Great Smoky Mountains National Park 2019

While having a few beers about a year ago, we started talking about our upcoming 20th wedding anniversary, and what we should do. As you may or may not know, Krissy and I are into all things outdoors, and the idea came up of going to the Smokies. We started looking at Home Away and Airbnb for a place to stay. Soon we found what we thought would be the perfect cabin, far enough away from the cities of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, so as to not be involved with the "tourist trap" destinations of those areas. The cabin was less expensive than we could find a hotel for, and had everything we needed including a hot tub and a pool table.

We booked it that night.

This is the story of our week.

We arrived on Saturday around 4:30. Tired from the drive, we decided to just get a pizza delivered and look around the cabin. Not knowing what the liquor laws were in Tennessee, we asked the delivery guy if we could purchase booze on a Sunday. His answer alarmed us, and we were off to The Tennessee Shine Company, located just 3 miles away. A locally made version of Fireball and a Carmel Moonshine....

The view from the loft

Little shot glasses to go with it

Sunday started off with big plans...Fontana Dam and the Nantahala Outdoor Center (or NOC). Both of these places are important milestones to people hiking the Appalachian Trail, so of course...I needed to see them.

On the way, we drove the Foothills Parkway, unaware that we were headed for The Tail of the Dragon.

The Tail of the Dragon is an 11 mile stretch of US 129 that ends around Deals Gap, North Carolina. Included in that 11 miles are 318 curves....many of my biker friends would love to ride this! Still fun to drive in a Wrangler, especially with a manual transmission.

We ended up at Fontana Dam. Krissy was a little underwhelmed as no water was going over the spillway. I apologized to her, and explained the importance of the location to thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail. I think she was OK with it then.

Welcome sign at the visitor center

Fontana Dam, NC

Appalachian Trail sign at Fontana Dam

The first white blaze we saw

From there it was a short (lol....everything was 8 or 9 miles away, but it took 45 minutes to get there because of the winding roads) to Bryson City, NC and the NOC.

The NOC is an outfitters store and hostel for thru hikers on the AT. The trail passes right through the place. They have the store, a restaurant and bar located there. They also have a training area for kayakers, sort of the kind of stuff you see in the olympics. Having watched several thru hikers pass through the NOC is what me want to come here. So that I could say, "I was there too".

The NOC outfitter's store

AT trail marker at the NOC

From here, we headed back to our cabin. We passed through Cherokee, NC which is actually a Cherokee Indian reservation. We entered the park and within a few miles got to see a herd of the local Elk. The park rangers were actually firing blanks over the herd to get them back from the road. We started uphill, eventually passing the road to Clingmans Dome, but it was way too foggy to see anything. We'll have to come back.

Jeep Invasion

Oh yeah, it was the Jeep Invasion weekend in the Smokies. There must have been 8,000 Wranglers driving around...my hand was tired of waving.

Monday we stopped for lunch at Smoky Moutain Brewery....food was decent, beer not so much. There was a light one that we couldn't even finish (I know....right?). It seems that Bud Light is the beer of choice in these parts, it was difficult to even find some local brews to try.

It was also our first visit to the park.

Sugarlands Visitor Center

We stopped in so I could do my geek thing, having my National Park Passport book stamped and to buy some swag. I collect patches and pins from all the National Park locations we visit...I have a problem. And, if you're not familiar with the Passport book, I highly recommend it. All the National Park locations have an ink stamp that you can put into your book with the date on it, it's a great way to keep track of where and when you were at a particular location. I started small, but now have the super, executive version of it!

Behind the visitor center is the trailhead for Cataract Falls. It's an easy trail, not much elevation gain, but a good way to start.

Tree along the way

Cataract Falls

Woke up Tuesday morning to the sound of hot turtle love going on in our back yard. This episode scarred me for most of the trip, as I kept hearing a faint, turtle like voice saying "who's your daddy".

Facebook would probably censor this...

Tuesday we got our start planning to hike to Laurel Falls and to visit Cades Cove. Most of the bears you see are on the one way road into the Cove.

Laurel Falls was a busy trail, and it was the first time in the park that I realized that most people have no trail etiquette. You are supposed to yield to hikers heading UP the trail, because they have the momentum climbing, not the other way around. Also, if the trail has the room for two people to pass each other, don't walk 4 across and expect me to move! The falls were flowing OK, just too many people. It is all uphill to get to them.

Laurel Falls

Sporting the new AT Buff

We actually got to see a couple bears on the way up to the falls. Two cubs were in the trees breaking off small branches and throwing them to the ground. Of course, Krissy was very concerned about where the momma was!

Cades Cove is a closed loop of a valley surrounded by mountains. Absolutely beautiful! We saw another bear taking a nap in a tree, and a deer standing by the side of the road. Stopped at the visitor center...another stamp in the book and a few more patches and pins. Joined the Smoky Mountain Association to help the park out.

Bear sleeping in a tree

Wednesday was our 20th wedding anniversary! We got a really slow start to the day....

We wanted to have a nice meal out somewhere, but unfortunately all the restaurants are chain, tourist places. We did have a few suggestions that sounded great, but we opted for something simpler. We ate at Blaine's Bar and Grill. Good food for being bar food. Great fried pickles, but try them before you salt them.

20 Incredible Years!

From Blaine's, we stopped to have a nip at Sugarlands Distilling. I think we had 10 or 12 samples, some very good...some not so much.

Yeah, just taking a picture of my wife...

Rumspringer????

Thursday was sunny...great day to make a run at Clingmans Dome. Clingmans Dome is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, and the trail passes right by it. We planned on hiking a little bit of it while we were there. In addition to the small section we hiked while in Shenandoah National Park, we only have about 2,189 miles to go to complete it. It's a work in progress....

The view from the parking lot

It is a hell of a hike to get to the top!

The observation deck

View from the top

Panorama from the parking lot

A few more steps on the AT

Overlook on the AT

We took a hike on the AT which actually hooked up with a bypass trail back to the parking lot, so we avoided all the crowd on our way back. Should have come up this way too. Next time.

On the way back, we pulled into Newfound Gap, the only place in the park where the AT crosses the road. It's right on the border between TN/NC. Great views!

Newfound Gap

Only 1,972 miles to Katahdin

Friday...last full day...off to see Grotto Falls.

Grotto Falls trailhead is located on the Roaring Fork Motor Trail that you get on in Gatlinburg. Another one-way scenic drive that takes you through the park. The trail is used by pack animals to resupply Mt. Leconte Lodge. You can stay up there in a cabin with no electricity for quite a bit of scratch, but it is booked solid for about a year in advance. The trail actually passes behind the falls, kinda cool. Just difficult to get a picture without someone in it.

Grotto Falls from the front

Grotto Falls from behind

Don't know how these two kept getting in our pictures

While leaving the trailhead parking, Krissy helped me get the Jeep out of the parking spot (the woods) and suggested that I may be lacking some courage ("You might want to reattach your balls when we get back to the cabin, because I think that is where you left them" I think was how she put it), because I was parked in a precarious mound of rocks. As she was getting back into the Jeep, I spotted what looked like a small calf cross the road in front of me. "What is a calf doing out here" I thought to myself before realizing it was a bear cub. Bear count: Scott-4    Krissy-3

We planned on visiting Anakeesta before heading home. It is a new attraction in Gatlinburg with shops, a restaurant, zip-lining, rope bridges and a single rail mountain coaster. We had talked about doing the zip-line, but had talked ourselves out of it.

You ride a ski lift to get to the top of Anakeesta, and it was slow. It looks like it will be a nice place, but they need more there. Zip-lining was shut down until 4:30.

We had a beer....and maybe another one.

Krissy says to me, "Let's do it".

So we sign the release forms saying that we will not sue them if we die. And get scheduled for the 5PM zip. It is a dueling zip-line, meaning we will be going at the same time. Krissy says it's not a race, but if you are beside me....it's a race.

No pictures of the zip, but we made it.

She also told me that I should have waited to tell her that I was a bit concerned about doing it, until after we were done.

And I won all three zips!

Another beer, celebrating Krissy getting over her fears and trying something that we both really enjoyed doing.

The ride back down from Anakeesta

To sum it up...what a great trip. We will definately be returning here again!
I made the comment that I want to move here, not when we retire...RIGHT NOW!

Oh yeah...there is just random beautiful things to see everywhere you look.

August 24-31, 2019


"The mountains are calling, and I must go"
John Muir