Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Tennessee/North Carolina, February 2017
“World renowned for its diversity of plant and animal life, the beauty of its ancient mountains, and the quality of its remnants of Southern Appalachian mountain culture, this is America’s most visited national park.” – NPS
It was about a 2 hour drive west from our friends in Valdese to the entrance of the National Park. The drive took us through a place called Maggie Valley! Maggie slept right through it. Cherokee, the town right outside the park on the North Carolina side, is a cute little touristy town along the Oconaluftee River, complete with lots of shops, food, and parks. Oh, and a MASSIVE casino – seriously on level with Las Vegas casinos. We made a quick stop at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center for a few small souvenirs (our patch!) and then headed to the nearby Mingus Mill.
It was getting to be late afternoon and losing the light for our drive through the park was a concern but I had wanted to find a geocache in each state and the mill was turning into my last chance in North Carolina. In our haste, we headed down the first trail we saw. After about a quarter mile, it didn’t seem right and we turned around. It was a mostly sunny day and it would have been a nice stroll through the woods if time wasn’t so precious but instead it was an unwanted detour.
We found Mingus Mill a short way from the parking lot. It is a picturesque historic grain mill built in 1886 that uses a water-powered turbine (instead of a water wheel). It still operates but only in the summer. I scrambled to find the required info for my virtual cache and we snapped a few pictures. We left with everyone feeling rushed and Annie melting down over not getting to buckle in her own self. Moods took a nose dive but they were lifted soon enough! . . .
Newfound Gap Road, which bisects the park, took us into the Great Smoky Mountains and dazzled us with iconic views of the blue hills layered into the distance. Each time we stopped to take it in, we were afraid to move on, thinking the view couldn’t get any better.
We ended up stopping at three different lookouts, the final being Newfound Gap at 5000′ . . . right in time for sunset! It couldn’t have been more beautiful! It was bitterly cold though and for the majority of each stop, the kids were content playing in the van. At the Gap, there was even ice forming on the trees and Katie and I had to take breaks from running around taking photos to warm up in the van.
While we were thrilled to have caught the sunset views, it was now dinner time and we were in the middle of the mountains, still a half hour from our condo in Gatlinburg. The kids got snacks and we finished the drive through the park, including tunnels and a wild 360-degree spiral to drop elevation instead of your usual switchbacks.
On the next day, we headed back into the Great Smoky Mountains to drive the popular Cades Cove loop.The weather was sunny/partly cloudy once again – wonderful as it has been all trip. Much of the drive to the loop is immersed in deciduous trees and hugs Little Creek and Laurel Creek. Its easy to imagine why it’s bumper to bumper here in the fall.
The drive around Cades Cove itself is an 11-mile one way loop and offers more expansive views across the valley with the mountains beyond. The main attraction is the multitude of old buildings dating back to when there was a thriving community here over 100 years ago but other notables on our visit included lots of deer and some controlled burning taking place that day. For the most part, we enjoyed it all from the car with the exception of our stop halfway around the loop at the Visitor Center/Gift Shop.
At our stop, we were treated to another group of deer. Katie even stalked them into the woods for some pictures. For lunch we found some log seating among the old buildings and shared our picnic we had brought from the condo. There was a bit of a chill but the sun was out and we stayed warm with various contests involving jumping between logs.
We took some time after lunch to wander among the buildings, including the Cable Mill, barn, smokehouse, and home. Elizabeth is currently interested in pioneers so this was great for her to see. The others took great interest in the coins that had been tossed into the sluice going to the mill. Our rest stop came to a close similar to how it began, this time with me stalking deer for pictures. We made a few more stops at the historical buildings on the loop and made our way back to the condo for some family pool time!