Great Smoky Mountains National Park || Days 3 & 4

On our third morning we woke up to the sound of rain drumming on our tent, but we were determined to make the best of it! Our plan for the day was to drive to the Cade's Cove area of the park and explore. 

Because of all the rain, there were beautiful waterfalls flowing down from the mountains right off the side of the road. The drive to Cades Cove was a real treat!

 This part of the park has an interesting history. The Cades Cove valley was settled by Europeans in the 1820's, where their families farmed and lived on the land for over a century. However, in 1927 the government started purchasing the land in an effort to make a new national park. Many willingly moved away, but some families resisted but were eventually forced out of the valley.  Today, the valley is full of old cabins, churches, mills, and other remnants of the farms and people that once lived there.

 Cades Cove is a scenic 11-mile one-way loop that winds through the valley. On Saturday and Wednesday mornings, they close the road until 10am to allow for people to walk and bike the road. If we visit the Smokies again, we'll definitely bring the bikes with us!

 The Smoky Mountains have many of these oddly shaped but beautiful cantilever barns. Very different from our traditional red barns (with hex signs, of course) in Southeast Pennsylvania! 

  

  It stopped raining for a few minutes, so we got our stove out to make lunch. Unfortunately, it started raining about five minutes into our lunch-making efforts.. but the views from the picnic area were nice! 

This picture makes me smile - we were tired, cold, wet, and hungry so these Ramen noodles felt like the best thing in the world! Travel isn't always glamorous, but it's an adventure. 

One of the wonderful parts about being in the Smokies in the spring was the wildflowers! There were incredible flowers everywhere, including these wild orchids. The diversity was amazing!

  

One our fourth day, we woke up to more rain and impending storms (with predictions of hail and 50-60mph winds).. so we decided to tear down camp a day early and head to South Carolina. We did a lovely (but wet!) hike to Grotto falls before hitting the road. 

 The trail goes right behind the waterfall! 

The trail head is on the historic Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, which is actually an old road. We absolutely loved this one-way drive through the mountains, it was stunning! It features old cabins, an old mill, and multiple hiking trails. At one point I made Mike stop so that I could take photos of the stream.. he told me later I was gone for almost 45 minutes. Oops. 

     

  

  

 Our drive out of the park was supposed to feature spectacular views, but unfortunately, we saw mostly fog. It made for some lovely moody photos though!

  

 As we excited the park near Cherokee, NC we were greeted by a herd of elk grazing along the road!

Once we were out of the park, we made a small detour to Mingo Falls. This gorgeous 120 foot tall waterfall is only a short hike (.4 miles round-trip) up a few stairs to this amazing beauty. It was a perfect end to our time in Great Smoky Mountain NP!

Our overall thoughts were that we loved the park. The end of April was a nice time to visit, as it wasn't too cold or hot, the park wasn't crowded yet, and there was some life starting to appear in the forest. We were disappointed by the amount of rain we experienced, but that was unavoidable. We had a great time regardless, and hope to get back one day when the sun is shining! 

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!