About Cades Cove Overlook (Foothills Parkway)
The Foothills Parkway gives you the Smokies from the north, from a ridge about 1,500 feet above the valley floor, and this pull-off in the Walland to Wears Valley "Missing Link" is one of the places where that angle pays off. You are looking south across the lowland of Tuckaleechee and Dry Valley toward the long ridge that closes in Cades Cove from the other side.
The view
On a clear day the high Smokies line up across the horizon: the shoulders of Cove Mountain and Rich Mountain, with Thunderhead and the Gregory Bald side of the range farther west behind them. Cades Cove itself lies below the visible skyline, so don't expect to see its meadows; what you see is the wall of mountains that keeps it private. The view works best in the second half of the day, when low sun picks out the ridges from the haze.
It is also a good place to understand how the Smokies are built. The Foothills Parkway follows a lower, older ridge than the park's own crest, and the contrast between the two is obvious from this pull-off.
About the Parkway
The 16-mile Missing Link, finished in 2018 after more than fifty years of building, connects Walland to Wears Valley and carries relatively light traffic. Pull-offs are numerous, small and only lightly signed, so use the Foothills Parkway page and the NPS conditions page before you go. The Parkway closes in winter ice, and sections close for rockfall or maintenance without much warning.
- Time to allow: 10 to 20 minutes here, 45 minutes for the full Parkway drive end to end if you stop twice.
- Facilities: none. Fill the tank and use restrooms in Walland or Townsend first.
- Tip: the mileposts on the Parkway are small green posts; photograph the one beside the pull-off so you can find it again.
Combine it with the drive to Cades Cove via Townsend (a 40-minute connection) for a day that shows the park from above and then from inside.
Good to know
- Do I need a parking tag?
- A Park It Forward parking tag ($5 a day, $15 a week or $40 a year) is required for any vehicle parked more than 15 minutes inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Entry is free, and federal passes such as America the Beautiful do not replace the tag.
