Open year-round, this environmental education center hosts conferences, workshops, and other educational programs. The center is open to individuals and groups. On-site lodging and dining facilities allow participants to immerse themselves in center programs. Courses usually last two to six days and include subjects such as photography, backpacking, mountain crafts, Appalachian crafts, and environmental topics. The University of Tennessee Smoky Mountains Field School in Knoxville offers an array of nature programs and activities that include backpacking and hiking excursions in the park.
Programs run from two hours to two days and are mostly scheduled on the weekends.
Topics include bats, spiders, birds, forests, mosses, bears, fly fishing, nature sketching, and photography. Bicycling The park has limited areas for safe biking because roads tend to be steep and narrow, and bicycles are prohibited on trails. Cades Cove and Cataloochee Valley, however, make for pleasant biking. You can rent bicycles at the Cades Cove Campground store. Camping Park campgrounds offer 1,008 developed campsites, in addition to 100 primitive sites.