Updated April 10, 2026 08:31AM
Cades Cove is spectacular. Not in a Niagara Falls, “in your face” sort of way, but in a subtle, “notice the dance between shadow and light” sort of way. Bright green mountains rise steeply from a grassy valley and then taller mountains, a deep shade of blue, rising higher beyond that first row of peaks, and then another ridgeline beyond that…rows of mountains progressing in lighter shades of blue that eventually melt into the sky. Broad meadows are hemmed in by lush hardwoods with horses frolicking in the grass between the forested border.
I’m not the only one who thinks this pastoral valley inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) is gobsmacking. I’m sitting in a long line of traffic just to get a peek. Cades Cove is one of the most popular destinations in the most visited national park in the country. According to the park service’s visitation survey, almost half of all GSMNP’s visitors plan to see Cades Cove during their visit. The cove will see more people in a month than some national parks see in a calendar year. And they’re all crammed into the same 11-mile, one-way loop road around the valley.
It took me about three hours to make it around the entire cove with the traffic. The crazy part? Cades Cove is so stunning, I didn’t mind the traffic and the crowds. It made me realize that everyone should carve out a little time on their next adventure to see the obvious places. I’m talking about the destinations on the postage stamps. The scenes on the posters. Old Faithful, the Grand Canyon (not from a secret vantage point that takes hours to hike to, but from the South Rim, the same spots that the tour buses stop at for photos), Jackson Lake, The Narrows; the list is endless.
A Case for Not Skipping the Greatest Hits
I’ve spent my career writing about under-appreciated gems and destinations away from the crowds. I’ve lost track of the number of articles I’ve written about the alternatives to these obvious places with headlines like “Skip the Crowds at Yosemite Valley; Go Here Instead.”
It’s my job to find solitude, peace, and quiet. Seeking a slice of wilderness away from the masses is important. I’m a firm believer that those moments of zen in the middle of nowhere are good for our souls.
I had avoided Cades Cove for decades solely because I knew it would be crowded, but I was being a snob. There’s a reason why that scene, the one with people stacked three deep trying to catch a glimpse, is on the poster. Yosemite Valley, Old Faithful, Angels Landing, Cades Cove…these places are absolutely stunning and worth all of the hassle. These places are worth your time and effort, not just because they’re beautiful, but because they draw a crowd. There’s something to be said for standing shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of strangers and staring at something gorgeous. Especially in 2026, when we seem to have less and less we can agree on in this country.
Sharing the Stoke With Others
A couple of years ago, I was on a trip through Yellowstone National Park. I was hitting some lesser-known corners of that park, seeing thermal features that aren’t on a lot of people’s radar. Usually, they require longer approach hikes. But some of the other people I was with wanted to see Old Faithful. So we went to Old Faithful Basin and stood in a crowd of people and waited for one of the most dependable natural wonders of the world to put on a show. I thought about skipping the whole scene and finding a beer somewhere, but I’m glad I stuck it out. When this geyser shot hot, steaming liquid more than 100 feet into the air, I couldn’t help but smile and look at the random dude next to me and say, “Holy shit!” And he smiled at me and said, “I know!”
I finally hiked Angel’s Landing this past winter. I had been to Zion National Park at least half a dozen times previously, but never bothered with Angel’s Landing because it was always so packed. The hike is so popular, you literally have to win the lottery to experience it these days.
On this trip, I started my hike very early in the hopes of avoiding the masses. And it worked. I got up to the rocky outcropping and enjoyed the view in relative solitude. I hung out on the outcropping for a while, but when more people started to show up, I decided to make my way back down the sketchy out-and-back traverse.
On the way back, I encountered a woman who was battling her fear of heights. She was paralyzed in fear, with only about 50 yards of rock left to navigate before she felt she could say she had hiked Angel’s Landing. So I helped her. I walked back to the end for the second time while she held a hand on my shoulder for stability. Being able to see this woman’s face as she got to enjoy the view was so much better than the view itself. I’ll remember the look on her face long after I forget the scene of the landscape.
The Obvious Places Are Our Country’s Highlight Reel
It’s easy to brush past these obvious destinations in pursuit of something more private, but these overcrowded views are an important part of the legacy of our national park system. Old Faithful’s splendor is one of the reasons President Grant established Yellowstone National Park, the very first such land designation in the world. These obvious places help weave the fabric of America’s identity, and they shouldn’t be an afterthought. They should be appreciated as our country’s highlight reel.
I understand what I’m saying here sounds a little counterintuitive. It’s like a music critic suggesting you should spend some time listening to a certain band’s Greatest Hits album instead of diving into their deeper cuts. But have you listened to The Beatles’ compilation of their 20 number-one hits? It’s literally nothing but bangers.
And being able to see one of the bangers from America’s greatest hits album, like El Capitan rising from Yosemite Valley, with a bunch of random people crowded into a viewpoint, is an important part of the experience. To continue the pop music metaphor, it’s like being in a bar when an impromptu singalong of “Tiny Dancer” erupts. For that three-and-a-half minutes, all 75 people in that bar are on the same page, sharing the same emotions and thinking the same thing: life is amazing. And it is.
When you’re standing in a crowd, looking at something beautiful, something so stunning that an entire society has decided to prioritize its protection, it’s easy to glance at the crowd and think, “people are alright.”
So maybe carve out more than a little time to visit these obvious places. Maybe sit there and watch the crowds ebb and flow, and marvel at how thousands of perfect strangers have all designed their cherished vacations around the same thing: seeing this beautiful view. Because that idea—a bunch of accountants and school teachers and CEOs and project managers spending their hard-earned free time inside a national park so they could see something pretty—might even be more beautiful than the view itself.
I admit that I rarely feel a sense of communal wellbeing when I’m sitting in rush hour traffic, but when you add the gorgeous landscape of Cades Cove to the mix, and the realization that we’re all crowded into this pastoral valley for the exact same reason, I get a warm fuzzy feeling. Raise your hand if you could use a bit more of those warm fuzzy feelings these days?
Go to the obvious places. There are warm fuzzies all over them.
Graham Averill is Outside magazine’s national parks columnist. He thinks the perfect visit to any national park has to include at least some time enjoying the park’s greatest hits, even if it’s crowded. He recently wrote about riding E-mountain bikes in Moab.
