June 3, 2021
I love hearing the stream behind Hannah during the
night. Woke up to cloudy skies. I did a short walk around the campground,
talking to the owner about this and that.
Today we plan on hiking in Smokey Mountain National Park.
After breakfast, we took the short ride to the Visitor Center and got some maps. The road through Smokey Mountain is highway 441. Last time we were near here, we were warned not to take our rig on this road. This time, Paul and Merrillee’s neighbor told us how scared his wife was on this road. So, it sounded like it was going to be interesting.
From the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, we head under a canopy of tall trees. Not sure what they are… maple, sycamore and others. They are tall! We see a fixed sign that says Dense Fog Ahead. It is not a flashing sign, it is fixed, just like if it were saying a hospital is ahead. Ok… I guess that means there is fog, right?
The road climbs some but it is easy driving. It is kind of rainy and we head down the road to Clingmans Dome. It is foggy… and rainy… and really foggy. Not sure what the topography is. We see trees, and we see the yellow line in the road, but that’s about it. Spouse had always dreamed of hiking the Appalachian Trail, and it is only ½ mile ahead. It is about 50 degrees, foggy and rainy. Spouse is in shorts, I have ¾ length lightweight pants. We both have gortex jackets, and I have my trusted rain poncho. So, up the trail to the observation tower we go. It is laughable, but we go up the tower anyway and take pictures of the wet signs, then head to the Appalachian Trail. It is narrow at this point and heavily wooded. After about ¼ mile, it was turning into the Appalachian River, so we headed back up, but not before Spouse marked his territory… if you know what I mean… We can now say we hiked on the Appalachian Trail, for whatever that is worth!
Back to the truck, off with the wet clothes, and on to heated
seats… YES! I dried my phone, poor
thing. We continued north headed to
Gatlinburg. At this point, the fog is
gone, but I guess here is where the road gets gnarly. There are some dramatic hairpin turns, but
nothing terrible… we wait… surely there
is more. The next thing we know we are
in Gatlinburg. All I have to say is that
we didn’t see any reason why we could not tow our rig there, even though it
would not be the most fun on some of the turns, and why someone would be scared
to death of this road is beyond me!
Decker Canyon is more challenging by far!
Gatlinburg is a mountain tourist town. I think we are at about 5000 feet. We stopped for lunch and I did NOT eat
everything on my plate, and it even tasted good! There is an aerial tramway, a ski like chair
lift takes people up to a high swinging bridge.
There are hotels, restaurants, a killer sporting good store… and then
there are gift shops. LOTS of gift
shops. Just like there are a glut of
rafting outfitters in Murphy, there are gazillions of gift shops in Gatlinburg. Although it looks so cute and charming, gift
shop overload made us get in the truck and head back.
We decided to hike the Chimney Tops Trail. It isn’t raining, but you can tell it will. It is not quite as cold here, maybe about 60 which is perfect for hiking. I shed my jacket and just wore my poncho. The trail started downhill. Spouse said how much he hates when a hike starts downhill. Be careful what you wish for Spouse… After about 200 feet, the trail started uphill. It is a dirt trail that is wet, but not muddy. There are bridges that cross the stream several times. Water cascades over the rocks making them smooth and shiny. The trail heads up… then upper, then uppest! There are stairs of stone, then stairs of logs and stone, then stairs of logs and dirt. And it goes up… listen to our hearts thumping. The climb is slow and steady.
At one point, we pass a huge pile of poop. That is not from a dog, probably from a bear. Sure enough a quarter mile up the trail is a mama black bear and her two cubs. We kept a wide berth as they rustled through the bushes beside the trail. I saw one of the cubs face and wanted to kiss it right off, but I just tried to get a picture as Spouse was dragging me away. You can’t really see the bear in the picture but it really is there!
Up, we climb… this is supposed to be 1.75 miles up and it feels like 5 miles already. At one point there must be 300 stairs. The trail is very well designed and created. Along the trail is your standard forest ground cover of ferns, grasses and even moss. There are some elaborate tree trunks with roots crawling all over the place. It looks like there are giant rhododendrons and maybe even hydrangeas along the edges with flowering berry brambles. You can see a few trees have been hit by lightening and burned and contorted. And all the while, we are under a tall canopy of trees which somewhat protects us from the rain.
At the top are stunning views. Some of the rhododendrons are blooming! What a sight this must be earlier in the spring! The actual Chimney Top used to be part of the trail, but was damaged in a fire a few years ago. Who needs that extra quarter mile anyway right? I think the Smokeys get the name from the wisps of clouds that float through the trees. It looks like there is smoke in the trees and on the horizon. With every view we were able to actually see, the ‘smoke’ was there.
Going down steep terrain has its own set of challenges. Ask Spouse… he cut his toenails the second he
walked in the door!
As we passed the visitor center on the way out of the park, Spouse was lamenting that we should be seeing deer in the fields. I pointed out the elk running across the field and asked if that was enough for him. I was driving and he didn’t even get a picture. He did get a picture of the turkey across the street though.
Back at Hannah, it was so nice to shower and get out of wet shoes. More than 20.000 steps today.
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