Hey, first time back country guy here. Me and a buddy are looking to go on a three day trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in May/June. We want to stay in the back country section, but have a few questions. So there are shelters and sites. (Kinda stupid question) What's the difference? I kinda guessed the shelter is obviously....a shelter. So the sites are just a random site with no tampering? We want to actually camp, not the whole nice little lot with picnic tables and cleared out area. Do you have to stay at a designated site? I really just wanna know if these sites are solitary or shared? Also wondering if we could move to different sites as we would be moving through the park? Just in general inquiry what it is like staying at the sites and hiking through the park, tips, etc?


We are packing as light as possible and planning to see as much as we can in the three days. Which we should be able to do since we have both done ruck marches and been in this situation before being in the military.

Thanks in advance for the help. Pretty new to the whole scene so go easy. He'd be coming from his stationed camp in NC and I'd be coming from Western New York.