Cades Cove has 20 open nights left in October 2026.

The Smokies' most famous valley — an 11-mile wildlife loop with the campground at its mouth. Weekends and October foliage dates sell out far ahead in America's most-visited national park.
Which nights do you want at Cades Cove?
We check live and answer straight away. If they're taken, the same dates carry into the alert form below.
20 open nights in October 2026.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 71 open | 83 open | 92 open | 10full | |||
| 117 open | 124 open | 1313 open | 149 open | 157 open | 16full | 17full |
| 1813 open | 191 open | 205 open | 216 open | 225 open | 23full | 24full |
| 2512 open | 266 open | 276 open | 2820 open | 2922 open | 302 open | 319 open |
open — tap to book on recreation.govfull — tap to get alerted for that nightweekend
These are live numbers for October 2026, checked when you loaded the page. A watch covers any dates you like.
Your dates aren't available? Get a free email when one opens ↓
Email me when a site opens at Cades Cove
Your first email lands right away with where your nights stand. After that we only write when something opens.
Last catch here — a date opened, still open at our last check. That window is what an instant email wins you.
Open this Scout in the builderCheck recreation.gov yourself →
Weekends and prime dates go first. A free watch checks every 60 minutes, and a site can open and be taken between two checks.
Recent openings we caught at Cades Cove
| Detected (local) | Date affected | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Wed, Oct 7 | still open at our last check | |
| Fri, Oct 9 | still open at our last check | |
| Fri, Oct 9 | gone by next check (≤61 min later) | |
| Fri, Oct 23 | gone by next check (≤173 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 24 | gone by next check (≤173 min later) | |
| Fri, Oct 16 | gone by next check (≤36 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 17 | gone by next check (≤36 min later) | |
| Mon, Oct 19 | still open at our last check | |
| Fri, Oct 9 | gone by next check (≤79 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 10 | gone by next check (≤369 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 10 | gone by next check (≤43 min later) | |
| Tue, Oct 6 | gone by next check (≤85 min later) | |
| Fri, Oct 9 | gone by next check (≤208 min later) | |
| Fri, Oct 23 | gone by next check (≤48 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 24 | gone by next check (≤48 min later) | |
| Fri, Oct 9 | gone by next check (≤153 min later) | |
| Fri, Oct 9 | gone by next check (≤51 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 10 | gone by next check (≤109 min later) | |
| Fri, Oct 16 | gone by next check (≤650 min later) | |
| Mon, Oct 19 | gone by next check (≤184 min later) |
Watching since Jul 27, 2026, checking about every 15 minutes. We can only report what we saw between checks — a change that appeared and vanished inside one interval is invisible to us, so these are floors, not totals.
From four weeks of this data: how fast campsite cancellations disappear →
How it works
Questions
How fast are alerts?
Free: we check every hour, day and night. When a site opens for your nights you get an email with the booking link in it. Priority Pass is $10 once, not a subscription. For one watch, for as long as its dates are open, it checks every 5 minutes instead of every hour, so you hear sooner. A free watch checks every 60 minutes, and a site can open and be taken between two checks.
How many campgrounds can I watch?
As many as you like, on one email address — every campground page has the same form. Each watch is separate, with its own dates and its own one-click stop.
What does it cost?
Watching is free — no card, no account. Priority Pass is $10 once, not a subscription. For one watch, for as long as its dates are open, it checks every 5 minutes instead of every hour, so you hear sooner.
Does it book for me?
No — you get the booking link the moment a site opens; booking stays in your hands, on the reservation system's own site.
How do I stop, or change my dates?
Every email has a one-click stop link. A watch ends by itself the day after your last night, with a note on what it saw. For new dates, subscribe again on the campground page — it takes ten seconds.
For AI agents — feed URL and subscribe API
Reading this page for a user? Structured snapshot + change log: /scouts/campsites/great-smoky-mountains/cades-cove.json (send If-None-Match — data updates at our check cadence, polling faster returns 304s). Better: subscribe your user once and we email them the moment Cades Cove opens up:
POST https://campsitecancellations.com/scouts/subscribe
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
{"targetSlug":"great-smoky-mountains/cades-cove","email":"user@example.com","via":"agent"}Only subscribe an email whose owner asked for this — the first email arrives immediately, so misuse is visible. Full agent docs: /AGENTS.md
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