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Cades Cove is more than a lush mountain valley. It combines both beauty and an abiding sense of history as one of the most popular destinations in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

A wide array of historic buildings dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries is scattered throughout the cove. These include a grist mill, a variety of barns, three churches, and a collection of log homes and outbuildings. An 11-mile one-way loop road takes you around the cove.

Herb Handly, executive director of the Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitors Bureau, suggests that visitors do more than just drive the loop.

"Allocate enough time so that you can get in and explore the cove and not just view it through a windshield," Handly said. "Cades Cove probably has more historical structures than any of the national parks in the nation. You need to allocate the time to visit those important structures. Actually, walking through the fields, you get a totally different perspective of Cades Cove."

Handly also suggests a little research before visiting.

"If people really want to get the best experience from a trip into Cades Cove, they should visit the Townsend Visitor's Center and/or the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center where they can get a lot of questions answered about Cades Cove and its history," Handly said. "We think that it would enhance the experience if that visitor were able to go into Cades Coves and know a little bit about its history and background."

Leafer's paradise

Located nine miles from Townsend, Cades Cove is a leafer's paradise.

"Leaf viewing is obviously spectacular in the fall as well as how everything begins to green in the spring," Handly said. "Cades Cove is a four-season destination. The way it looks in the spring is much different than the way it will look in the summer, fall and winter. Its personality changes with the seasons."

The Cades Cove experience also includes:

A visitor center (open daily), rest rooms and the Cable Mill historic area are located half-way around the loop road.

Numerous trails originate in the cove, including the five-mile round-trip trail to Abrams Falls and the short Cades Cove Nature Trail. Longer hikes to Thunderhead Mountain and Rocky Top also begin in the cove.

Several designated back country campsites (camping by permit only) are located along trails.

Only bicycle and foot traffic are allowed on the loop road from sunrise until 10 a.m. every Saturday and Wednesday morning from early May until late September.

A campground with 159 sites is open year round in Cades Cove. Tents and RVs up to 35 feet can be accommodated in the campground. Call (877) 444-6777 or visit http://www.recreation.gov to reserve a site.

The Anthony Creek horse camp is located nearby and offers easy access to the back country. Call (877) 444-6777 or visit http://www.recreation.gov to reserve a site.

Be patient

Because of its popularity, traffic will be heavy in Cades Cove during the tourist season in summer and fall and on weekends year-round.

"Be patient," park spokesman Bob Miller said. "You can expect heavy traffic during the peak seasons in Cades Cove. Be prepared that it might take several hours, but enjoy the ride. Pull off the road if you stop to see the animals. It would really help traffic if you'd be considerate and pull over. Weekdays are better than weekends, but in mid-summer you can expect it to be congested anytime.

In 2006, 1.3 million visitors drove, hiked or biked the 11-mile Loop Road around the Cove. That means about one in every seven visitors to the Smokies spent time in Cades Cove last year. During the summer months it can take three to four hours to make the 11-mile trip because so many people are jammed into the Cove. Visitation has increased dramatically in the past few decades --the park estimates a 300 percent increase from 1976 to 1997 alone.

"The traffic at times can be pretty intense," Handly said. "We think it's best that our visitors to Cades Cove exercise patience and enjoy the experience and not to go in there rushed."

With a National Park Service decision on possible mass transportation alternatives for Cades Cove still in the future, local citizens and a nonprofit conservation association have teamed to develop a voluntary shuttle service for the cove. Randy Boyd, founder of Radio Systems Corp., put up $250,000 of his own money to purchase a vehicle to shuttle visitors from the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center for a tour of the cove.

Visitors would have to pay a small fee to use the shuttle, a 19-passenger hybrid bus, which would be used to offset operational costs. It would be completely voluntary and is not affiliated with the National Park Service.

Alissa McMahon, senior program coordinator with the Southeast regional office of the National Parks Conservation Association, said the shuttle should be operational by July.

"We are nearly complete with the business plan," McMahon said. "It should be available within the next month. We're working on development and marketing and advertising plan as well as the interpretive tour portion."

"Our hope is that the Cades Cove tour will be in operations for the peak months," Handly said. "Each of the gateway communities, meaning Gatlinburg and Cherokee, N.C., provide some sort of service into the national park. We're excited that now Townsend can offer service into Cades Cove. We think it's an excellent way to really be able to relax, enjoy and have a great experience when you have somebody else that is chauffeuring you and at the same time telling the story of Cades Cove. While this may not be for everybody, we do think many of our visitors will enjoy seeing Cades Cove in that way."

Future of the Cove

The NPCA plan is unrelated to the NPS planning process for the future of Cades Cove.

The park is looking at all aspects of Cades Cove, including whether to provide more rest rooms or to build another visitors center.

Currently, the NPS is looking at five possible options for the Cades Cove area.

Alternative One: Take no action. Current management approaches will be adopted as the overall plan.

Alternative Two: Make a series of roadway improvements to the Loop Road, Sparks Lane and Hyatt Lane. Access to the cove would be maintained in its present state, but a communications system involving message signs, FM radio, telephone and Web sites would be used to alert people of traffic conditions. A small visitors center would also be built at the entrance to Cades Cove.

Alternative Three: Institute a reservations process for Cades Cove vehicle access during periods of high visitation. The communications system of Alternative Two would be used, and a separate pedestrian/bicycle route would be built. A "moderately" sized visitor center would also be built.

Alternative Four: Manage access through a peak visitation reservation and voluntary transit program. This alternative would meld the reservation system of Alternative Three along with other alternative features with a voluntary transit program during high visitation periods. The transit program would be based outside the Park.

Alternative Five: This alternative would allow for mass transit only on the Cades Cove Loop Road during peak visitation periods, coupled with other features of the other four alternatives.