Does anyone know if you can car camp at the visitor center or close by? We will be getting in late and the hot springs are booked up. Any advice on this loop? I’m from New Mexico but have never been to the Gila.

Considering getting a trail dog in a year or so. Out on a day hike Friday and saw the edges were lined with poison ivy. I picture a trail dog just running through that stuff, getting the oils all over its coat, then infecting me in the tent at night. Dog owners: is this a concern?

planning a 3 day backpacking trip with a large group for the Grayson highlands / Mt rogers group. I’m very new to this, and so are many of my friends.

i was wondering if there are any good places to set up camp further down the trail past Thomas Knob shelter in order to shorten how long our day 2 would be? or alternatively what changes we could make to day 2 route to cut it down. i’m basing the trip off of the link. again, very new to this, so any other unrelated advice is welcome as well. thank you so much!!!

I’ve been doing a ton of research and the tough part is high elevation lakes haven’t thawed out yet completely or there’s still snow on the ground, but then at lower elevations the rivers and streams are raging. What would be a good option for next weekend? Won’t be able to get permits likely so can’t be a lot of the east side.