Cosby Campground

Cosby is an absolute gem of a campground in the national park. It's the postcard campground for those that don't have to have hook ups. It's never busy, it's quiet, spacious sites and great hiking trails all around. It's the typical amenities for the park with shower less bath houses and water spigots along the road. We were there in the middle of summer and there were not many people camping. If you reserve online and it says no sites available, call the park. Most likely there are plenty of sites since only 28 I think it is are reservable online out of 165 sites.

There is a dump station that is easy access on the way in to stop and fill water tanks at. It's a little tricker turning into it when leaving and depending on your length you might want to plan on going through the parking lot and exiting out of it and across to the DS.

Access to the campground is easy from I-40 and it's paved two lane roads the entire way.

There are no hookups for power or sewer. Some areas are no generator areas. There are restrooms and dish washing sinks at all the restrooms. No showers. The other reviewer did a good job. Most of the sites are walkups and there are many more tent sites than rv. There are only a few reserve-able sites. B88 is the best rv site in this park in my opinion. A21 is also nice. There are no bad sites just a few better than others. The nature trail is a short very nice trail of about 1 mile. There is a waterfall about 2.2 miles down a trail that a lot of people walked to and their kids went swimming there. Do not know what is at the falls. It is only about 30 miles to Gatlinburg Tn. if you like crowds and tourist stuff. We went through Gatlinburg but we liked the quiet of Cosby much better. There is no att cell service at the campground but at the bottom of the hill just outside the park there is a gravel area where you can get cell service.

We came later on a Sunday and there were lots of spots open. Trails and creeks are nearby. Short drive to Gatlinburg and Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
There are bears in the area and they caught one in our campground one of the nights we were there.
Bathrooms are super clean but no showers.
Very peaceful and the rangers are always around.

Monday late September. We booked online on our way in and arrived after dark to stay before heading into Great Smoky Mountains Park. We enjoyed a beer on the table before it started pouring and it sent us inside the camper to make leftovers and read.

Campground was beautiful, super tall amazing trees. Not a ton of privacy but hard to tell it was so empty.

Note: if you plan to do the park, the Roaring Fork Motor Trail is entered through Gatlinburg, BEFORE the park. So pump the Johnny Cash and hang a left before the Bubba Gump Shrimp to enjoy that awesome loop.

Also great top 12 list: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/12-things-cant-miss-first-visit-great-smoky-mountains/2/

This is a beautiful wooded campground in the smoky mountains. With over 150 sites there are only nine designated RV sites. However, this is not mentioned in their online information. When we arrived to our campsite a 21, we found we were maybe 10 feet from another very large camper on one side. On the other side was a small stream and footpath. Behind us were the bathrooms. The site was extremely cramped. However many of the sites were empty so we tried to change our site. The problem was there were no camp rangers for three days, the office was closed, and the hosts were not on-site and we had no bars to call out on. We drove away out of the park and made a reservations change to a tent site only. This really a campground for tents primarily.

Site a3 was the worst! Family had site a1 and it was better. Very difficult to get into. Really not a good park for rv’s/trailers. Ok for small vans. Everything is very steep. No flat areas.

Site a3 was horrible. Might be ok for a small van. Family had a1 and it was much better. Not good for rv/trailers.