Current location: Knoxville, TN, N 35 54.867', W 084 05.466', elev: 895 ft.

On Sunday, I made the short drive from Maggie Valley, NC to Asheville, NC, to check out the city during the daylight. Asheville is a very pretty city, large with a lot of hills. It was rainy and overcast while I was there, so the city reminded me very much of the rainforest cities in southern Alaska, Ketchikan and Juneau, though in reality, Asheville is larger than any city in Alaska (slightly larger than Anchorage, 8 or 9 times the size of Juneau). I read that Asheville has more health food stores per capita than any other area of the United States, and there definitely is a large hippie community, left over from another era. Driving down town there were lots of hippie people just loitering on corners, playing guitars on stoops, and talking at coffee shops. Driving into a residential area, I noticed there was a high proportion of cars parked in the street, and then I realized there were hardly any driveways. Maybe one out of every 20 houses had a driveway. I found this odd, and would like to know the reason. Asheville was overcast, and on the way out of town, it began raining.

I was on my way towards Great Smokey Mountains National Park, a distance of about 40 miles, into higher altitudes. I was hoping the rain would dissipate some as I traveled through Maggie Valley into Cherokee (US 19 to US 441), so I could enjoy the park, but luck was not on my side. I drove into downtown Cherokee, and once again, it was a tourist trap type of town, lots of fast food restaurants, mini golf, and gift shops. There was also a large casino on the Cherokee reservation, which I was tempted to visit. With the rain coming down so hard, I stopped at a motel for wi-fi so I could check the weather. The forecast was awful for the rest of Sunday, but Monday looked quite promising, so I decided to stop for the day, in Cherokee.

Despite the rain, the mountain area is a welcome change from the warm, humid Floridas and Georgias I've been in the last couple of weeks. The air here is cooler, and doesn't hang over you like a shroud. The breezes are frequent and welcome.

On monday, I started out early, and I was hoping to catch a scenic helicopter ride over the mountains. They were advertised as $15 per person, and I thought that was reasonable. The only problem was, there was a minimum trip of 3 - 4 people, so I had two choices. Pay for my seat as well as two additional seats ($45), or wait around indefinitely for 2 or 3 people to arrive and agree to go on a ride with me. Well, I wasn't going to pay extra, and didn't have any patience to wait around, so I continued on to the park.

The Smokies get their name from a perpetual haze that clings to the mountains. The haze can look a lot like smoke and is generated by the large biomass in the park. The biomass creates a lot of moisture which evaporates, and the resulting clouds look smokey due to the coloration of the mountains. The park is the most visited of the National Parks, because it is close to three rather large cities, Knoxville, Asheville, and Chattanooga. June is peak season, so needless to say, there were a lot of visitors on this day.

I had a very excellent time in the park! Definitely worth the price of admission (free)! I took 175 photos, the highlights of which can be found here. The mountain air is refreshing, the views are stupendous, and greenery is easy on the eyes.

Driving into the park, I of course stopped for the park map and guide to add to my collection. I then proceeded on the park road (still US 441) over scenic roads driving at ever higher altitudes. I pulled over at a few scenic overlooks for photos.



The first major attraction on my route was Clingman's Dome, (N 35 33.777', W 083 29.904', elev 6672 ft.), right on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. Clingman's dome is one of the highest peaks east of the Mississippi, and at over a mile high, I think it is also the highest elevation I have been outside of airplanes. I got out at the bottom of the path, and got in a few good shots. I was also pleased to see my first amendment rights are alive and well in the national parks.



It's no court room, but I think I'll hang a copy of the ten commandments here.

The sign at the bottom of the path to Clingman's Dome indicated that there was very poor air quality for the day, and that high ozone was a factor. The path up the mountain was half a mile long, at a very steep grade, and at higher elevation, there is less oxygen, and since I am out of shape, the walk was a struggle. The suggested climbing time for the hike up the hill was 30 minutes, and I was pleased to make it in that time, with 5 breaks to catch my breath and take photos.



Some insects

There were a lot of people who struggled to make it up the path, and at least a third of them did not make it, proving there are people who are in even worse shape than me. When I finally did get to the top, my reward was a very cool, very refreshing breeze, and some breathtaking views. Towards the end of my stay at the top of the mountain, the clouds started to roll in, and it really did appear to be smoke; you could tell it wasn't, however, as the air remained pleasant and cool.





After descending the hike again, I drove off back down to the park. Now in Tennessee for the first time, I came upon a really neat waterfall area and grabbed some more photos. The waterfall area is called Swift Water, and was probably my favorite spot of the day.



It was starting to get late, about 4 o'clock, when I came to the last area of the park, Cade's Cove, which is an 11 mile scenic loop road through a valley, allowing many glimpses of the mountain passes, and hopefully many glimpses of wildlife. The initial drive of the cove, I ran into heavy rain, but with no clouds overhead; it was perfectly sunny. I witnessed my second rainbow of the trip. The rain quickly abated. There were many cars in this area, and the driving was slow, some of it was on dirt roads, and it took about an hour to get through all of Cade's Cove. There were many stops as people would spot wildlife and try to take photos. I got some really close glimpses of deer, including one point where I witnessed three deer jump over a 4 foot high barbed wire fence, from 2 feet below the fence. I knew deer could jump but I didn't image they could clear 6 feet. Shortly thereafter, I was able to get some photos of deer, but almost none came out very well, since it was getting dark under the canopy of the forest, and I turned off the flash so as not to alarm the deer. (Though I suppose they are used to flashes at this point).



In addition to seeing about 20 deer up close (some within 15 feet of the car), I saw a black bear, about 30 feet from the car. Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of him, because my camera had shut itself off due to inactivity, and by the time I had it back on, he had disappeared over a hill.

After completing the loop road, it started raining again, this time, a more prolonged rain, so I once again chickened out of setting up camp. (There were plenty of camp sites in Cade's Cove, and I was all set to camp). It seems that every time I try to camp, the rain is too heavy, and the promise of a motel with a shower and internet just down the road is a strong attraction.

Be sure to check out the cream of the day's photos here.

After leaving the park, I drove through Gatlinburg into Pigeon Forge, TN, on US 441. Pigeon Forge is the home of Dollywood; and Dollywood is no podunk little amusement park, it is the biggest attraction in the Smokies, outside of the national park. In Pigeon Forge, I caught back up with I-40 and traveled west to Knoxville. On Tuesday, my plan is to head west to Nashville, check it out a bit, then head north to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, which I hope to explore on Wednesday. From there I may travel north to Cincinatti to see the Red's game thursday night before heading west to St. Louis, and south on the Mississippi river to Memphis and New Orleans.