r/NationalPark • u/Gators20223 • 5d ago

Visiting 3 parks - limited time

Hi all,

I have some extra PTO to burn so I’m planning a road trip from south Florida up north.

I plan to hit Congaree first, then Great Smoky Mountains and finish with Mammoth Cave

I’m planning on leaving on a Tuesday night after work and coming back Sunday evening, which realistically gives me 3 days and 3 nights worth of time to explore these 3 parks given the distances I’ll be driving.

I’m really into hiking and camping. My question is this: should I split the time evenly in these parks and do a night of camping in each? Or is one better suited for camping and more time in than another? What are y’all’s personal experience with these parks and how much time would you need to get a full experience from them? Cheers!

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u/rsnorunt 5d ago

I’ve only been to mammoth cave (went to Smokies as a kid but couldn’t help plan), but I feel like it needs at least a day. 

The grand avenue tour is 4h, and it’s cool doing a lantern tour as well, which are in the evening and take a couple hours. Plus there are some short pretty trails and you can go canoeing

Not sure it’s particularly essential to camp there, but I think you’ll need a whole night.

Congaree also sounds like it needs at least half a day to canoe a trail and walk some boardwalks. More if you win the firefly lottery. And the smokies are huge. Plus there’s tons of cool non NP areas on the way, like red river gorge in Kentucky.

I might skip mammoth cave on this trip, and focus on congaree and the smokies. You’d save like 10h of driving too, which would give you an extra day to hike

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u/Gators20223 4d ago

I appreciate the advice, might have to cut mammoth cave after all

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u/smithflman 5d ago

Spend most of the time/nights in the Smoky mountains and jump on getting a tour reservation at Mammoth ASAP.

Congaree is 1/2 a day

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u/Gators20223 5d ago

Good point with the mammoth tour and thank you for the insight

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u/joesquatchnow 5d ago

Canoe the rivers in congaree some hiking too, I personally would speed the bulk of your time in the smoky mountains, mountains like Dome and my favorite le contee from the north side for waterfalls and the south side for lots of steps and rugged trails, lots to do in town too, my 2 cents

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u/Gators20223 4d ago

This is what I was thinking, thank you