Blue Ridge Parkway NC and Great Smoky Mountains National Park

I'll start with a photo of a map of my journey thus far (about 6800 miles worth).

I’m behind on my news because cell reception in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is non-existent where I’ve been camping each night (when blogging is most convenient). I only get cell reception when I’m at higher places, usually in the middle of a hike or drive to get to a hike.

When I last posted, I was still enjoying the Blue Ridge Parkway.

View from the top of the highest point in NC. I spent the night at the trailhead and made the 12 mile hike (3600' elevation gain) the next morning. You can also drive up so the last few hundred feet to the top were very civilized.

Back on the Parkway the afternoon after my hike up to the tallest peak you see in the distance.

I enjoyed many great hikes and views from the Parkway.

Sunset from Pisgah Mountain, somewhat obscured by smoke.

There must have been a wind pattern that stopped the smoke. From this point on (on that day) the view was much clearer.

As I was driving the last few miles, I was sad to see that experience come to an end. Where else can you drive 469 miles of scenic country road at a leisurely pace (45mph) without encountering a stop sign or traffic light?  It may not be an efficient way to travel, but when you have no time frame and your goal is sightseeing and hiking/biking; it’s perfect.  It was no problem to find enough short hikes along the way, leaving from scenic overlooks to add up to 10+ miles of hiking a day, and a few longer hikes here and there. I missed a few of the driving miles on the parkway because I had to leave it each night to find a place to park for the night and I didn’t always return to the Parkway on the same route. But I doubt I missed more than 40 miles of the entire length. The fall colors were well past peak, but there were still remnants, and far fewer cars because it was past prime color viewing. I didn’t find any open Visitor’s Centers until I got into North Carolina; more than halfway down the length of the Parkway. Better late than never, I picked up a map and Park publication on sights to see on the Parkway. Even without the extra info, I did a pretty good job of enjoying much of what the Parkway had to offer.

The Parkway ends at the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As I was coming down off the Parkway just after sunset on 11/17/16 a good-sized bull elk ran across the road. A few miles later, at the entrance to the park, a good size herd of elk cows were in a field alongside the road; apparently, a common occurrence since there was a flashing traffic sign advising that the fields were closed due to elk. I headed for one of only 3 campgrounds still open in the park.

After quite a few days in a row of ‘boondocking’ (camping off-grid) I was looking forward to camping with electricity and unlimited water in a hot shower; but no luck. All camping in the park is without benefit of showers or electrical hookups. With the shorter days and very cold nights (it’s been as cold as 24 and was predicted to get as low as 17 the other night, which might have happened in the wee hours), my solar panel and the driving I’ve been doing during the day is barely keeping up with my off-grid power needs. I am VERY thankful for the propane heater, which makes it quite comfy to camp in these temperatures. But these vans are only meant to be 3-season coaches. I’m hoping I don’t find out the hard way that I’m pushing the limits of that 3^rd season beyond acceptable to injurious-to-my-plumbing with expensive and inconvenient consequences.

As I started to write this I was at the 3^rd campground in the Park and was there 3 nights (I spent 2 nights at each of the first 2 campgrounds). There’s no problem finding a campsite each night, but I am quite surprised at how many people are on the roads during the week. Maybe because it’s Thanksgiving week and a lot of the things the Park offers will close after next weekend? After finishing a 15-mile hike yesterday to the 2^nd highest peak in the Smokies (Mt. Le Conte) I drove through Gatlinburg TN. That must be where all these folks must be staying. There were tons of hotels and oh-so-many people walking along the streets filled with restaurants and gift shops. I was very happy to escape the chaos and get back to my quiet campsite.

The view from the highest point in TN.

Fall colors are still happening in the Smoky Mountains.

Folks wanting a mountain experience could book to stay at a lodge atop Mt. Le Conte. On my hike up, I didn’t encounter the road that you can drive up, so guests must have to hike a little ways from their cars with their necessities for staying overnight in the small cabins on the mountain. The lodge is supplied by a string of pack llamas that were being loaded up with dirty sheets, etc. to pack out when I was up there.

View from the cliff tops of Mt. Le Conte.

 

It was chilly up there!

How the Le Conte Lodge is supplied.

The Le Conte Lodge cabins.

On my 1^st full day in the park I awoke with no energy. My body kicked me to the curb and insisted I take it easy that day after 2 weeks of nonstop, long hiking days. But a day of comparative rest wasn’t a bad idea. Once a science nerd always a science nerd... I’ve been keeping track of my hikes in a spreadsheet beginning with the first hiking destination I drove to on 9/5/16 after I left the RV dealer. In those 78 days, per my Iphone app (a bit less than accurate perhaps but always with me) as of 11/21, I’ve walked 1,591,315 steps or 1,612.21 miles. No wonder my body demanded I give it a rest!

To begin my low-energy day I wandered a nature trail with my morning coffee in hand and then went into the nearby town of Cherokee, on the Cherokee Indian Reservation to pick up a few groceries. The town is clearly set up to attract and profit from tourists, but at what cost? When I drove through town there were several kiosks where men were sitting around clad in historic native costumes with lots of feathers and paint. There weren’t many tourists about yet. When I came back through there was an eager tourist snapping photos as the men did a dance with hula hoops (not exactly traditional but it looked challenging). I couldn’t help but think about an old movie clip I’d seen of a chained, dancing bear – trained to “dance”, if it wanted to be fed. I wondered how the performers felt about what they were doing? Did they feel like they were representing their culture? Or did they despise the tourists and the antics they had to go through to earn their livelihoods? It might have been interesting to stop and talk to them about how they liked their profession… Or it might have been upsetting to them (and to me).

 I drove on and made my way up the mountain toward the highest point in Tennessee. I hadn’t intended to go there but it was a clear day and the next day was supposed to be cloudy and perhaps rainy. I had contemplated doing a loop hike in association with that high point, so I thought I’d scope it out. The potential would have been 18 miles, starting high, dropping down and hiking back up. Unlike my other high points, there isn’t a hike up TO the high point. You drive up and hike in the area. The last ½ mile, you hike up a steep grade on a paved path to a cement tower on the high point -- Clingmans Dome. I joined countless other tourists to make that jaunt. Since I was on a very low energy day, it made the ½ mile up seem like more work that it normally would be, so maybe I “earned” that high point? From the tower, I viewed the area I’d thought about doing the long loop hike in and realized that it would be mostly in dense trees with no views. There don’t seem to be alpine areas in the Smoky Mountains. Trees grow at 6,600’. This area is supposed to have more biodiversity of plant and animal life due to the varying terrain and microclimates but there aren’t the exposed ridges I so love to hike. 

I returned a couple of days later to hike down from there to a “bald”, one of 2 places in the park where trees don’t grow. Major logging occurred in this area before it was preserved as a park. Gradually the trees have reclaimed the land, but the balds are preserved by the park service to maintain the views (even though there is evidence that sheep may have initially grazed them to keep them open so keeping them tree free isn’t exactly in line with Park Service philosophy of preserving natural processes). The view at the bald below the high point wasn’t as amazing as what I saw at Le Conte, at a few breaks in the trees, but it was a pleasantly warm place, sheltered from the wind that sucked body heat away at the top.

Another thing I am finding surprising here is that there are still vestiges of fall colors on the south side of the Smoky Mountains in late November. I tried to capture the beauty of sunlit fall colors on the lower foothills and ice-encrusted foliage higher up on a wooded mountainside, but my Iphone didn’t do it justice. As I was hiking up Le Conte, bundled in many layers against the cold, despite the many miles of relentless uphill, I was amused by the gentle tap-tap sounds of small bits of ice falling from the trees as the warmth of the sun caused the ice to lose purchase on the tree branches, swaying in the gentle breeze.

The morning of 11/22 I cleaned off the road grime that had accumulated on my bike’s chain and went for a ride on the one-way scenic 11-mile loop that leaves from the Cades Cove campground, hoping to hit it before the bulk of the tourists arrived. The night before, when I arrived just before sunset, there was a steady stream of cars on the route that would make for a less pleasant experience. It was still below freezing when I started the ride and there were a fair number of cars. Not fun on a not very wide road. But I enjoyed a few stretches with no cars. From May to Sept, they close the road to cars on Wed. and Sat. mornings. That would be a great time to ride it. The scenery was beautiful and there were many stops where a ¼ to ½ mile hike (or alongside the road), you could wander among wood cabins built in the 1920s and 1930s or replicas restored by the Park Service to give a feel for what the area was like when it was farmlands. There were 3 churches and cemeteries and a collection of buildings including a blacksmith shop and various barns. I opted to keep riding for the morning bike-ride loop and returned after that with my van to explore all the nooks and crannies with the rest of the cars.

The next day I drove 2/3s of the way around the loop to access the trail head for the other bald in the park – Gregory Bald, which I accessed by hiking up the ridge route. Yep, mostly trees with few views on the way up. As I got up higher I could see (and smell) that it was quite smoky. I was about 2/3 of the way up the 5.5 miles uphill distance, so I didn’t want to turn back though I wasn’t sure if there would be any views when I got to the bald. Sure enough, there was a hint of mountains, masked by thick smoke. My lungs were burning a bit as I neared the top so it probably wasn’t the healthiest of hikes I could’ve done.

I was trying to upload more photos but I'm not having any luck and it's getting late.

Today (Thanksgiving Day) I hiked a loop hike (9 miles) and then made my way from the park to the town to the NW of the park  (with slow internet but at least I'm finally connected!). From here I'm off to the highest points in Georgia and in South Carolina and then will visit my niece, her husband, and my grand-nephew and grand-niece farther south in SC.

Happy Thanksgiving all!