We stayed in Cabin 39 Bucks Lookout. Overall, it was a really clean cabin and it did have spectacular views on two sides with a porch that wraps all the way around. If you plan to stay there, I would ask the host to address the dirty windows; the bee issue and the lack of deadbolts on the doors as a minimum. Our stay was in April 2024 and we did have bear activity on the porch as others have mentioned. One thing I noticed is there is a picture on here of the cabin from 2008. |The vast majority of the furniture, appliances and decor is the same as it was in 2008. Nothing wrong with 15+ year old things, but if you’re looking for something new or modern you might want to consider this.||There were definitely a lot of pros and cons:||Cons:||1. The downstairs storm door was broken and would not close, so it continually would bang on the glass windows of the cabin. We had to secure it against the cabin with porch furniture during a storm so that it wouldn’t potentially break itself or the cabin window.||2. Unfortunately there was a beehive on this same side of the porch, with the main view. There was an enormous swarm of bees on the porch and we were unable to go outside and enjoy that view. That is also where the grill and hot tub are located so had we wanted to use those, we wouldn’t have been able to because of the bees.||3. We are hot tub people - we have owned one for many years and have used them at various places we’ve stayed over the years. When my husband pulled the cover up on the hot tub it had a musty smell instead of a clean, chlorine type smell you would expect. It seemed dirty and smelled bad so we didn’t use it, for that reason and the bees.||3. There were many broken things. The upstairs bedroom door doesn’t close all the way. The cabin has an old 2000s-style surround sound system but the knobs are broken off it so you can’t use it. The lever is broken off the reclining chair in the living room so you can’t use that feature. The Parakeet Internet antenna is broken (we had decent wifi service nonetheless). The lampshade downstairs living room was stained with liquid. The battery is dead in the downstairs clock. The light above the sink flickers so you can’t use it. There is a broken blind on downstairs front door. One of the blinds in downstairs bedroom wouldn’t work so you couldn’t get an unobstructed exterior view from that window.|4. There were 4 stink bugs in the cabin throughout our stay which I hate. Two in living room, one in kitchen, one in downstairs bathroom.|5. All the large picture windows were very dirty even the upstairs one, which obstructs the views. |6. On the third night about 9pm we had a family of bears on the porch outside the living room/breakfast area. We had cooked a pizza in the oven and we assume they had smelled it and came looking for the source. They hung out for a bit, and walked around the kitchen side of porch and that was the last we saw them. They didn’t try to break in however, bear safety is important and the doors do not have proper deadbolts like they should. The locks and tiny slides they use as secondary locks could be easily broken so that was a little nerve wracking. There were recent reports of a bear breaking into a cabin in Gatlinburg and attacking someone - police said although his doors were locked they were not dead-bolted. I do hope the owner installs deadbolts on all the doors - there is a door on all 4 sides of the cabin. |7. Driving up a mountain is no joke and the driveway seems like it’s at least 45 degree angle and feels like you are driving straight up a wall. If you’re not used to driving on such steep grades and narrow mountain roads this could be a little unnerving.|8. Although they say there is a gate to get into the community with a code, the gate was wide open the whole time we were there and we went in and out several times. |9. The water doesn’t get that hot and when it does, it doesn’t stay that way for that long, so be prepared to spend a bit of time in between showers if multiple people need to shower.|PROS: |1. For having next to nothing updated in over a decade the place is surprisingly clean. There’s no dirt or grime build up anywhere. The appliances are old and have old appliance problems (door sticks, racks don’t come out smoothly etc) but they all work and function properly at this point.|2. Although there is a neighbor on both sides, strategically planted trees give you plenty of privacy from them, which was cool.|3. We had good internet signal the whole time.|4. The sides of the cabin we were able to get out on had spectacular views.|5. The location is a close enough drive to Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, the smoky Mountain national Park, or any other tourist spots you might want to be going to in TN.||We would personally not stay in this cabin again, but some people might be okay with...
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