Great Smokies

Camping near Great Smoky Mountains National Park

For our first time camping in Tennessee (State #38), we were less than 1/2 mile from the Cades Cove entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for 8 nights. We thought “the shoulder season” would be a good time to visit America’s most visited national park. We can not imagine what the summer must be like. It was busy! Slow driving, full parking lots, and overrun with children! School Break. A big wind storm downed 1,000 trees in Cades Cove, and closed it for 3 days…thank goodness we visited before that happened.

Visits to 2 new (1 revisit) Great Smoky related National Park sites:

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park (#244), where ridge upon ridge of forest straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee. We went into the park 4 days:
  • visited several of the “most popular” sites, e.g. Cades Cove (with the widest variety of historic buildings in the park, including a working grist mill).
  • drove over Newfound Gap…from the north to south / Tennessee to North Carolina / across the Appalachian Trail. We spent time at Oconaluftee Visitor Center and Mountain Farm Museum at the south end of the drive, before returning.
  • took several short hikes while touring the 1st 3 days, and one 6+ mile hike to/past Laurel Falls early Sunday morning.
• Appalachian National Scenic Trail (#86-revisit), which straddles the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee for most of its length through Great Smoky Mountains NP. We briefly walked on the AT in both states, at Newfound Gap.
• Blue Ridge Parkway (#245) connects Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the south, with Shenandoah National Park on the north. Did you know that? At the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, we were SO CLOSE to its Southern Entrance, that we just had to drive a bit on the Parkway…all the way to the first pullout (<1 mile)!

Day trip visits to 2 other National Park Sites:

• Manhattan Project National Historic Park (#36-Revisit), finally visited our 3rd/last Manhattan Project site, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. That is where they did the work to enrich Uranium for the Little Boy bomb, which was ultimately dropped on Hiroshima.
• Andrew Johnson National Historic Site (#246), where we learned more about our 17th president, his complex presidency (1865-69), and about the Constitution at work following the Civil War. 

AND…

We drove through Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. SO GLAD that we picked the KOA in Townsend rather than the one in Pigeon Forge to visiting the Smokies.. Let’s just say, we have now dubbed Pigeon Forge the “Tacky Jersey Shore” of Tennessee. OMG! And no, we did not visit Dollywood.

We were so busy (finished our taxes, too, on the rainy/stormy day), that we didn’t get this post ready to go before we left this morning. Thought we’d get it out this afternoon, BUT, we made a 3 hour, unplanned stop at Bush’s Baked Bean Factory in Chestnut Hill, Tennessee. It was an awesome visit…as good as the Tillamook Creamery visit on the Oregon coast. Roll that beautiful bean footage!

Now outside Asheville, NC for a few days

We’ll be spending a better part of the next 2+ weeks driving as much of the Blue Ridge Parkway as we can (on our way to Shenandoah). Note…that will be with The Beast, only. Lizzy will be moving up the east side of the Parkway every 4-5 days.

For more pictures, see (in-work) Adventure Album:  Southern Appalachians

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