stone firepit and a patio table with 4 chairs.  It rained a few times and having the brick patio was great keeping the mud out.  The campground had 50 amp service, 2 septic hookups, cable with 28 channels, good water pressure.  All the hook-ups were close to the back of the trailer so no extension cords were needed.   

Dump Station:  There is no dump station.      

Activities:  The campground is very family oriented.  They have a swimming pool, kids playground, dog walking lot, bikes, and innertubes for floating on the Little Pigeon Forge River that flows right beside the campground.  There is a general store and ice cream shop at the campground entrance.  The entrance to the Smokey Mountains is less than a mile from the campground.  All kinds of hiking trails nearby.  Recommend you get a Smokey Mountains hiking map that shows all the waterfall locations.  Many are worth the hike.  Fall is the best time to visit the park to take advantage of the cooler weather and the leaf color.  Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are within 30 minutes  

Facilities:  There are 1 bathhouse with bathrooms that are very well maintained and 6 unisex showers. When we tent camped this was a selling point for us as the showers were extremely nice and always clean.

Overall campground:  This was a great campground with nice location near the national park.  A bit pricey buy you do have all the available amenities. We really love the trees and river that make up the campground and Townsend is a really quiet area to be so close to a national park.  Quiet time started at 2200.  It was so quiet at night you could hear the leaves falling out of the trees, made for great sleeping.  We took our own firewood.  

Our Experience

Sunday - We arrived on Sunday and set up.  Made a rookie mistake in the set-up.  Didn't chalk the wheels on BOTH sides before unhooking from truck. Trailer slipped back and almost fell off the blocks under the power jack...that would have been bad.  Had a strong rain in the evening and overnight which brought a lot of the leaves down out of the trees.  Dinner was lasagna that Jennifer made before we left home.  Relaxed for Sunday night football

Monday -   We went into Pigeon Forge and found our camping plaque then went back to the campsite to enjoy the cooler weather and a break in the rain.  Hotdogs for dinner

Tuesday - French toast for breakfast and out for a hike.  We hiked to Laurel Falls.  The trail is a short 3 mile loop but up hill all the way to the falls.  This is one of the easier waterfalls to get to.  At the top we sat for a snack and Jennifer wound up tending to another hiker that decided to fall and hit his head (once a medic always a medic).  A pasta dinner and watched the "The Hangover"

Wednesday -   We spent the day doing some organization around the RV to make it functionally more efficient.  Took a trip into Pigeon Forge to do some shopping at the Tanger Outlet shops. Jennifer partook in Moonshine Shots at Smith Creek Distillery and had to purchase some of their Orange Cream Moonshine (this should be funny to watch when she breaks it out as she is only a social drinker!)  Had a great dinner at Longhorn steak house.  Watched the "The Hangover: Part 2"

Thursday -  Pancakes for breakfast (only set the smoke alarm off once) and out for another hike .  Abrams Falls is a 5 mile loop hike located at the backside of Cades Cove.  The hike is moderate with a couple hills to climb but is shady and runs along a very scenic river. As we drove along Cades Cove we spotted some beautiful horses hanging out by the fence.  We had to stop and get some pictures of them.  Dinner was hotdogs over an open fire (Jennifer's fav).  Made use of the cool rock fire pit to burn all the rest of the firewood

Friday - Got up an out within an hour...getting this breaking down process down to a science.  We did take advantage of a local car wash that has a RV bay to get all the leaves and tree debris off the truck and trailer.  We found it cost $20 to use a carwash for the RV (this wont happen often!).

Campground rankings (best to worst) to date: #1 - Holly Bay, #2 Townsend TN KOA, #3 - Carter Caves, #4 Dale Hollow State Park, #5 Green River, #6 KY Horse Park, #7 Covered Bridges Campground

Next stop (WE HOPE) Ashville, TN; Charleston, SC; Crossville, TN.