Great Smoky Mountains National Park || Days 1 & 2

 In April, Mike & I took a road trip to the south and our first stop was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. Our original plan was to camp four nights, but we ended up packing up a day early due to impending storms (and predicted 60-70mph winds). We tent camped in the Elkmont Campground and scored a beautiful spot right alongside the creek. After driving all day and setting up camp, we still managed to do a bit of exploring our first afternoon there!

 We drove up to Newfound Gap, which is the meeting point of the Tennessee and North Carolina borders.

Our next stop was Clingman's Dome for sunset! At 6,643 feet, it is the highest point in the park and the state of Tennessee. The CCC built the observation walkway and tower in 1959 and it offers incredible views of the Smokies in all directions. 

 The far mountain in the distance is Mt. LeConte - the hike we did the next day!

 Although it was a beautiful 60 degrees at our campsite, it was close to 30 degrees on top of Clingman's Dome!

Endless mountains.. exactly what I pictured when I thought about what the Smoky Mountains would look like.

  The sunset was a beautiful way to end our first day in the park. Unfortunately, it was the last we would see of the sun for days.

 The next day, we ate a delicious camp breakfast of pancakes and drove to the trailhead for Mt. Leconte.

The LeConte Lodge sits at 6593ft, nestled in the beautiful Smoky mountains. There are no roads up to the lodge, only trails. It's maintained by a few workers, and three times a week there is a pack of eight llamas that bring up supplies and then take waste and linens down the hill. It was beautiful up there - we wish we could have stayed the night! 

The only picture I remembered to take of the two of us while on the hike!

This hike was one of the hardest ones we've done and we were glad to see the car again at the bottom! We were definitely bummed we didn't get to see the views we had hoped for, but it was a beautiful hike nonetheless. If we get back to the Smokies one day, we would love to stay a night up at the lodge!