Two years ago, my buddy and I did a 3 day trip in the Smoky Mountains called the Maddron Bald Loop. If my memory serves me right, we left from the Cosby Campground in the park. I think the loop was about 18 miles over three days. Quite easy as far as the hiking was concerts. Lots of beautiful creek crossings, a really nice waterfall, amazing woods hiking, and an old growth forest section. The sites we stayed at were both beautiful. There was another family traveling in the same direction at both sites both nights, however, the sites were tiered and secluded so we couldn't see or hear them. The sites are not technically sites like a campground which are number per small group. The sites are more like a dispersed camping area where there are 8 sites within a fair size area. Those 8 sites are all given on site number. The first site was along a gorgeous creek with cascades and ferns everywhere. The second site was on the edge of a ledge. The site was fantastic until night came. The winds swept down of the ledge and shook the tent like I was free falling from a plane. As for the high point, Maddron Bald, the was a bit of a bummer, only because I am pretty short and the weather was not in our favor. The bald was to have the views of the weekend, but I could see over the shrubs. I think anyone over 6' foot would have nice views. I am a summit and views kind of guy, who fell in love with this woods, river, waterfall trip. I would do it again in a second.

If view are your thing, skip Clingmans and do LeConte instead. I day hiked 13 miles to Clingman's summit from the "Road to Nowhere." It was really uneventful the whole hike until the summit.

Mt. LeConte via any option is awesome as is Charlie's Bunion. There are shelters near both.

*One negative to watch out for- do not keep valuables in your car. I didn't have any problem in Crosby, however, every backpackers' car on the "Road to Nowhere" had blow out windows- a real bummer.