Great Smoky Mountains

From Wikipedia – The Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains, span a wide range of elevations, making them home to over 400 vertebrate species, 100 tree species, and 5000 plant species. Hiking is the park’s main attraction, with over 800 miles (1,300 km) of trails, including 70 miles (110 km) of the Appalachian Trail. Other activities include fishing, horseback riding, and touring nearly 80 historic structures.

• Established: 6/15/1934
• Annual Visitors: 11,421,200
• Size: 522,427 acres

Great Smoky Mountains National Park 10/21 & 10/22, 2020

We headed out of Columbia, SC, away from Congaree NP toward Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Great Smoky Mountains were named for the Cherokee’s description of the blue smoke-look of the mountains in the morning fog. In addition to having many different trees such as spruce-fir, pine, hemlock, oak and beech, there are 1,500 species of flowering plants, 200 species of birds and 60 different mammals in the 522,427acre park. A place of well-preserved natural and cultural heritage. The park is roughly 50% in North Carolina and 50% in Tennessee.

We entered through the southern entrance on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in Cherokee, NC and after hiking and exploring on that side we drove to the middle of the park and I walked to Clingman’s Dome on the NC/TN border (more on that below). Then we drove across the park, heading north and stayed in Pigeon Forge, TN to play in the park one more day.

The northern, TN side, is an area full of juxtaposition! Gary and I have never seen a more commercialized, crowded, crazy couple of towns (Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN) touching, and compared to, 522,000+ acres of amazingly beautiful protected forest lands, rivers and unstoppable views! The lines of traffic to get to the Sugarlands Visitor Center was stop and crawl, I kid you not, for miles this morning! Yesterday it took us about 45 minutes, sitting in bumper to bumper, single lane traffic, to go 8/10^th of a mile to get to the parking lot at Clingman’s Dome.

Gary has been in the Smokies a couple of times when hiking the Appalachian Trail and was excited to show me some of the places he hiked through. So we sat in the car, relatively patiently, until we reached Clingman’s Dome parking lot. Unfortunately, GSMNP is not very dog friendly. Gary played with Rangeley by the car and I hiked the ½ mile up to the highest point in GSMNP and the highest point on the now 2,192+ mile Appalachian Trail. Gary walked every mile of the AT in 2014. It’s also the third highest mountain in mainland eastern North America. I walked up the 45-foot-high observation tower built in 1959, the year both Gary and I were born. See the 360-degree pictures from the top, attached.

Back to when we entered the park in NC… We reached the park entrance sign, took our traditional family photo and found out from a passer-by that Gary and Rangeley could walk the 1.5-mile Oconaluftee River Trail from the sign to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. That was an easy decision, I got in the car to meet them down the road! Not because I didn’t wish to hike, but that it would give Rangeley some fun at the river and exercise and Gary and I some alone time (hey, we’ve been with each other 24/7 for going on 7 weeks now! ; )’. I was able to go into the visitor center, get our post card, pin & maps and tour the onsite Mountain Farm Museum. Actual homes built in the 1800’s, a blacksmith shop and a barn moved from around the area to the visitor center to be preserved. See pictures.

This morning we drove from Pigeon Forge, TN back to the only other trail Rangeley can walk on of the two trails in the park, the Gatlinburg Trail. It was a nice river hike again but it took a about an hour to go the 12 miles from Pigeon Forge, through Gatlinburg, to the Sugarland Visitor Center with traffic. The trail had lots of pets and their owners and we got to view remnants of late 1800’s homes along the trail. See photos.

The Pigeon Forge welcome sign says:  it’s a “Family Vacation Hub”. Often referred to as a “playground”. That’s an understatement! There are hundreds of entertainment places in a few mile strip like arcades, three teared go cart tracks, climbing walls, mini golf courses, museums, ziplines, family theaters, hotels, restaurants, Dollywood, and more in this town of only 6,000 people. It literally is a combination of a kid’s version of Las Vegas, Hampton Beach and Disneyland – on steroids! It’s only a few miles from the 3,000 population Gatlinburg, TN with the same fame. Gatlinburg has chairlifts and a tram for sightseeing too.

On a real positive note, hotels and restaurants are full here! People are traveling and we are glad to see the money being spent to boost our economy! One just needs to be patient in a tourist area like this as we were told there was a 45-90 min wait for dinner last night, at four different restaurants at 5pm! The main reason, lack of staff to cover the tables they have available! There are Help Wanted signs everywhere. If you want to work, there are thousands of jobs in this country! We have personally seen and experienced the lack of the workforce needed right now. People are spending money on travel. Gary and I decided we would sit and relax at a restaurant for lunch today, but several pet friendly restaurants with patios are not serving outside due to lack of staff to cover the patios!

Since we could not eat together with Rangeley (we cannot/will not leave him in the car or hotel alone) I went for brunch and had a Bayou Benny: a poached eggs benedict with crawfish, shrimp, Cajun sauce, on homemade biscuits accompanied by cheesy Cajun grits and a Virgin Mary with pickled okra! Yummm, southern cooking at its best! Gary went for a great meat and potatoes meal after I returned.

We have had a good time here, enjoyed the incredible scenery and beautiful river trails. We are glad we made the trip to the Smokies, but we will not miss the crowds. Our next adventure, Mammoth Caves.