A Trip to the Smoky Mountains

Cade’s Cove is the place to go for wildlife viewing.  The grassy area often has wild animals that are visible.  They are hard to spot since the grass is quite high.  But once someone sees something of interest they park their car and soon others also stop.  Whenever a group is looking at something there is probably an animal of interest.

People are warned not to approach wildlife, but some people are reckless.  One of the three bears we passed had people passed the fence and standing much too close to the bear.  This time we did not see any bear cubs, which would make approaching the bears even more dangerous.  We also passed two deer, and on the road our I had to break for a turkey.  I believe it ran across the road, but to call its motion running is a stretch.  Then, we passed two more turkeys.  These were well out of Cade’s Cove. But the road in is long.  The actual loop is about eight miles.

The cove is a valley, and the mountains are always visible in the background.  Also, original settler buildings still stand, and can be visited.

The road in is longer than the loop, and is itself a wonderful place.  It is where one of the three bears was spotted, and the three turkeys.  There is a mountain stream, and at one point the stream was joined by another with a waterfall visible from the road.

Newfound Gap is on the roughly thirty-mile road across the Smoky Mountains.  One ascends in one state, then descends in another.  At the top is a spectacular view, and the head of the Appalachian Trail.  It is a great place for photos.

The road up has places to pull off the road, and to take photos.  There is often a stream alongside the road, and with switch backs the stream  can be on either side. 

The park has several walking trails, and some lead to waterfalls.  At the head of each trail is a place to park. 

There is a short road from just into the park from Gatlinburg to Pigeon Forge.  It goes up and gives an excellent view of the town from the mountain above.  We had to go through the bypass twice, since the first pass was hastened by rain.

The area of Pigeon Forge and Sevierville has many attractions. 

One day we had lunch at the Apple Barn.  The Apple Barn is a complex with two restaurants serving home-style meals.  The staff dress in period garb from over a hundred years ago.   There are also other shops in the complex, a Christmas shop, an ice cream and cookie eatery, and a gift shop selling such things as apple butter.  Yes, there are also real apple trees growing in the complex, it has its own orchard. 

One night we had dinner at one of Dolly Parton’s dinner shows.  We went to Celebration, since we had gone to Stampede in the past.  Another dinner was at Margaretville, a resort.  It was nice just to stroll between the buildings.

One thing I always do in Gatlinburg is get fudge.  One night we stopped at a candy shop for that purpose.  I just finished the last bit of fudge before sitting down to write.

There is an eight-mile loop through the artist colony.  In the past the shops were all separate.  Now, some are housed in small malls, others still stand alone.  My purpose here was to get a quality belt, so we went to a leather shop.  There are artist and artisans with varied talents and products throughout the loop. 

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Images used are my own.