GSMNP To Charge For Parking Starting Next Year

For the first time, Great Smoky Mountains National Park will charge a fee for parking.  Beginning next March visitors will have to pay $5 for a daily parking pass, $15 for a weekly parking pass or $40 for an annual parking pass.  The money will go towards park upkeep.  Camping fees are also going up.  Backcountry camping fees will be $8 a night and frontcountry camping fees will be $30 a night for primitive sites and $36 a night for sites with electric hookups.  There is no fee to enter Great Smoky Mountains Nation Park, use of park roads will remain toll-free and parking for less than 15 minutes will also be free.