Customer Reviews

The Best in Tent Camping: Southern Appalachian & Smokies, Third Edition: A Guide for Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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I bought this book and, first try, camped in the nicest campsite that I have ever driven a vehicle into (still can't beat some backpacking sites, but backpacking sites are not the subject of this book). Besides a descriptive narrative for each recommended campsite, there are very helpful "Key Information" and "To Get There..," sections. Use this book once and it will be worth the money.

If you like noise, crowds of people near your campsite, large RV's with cable TV, or think the best thing about the Smoky Mountains is Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, this book is not for you. If the your ideal vacation includes none of the above listed things, you will enjoy Johnny Molloy's guide to exploring and enjoying the Smoky Mountains. Well written and well researched, this book is the best I've discovered on finding off-the-beaten path campsites in the nation's most visited national park.

I've read several of Johnny Malloy's books, and his Best in Tent Camping books are a great resource for those who want to avoid the RV parking lots that many campgrounds have become. Other reviewers echo my feelings here. However, a couple of things about this particular book could be improved upon. Firstly, the others in this series that I've read by Malloy have maps of the individual campgrounds after each review, which I find to be very helpful in orienting myself, particularly when he recommends certain sites. For some odd reason, this book does not. Secondly, I was unhappy with the amount of material lifted verbatim from his "Best of Tent Camping: The Carolinas." I already own that book, and found that all of the reviews for campgrounds in North and South Carolina were identical in both. I understand that perhaps a lot of new material might not be available to add to/improve upon the descriptions. But had I known this, I might have just purchased his guide to Tennessee and Kentucky instead, since they probably would have overlapped and covered everything in this volume, plus more (with the exception of a few in Georgia). That said, I would still highly recommend this book if you aren't planning on purchasing others in the series covering the same areas.

I live near the Smoky Mountains, and was blown away by the number of campsites I didn't know existed within a 50 mile radius of my city. This is a great book for weekend trips or a small vacation on the cheap. Especially good for novice campers (like me!) who want to get away without going totally backcountry. This is a beautiful area and, though crowded in spots, this guide points you to some of the more secluded and well-maintained campsites.

The Best In Tent Camping The Southern Appalachian & Smoky Moutains
This book was very easy to navigate. The author divides the book by the four states that he reviews; North & South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. Finding the best of the best in this book is easy due to a star rating scale found on each campgrounds page. My husband and I are looking for particular attributes in a campground, so by looking up the number of stars listed for our needs it was easy to narrow the focus. Here are the criteria the campgrounds are rated against, and given stars for; Beauty, Site privacy, Site spaciousness, Quiet, Security, Cleanliness. Thumbnail maps are shown, including how to get there instructions. Key information is listed in a quick list format that is helpful which includes; address, operated by, websites, phone numbers, open dates, what each site has, fee's etc. As you read the narrative portion of the book you can tell that the author was at each and every site. He provides details of each campground such as which tent sites are the most popular for views, secluded etc. That is helpful. We can't wait to get out there and check it all out for ourselves.

We've used The Best in Tent Camping: Southern Appalachia and The Smokies for a few years now... we're not tent campers any more, having moved up to a pop-up (basically a nice tent on wheels, though), but we do appreciate a nice, quiet, campground in the woods. I despise having to hear a running generator while I'm trying to take my afternoon nap, or God forbid, when I'm trying to go to sleep at night to the sound of crickets...

The book has good descriptions of the campgrounds, with additional information on what is in the surrounding areas. We're also hikers, so the book is good for that, too, as it mentions hikes that are often near or out of the campgrounds listed.

My only dislike of the books is the maps - they're not very detailed, and pretty much worthless until you get very close to the campground, when often they're located in the middle of a national forest, so the roads aren't visibly marked on regular maps either. They could improve this feature.. but other than that, the book is worth the money - and it makes me wish I had the time to check out so many campgrounds and write a book about them.