Smokies 2015 - Day 3 and 4

 April 25, 2015

Well, well, well…the forecast all week said 90% chance of rain, but nope, it didn’t rain all day! We headed to Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, which is located about an hour and a half north of the Smokies. Tours of the home are offered pretty much every hour, but you must go to the visitor center and get a ticket 15 minutes before the tour starts. The tour lasts 30-45 minutes. The guide was very knowledgeable about Andrew Johnson and his family. Most of the family died at a young age due to TB.

 A room in the Andrew Johnson Homestead

There was a short video (10-15 minutes) giving a background of the 17^th president of the United States. Considering he did not have schooling, but was taught by his wife, he became a great speaker, which obviously helped him move up in the political sector.  The old tailor shop is enclosed within the visitor center and the early Andrew Johnson Home is located across the street from the visitor center. The Andrew Johnson Homestead is located two blocks up the street from the visitor center. The Andrew Johnson Nation Cemetery is located about a half-mile from the homestead.

Great Smoky Mountains -
Cosby Nature Trail

We then played putt-putt golf at Ripley’s Davy Crockett Mini-Golf.  This was one of the few locations that had its own parking lot. Since it was only a dollar more we played both courses. I actually won a free game on the last hole on the one course and nearly did it again on the other course!

It was getting to about 5pm and we had tried to visit a few of the businesses in the arts and crafts community, but apparently it was too early in the season for a lot of the places to be open. There are over 100 shops set up along the 8 mile loop road. We visited Fudgewrights and purchased some fudge, it was tasty.

April 26, 2015

After packing up early, we hiked the Cosby Nature Trail, which was a 1 mile loop. The trail started by the amphitheater. It was a lovely hike. There were many foot bridges to cross and we were able to spot two wildflowers that we had not yet seen – Wake Robin/Stinking Benjamin and Painted Trilliums.  The trail was an easy hike, with a few steeper portions.

Smokies 2015 - Day 2

April 24, 2015

Great Smoky Mountains - Cades Cove Area

The day started with a stop at the Sugarlands Visitor Center to get the NP passport stamp and pick up the recent Smokies Guide.  The Smokies Guide had an interesting entry about the elk herd at the Smokies. Twenty-five elk were reintroduced into the park back in 2001. Last year, it was reported that at least 20 elk caves were born, but five were known to have been killed by black bears. Unfortunately, we never made it down to the area that elk are more likely to be seen (Cataloochee Valley).

We then headed out to Cades Cove – which is the best location to find some black bears. Unfortunately, on this trip we did not see any bears. While in Cades Cove, we went to the visitor center and the buildings surrounding the center. The buildings at Cades Cove date back to the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and are scattered throughout the cove. A great photo opportunity is the water-powered grist mill, which runs daily 9-5. One of the two mills is located at Cades Cove. On our previous trip, we had visited the churches and homes, so we skipped them in hopes of seeing some stuff we did not get a chance to see on the last trip. We did hike a portion of a horse trail while in the Cove, it was very peaceful.

Great Smoky Mountains -
Elkmont Area

Returning towards the Sugarlands VC we made a few stops. We checked out the Elkmont area – which turned out to be rather impressive.  We hiked a portion of the Cucumber Trail, which was a spur of the Jakes Creek Trail. The lower parking lot was full when we arrived lunch time, but we were able to find a spot in the upper parking lot. At the upper parking lot, there are many old vacation homes that are falling in disrepair, it was quite interesting.   The Cucumber Trail supposedly had a diverse wildflower showing, but we did not really see anything that we had not seen already on other trails.

Great Smoky Mountains - Laurel Falls

We also stopped to see Meigs Falls, which was right along the side of the road at marker #6, and The Sinks, which was at marker #5. The Sinks, is basically a waterfall also, but I guess people sometimes go in the water there.  I must complain that we did not see many markers, mostly just determined that “congested areas” must mean it is something good to see.

Laurel Falls was a waterfall that we had visited on our last trip, but we decided to visit it again. We had to wait for a parking space to open up. The trail is paved, but quite steep. The waterfall is not overly large (80-feet high), but it is nice none the less. The trail is 2.6 miles round trip.

Stopping off at the Sugarlands VC again, we took the short hike to the Cataract Falls, again the falls are not overly large, but a short easy walk.

Heading down the Newfound Gap Road, we stopped at the quite walk at mile marker 3.2. I am so glad we stopped for a hike there. Quiet walks do not have a specific site or distance, but rather act as an escape into nature. The quite walk led us to a lovely spot along a river. Markers along this road were easy to find, thank goodness! I would recommend purchasing some of the guides they have. I had saved the guides from our previous visit and it did not appear that they had changed any.

Great Smoky Mountains - Quite Walk

Also along the Newfound Gap Road, we stopped at the Chimneys Picnic Area and walked the Cove Hardwood Nature Trail. There were some wildflowers along this trail that we had not seen on other trails. The hike was not overly challenging, nor was it overly long, but the best part was that it looped. A majority of the trails are not looped.

Smokies 2015 - Day 1

April 23, 2015

Yahoo - time for another adventure!  This trip took us down to the Great Smoky Mountains. We had visited the Smokies back in May 2008, so it was not an entirely new vacation destination for us. We left home bright and early and made it down to TN in time to do some evening hiking.  For this trip, we stayed outside of town at Bent Creek Golf Village. It was really nice not to be in the city, on our previous trip we had stayed at the KOA near Dollywood.

Timing our trip with the annual Wildflower Pilgrimage we, at least I, had hoped to see a ton of wildflowers.  We found some wildflowers along the trails that we hiked in the Greenbriar portion of the Great Smoky Mountains. Trails that we hiked included the Old Settlers Trail and the Porters Creek Trail. Both trails claimed to have wildflowers, which they did, but not to the extent that I had intended – yellow and large-flowered trilliums. The Old Settlers Trail deviated from the stream quite quickly and was an easy hike, granted we only hiked in for maybe a mile.

Porters Creek Trail followed the creek and had a few wildflowers. We probably hiked about a mile and a half on this trail. The full round trip hike would have been 7.4 miles. The trail was an easy hike.