Camping in Fall Creek Falls Area--Advice?

I'm planning a Fall photography trip to the Smokies in Oct and wanted to camp at Fall Creek Falls SP for a couple days before arriving in Cades Cove. I'm told that the campground at FCF is under construction/renovation and currently they only have 90 sites open and all are fist-come, first-served (no reservations). I'll be arriving around the 15th or 16th of Oct and will be towing a small pop-up trailer.

Can anyone recommend an alternative place to camp that is relatively close to FCF? (I still want to do some hiking/photography there.) I'm afraid that arriving at FCF on a weekend in the Fall I might not be able to get a camp site without a reservation so I need to have a back-up plan. Are there any other parks, national forest camps, or COE campgrounds nearby? (I don't need hookups and I tend to shy away from commercial campgrounds.)

Any advice appreciated! Thanks.

I came across the construction problem this spring too, we tried the Mountain Glen RV park which is about 10 miles from the park down a narrow country road and loved it. It is set up for RV's, trailers, popups,unfortunately tent sites are not so good as none are level. Very quiet, clean. There are other campgroungs in the area but you have to be very careful and do your homework. Also, by this fall more of the FCF park sites should be back open, I would call them in September. RandyB

Thanks for the tip about Mountain Glen. I'll have to look them up. Hopefully they can get the FCF campground finished before the Fall.