Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Leaving the Smokies

Monday April 25, 2011
Leaving Elkmont Campground
Great Smoky Mountain National Park
Arriving Cumberland Mountain State Park, TN

Busy Day.
As we were packing up our neighbor Barbara Loy
and I got to talking about her travels in her van.


She’s from Michigan and after the death, a few years ago of her husband
has been taking numerous trips on her own.
She sleeps in the van and has it very well organized.
Bed on one side, essentials in bins on the other.
Looks like a very simple way to go especially
while we were checking everything in Winnona
and cheking and putting away everything, unplugging.


She says her friends think
she’s crazy.  But I admire her spunk.

After a quick breakfast, slides in, jacks up, we were off
for gas and a grocery run before heading out
for Cumberland Mountain State Park on our way west.

Current destination, by early June,
the Grand Canyon

We gained an hour moving into Central Time
so that helped our arrival at Cumberland.  
We took the car off of the dolly, drove around
the campground to check out the sites.

There are 5 separate camping areas in the park
but at this time
only 3 of them are open.

Section A has full hook ups
which are more expensive of course and
we usually skip them and use the dump station
in favor of saving money. 
Section A also is slightly shadier than B & C.

We chose Site 79 in section C


and went to the Registration Center
to pay our $20 a night for water and electric. 
Tax INCLUDED.
Way to go Tennessee!!


Here's the view from Duckie's window


It’s supposed to rain and be windy for the next two days.
So it’s unclear whether we’ll get to do much
hiking or kayaking on the lake.

Check back and see what happens. 

Sunday Picnic

Sunday April 24, 2001
Elkmont Campground
Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Today is Easter Sunday
and the campground appears to be full. 
Lots of people enjoying this natural cathedral.

I know I am.
This morning I awoke to beautiful bird song
and the babbling stream.
Just love this campsite and am going to HATE to leave.
I could just stay and stay.


I love it even with the laundry hanging


Thought I might have time today to
introduce Chip.
He’s been a regular visitor most days
He seems to scour the patio for
maple seeds.

 
I treat him as the wild creature I'm
happy he is and just observe him as he goes about his business 


Check out those cheeks.
 

He doesn't seem to mind at all
having his picture taken.  So I have dozens
from multiple days <sheesh>


After taking care of some “business”
at the “office”



the view from my front "office window"


we returned to the Little River Trail
to get all those pictures we hadn't taken
because we were running


it is sort of our "neighborhood" trail


we've been on it many times


and know it fairly well by now


but we never tire of being here


it's always new and beautiful


The Little River has definitely become a favorite friend


This time we took a picnic lunch



 We stepped down right next to the
river when we had the chance.


 We don't YET have a Joby Gorillapod
so this was the best picture we could manage "by hand"
Joby is definitely moving up on the list.
We had a perfect picnic set up
with one log for table and
one for bench.
Thank you Mother Nature


 our log dining table view


These shots of tributaries flowing into the river
were taken on our return hike





The evening was spent getting a head start on
our “packing up to leave” procedure.
Checking tire pressures
(all TWELVE)


checking fluids
putting things in the basement
and then to bed for
“maybe” an early "on the road" in the morning.
Although somehow, even though we are early risers,
that seldom seems to happen.

Oh Well…………………J

Roaring Fork

Saturday April 23nd 2011
Great Smoky Mountains National Park

This morning, we checked the LP
gas which is 7/8th full,
the water which is nearly full
and the tanks nearly empty. 
Clearly we could boondock here for over 2 weeks
and are going to have to start using up some water
if we don’t want to tote it on into Tennessee
as we head west on Monday. 
The real problem is the batteries
which we have no way (YET) of topping up.

We spent the afternoon hiking the Grotto Falls trail
and driving the Roaring Fork Motor Trail
that leads to and from it.

It was a lovely though crowded hike.
This was the largest number of
people we’d seen on any trail
since we arrived.
But then it is Saturday.

The trail goes up Mt. LeConte
and continues on another 4 miles
past the falls to the Lodge at the top. 
One of the things on my bucket list is
to hike up to the lodge
and spend the night
with kerosene lantern light
and dinner packed in by llamas.  
But, unfortunately, not this trip


This trail has the things we love
big trees, wildflowers and water.

Tree hugger at work.

Cut-leafed Toothwort


Parts of the trail were sad because of all the dead hemlocks.
Eastern Hemlock is a key species in
the southern appalachian forests and plays
an important role in the ecology and hydrology
of mountain ecosystems.
They are some of the largest most common trees in the park
and are under attack by a non-native insect
called the hemlock wooly adelgid.
Hemlocks are called "the redwoods of the east"
and can grow to 150' tall with trunks 6' in diameter.
Some hemlocks in the park are more than 500 years old
and more than 800 acres of old growth hemlocks grow in the Smokies.
More than in any other national park.
It's sad.


It's a story similar to that of the chestnut
and we have seen entire hillsides of dead trees
along the Blue Ridge Parkway
and in the Shenandoah National Park.
There are things that can be done
but of course they require funding
which for all our parks is in short supply.
We covered the 2.6 mile hike in 3 hours.
Of course it clearly can be done in less time
IF
#1 - you take fewer pictures
on the trail. 
As usual, these really don't do it justice.

The stream leading up to the falls



I love nature's trial designs


#2  It won't take so long also if you
don’t spend a lonnnggg time for  lunch at the falls



(Getting ready to walk behind the falls)

(from under the falls - what fun!)

(today's scenic lunch spot)

and #3 - It will also speed you up if you don't
stay so long watching “the bear”.

On the way down from the falls,
we spent quite some time watching this black bear
pretty high up on a limb in large tree. 


S/he seemed to be trying to take a nap,
leaning his forehead and then side of his face
against the tree.


Don’t know if all the people down on the ground
trying to get pictures
or like me, see him through binoculars,
were disturbing his sleep but
he certainly did create a trail bottleneck.

Although the tree was about 30’ off the trail
I had a great view through my binoculars.
My camera was not up to the task of pictures
but I hope you can see these that David took
Click to make them larger.


Further down the trail,
I found these "feet and toes".
Looked like Hobbit Land to me



On the drive back to Gatlinburg,
which you have to go through
unfortunately
to get to this section of the park,
we stopped to see the 2 cabins
& one home on the “tour”.

The Jim Bales Cabin
was on a beautiful site
with lovely dogwoods in full bloom in the yard.



The view from Jim's only window



Ephraim & Minerva Bales
raised NINE children in this
small two room dog-trot cabin.



Looking back from the barn and tiny pig stye.
The Roaring Fork community was even more isolated
due to its stony roads
and was smaller than Cades Cove.
Like Ephrim Bales, Alfred Reagan was a farmer.
But he was also a jack of all trades and his
more upscale home shows the fruits of his
labors as a carpenter, a miller and a blacksmith.



The Regan house sported all 3 colors of paint
offered by Sears Roebuck at the time.



The dwarf iris in the yard were in full bloom



Even the fireplace inside is up to date.


Only the house and the mill remain of the
structures and businesses built by Reagan.

The view of the mill race from inside the mill




 the old Mill Stream

The Roaring Fork itself is breathtakingly gorgeous
as it really does
ROAR down Mt. LeConte.
The views from your car are spectacular
as are the sounds of the river.
There are not, however, pull overs to get pictures
of this beauty so unless you are there
on a day when there are few others,
not a Saturday,
you won’t be able to stop.
Coming down from Roaring Fork into the city
was quite a culture shock.
Many of the families displaced from
Roaring Fork moved down the mountain
to Galinburg but I doubt they’d recognize this place today.


On our drive back to Elkmont,
we stopped by the Sugarlands Visitor’s Center
to use the cell phone and internet
just in case there was some news or business
we needed to take care of. 
The Visitor’s Center is much larger
than the one at Cades Cove. 
The rangers are very knowledgable. 
It has a wonderful museum,
short film
and gift shop
with everything you could need, want or imagine. 
We were out of jam
so we picked up a pint of local blueberry preserves for $6. 
Having made jam from scratch most of my life, 
I can say that is a great price for the effort involved.

We spent a quiet evening to end a wonderful day.
Our stay in the Smokies is nearly over.
Tomorrow we’ll just wrap things up and
get ready to move on Monday.
That’s going to be hard to do.
This is such a fabulous place!!
And there is so much more to see and do.