Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Day 24 Summer 2011 Road Trip

The alarm went off at 7am this morning and our day began.  Eat breakfast and then we are on the road.  The park entrance is only a few minutes from our hotel.  We will visit The Great Smoky Mountain National Park today.

0017 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Gatlinburg Bypass

We get our first view of the Smoky Mountains and true to their name, they are smoky.

0023 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Gatlinburg Bypass 0024 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Gatlinburg Bypass 0025 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Gatlinburg Bypass

We stopped in at the Sugarlands Visitor Center to get our passport book stamped and to pick up some pamphlets relevant to our visit.

0028 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Sugarlands Visitor Center - US-441 0027 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Sugarlands Visitor Center - US-441

We drove along the Little River Road.

0029 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Little River Road 0031 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Little River Road

The Little River runs along beside the Little River Road.. (obviously)

0036 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Little River Road - Little River 0044 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Little River Road - Little River

A waterfall was cascading down the rock face beside the road.

0049 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Little River Road waterfall

Even the river is smoky.

0057 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Little River Road - Little River 'smoke' 0060 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Little River Road - Little River 'smoke' 0062 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Little River Road - Little River 'smoke'

Then as we were driving along the Laurel Creek Road, Karen yelled to stop the car… She had spotted a black bear in the forest.  Fortunately there was a wide enough shoulder along the road that I could pull off safely.

0086 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Laurel Creek Road - Black Bear 0090 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Laurel Creek Road - Black Bear 0091 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Laurel Creek Road - Black Bear

On the Cades Cove Scenic Loop Road we saw these horses.

0098 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop 0099 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop

More Smoke on the Mountains.

0107 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop 0113 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop 0115 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop

Spotted a White Tailed Deer in the forest.

0121 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop - white-tailed deer 0122 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop - white-tailed deer

We stopped at the Cades Cove Visitor Center to get our passport book stamped and to wander around through the old mountain homestead property.

0126 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop - Cades Cove Visitor Center 0127 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop - Cades Cove Visitor Center 0131 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop - Cades Cove Visitor Center

0132 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop - Cades Cove Visitor Center 0133 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop - Cades Cove Visitor Center - John Cable's mill

I like old functioning water wheels, so I took a couple of short videos.

Water Wheel at Cades Cove Visitor Center

Cades Cove Visitor Center Water Wheel

Back on the Cades Cove Scenic Loop Road, we spotted a mother Black Bear and her cub.  The cub disappeared into the shadows of the trees before I could get a second shot.

0176 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop (again) - 2 Black Bears mom & cub 0177 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop (again) - Black Bear 0180 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Cades Cove Scenic Loop (again) - Black Bear

Another scenic road we drove on today was the Rich Mountain Road, a 12 mile gravel road… It was scenic but we did not encounter any wildlife.

0187 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Rich Mountain Road 0192 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Rich Mountain Road 0199 Great Smoky Mountain National Park  - Tennessee - Rich Mountain Road

At the other end of the Rich Mountain Road is the town of Townsend, where we stopped for a break and a bite to eat.  Parked next to us was the local police cruiser, I liked their logo.

0204 Tennessee, Townsend - US-321 North - decal on Townsend Police car

After leaving Townsend we drove on to the town of Gatlinburg.  Now this town, I would compare it to be a cross between the Clifton Hill area in Niagara Falls Ontario and the Wasaga Beach arcade area, except there is no water fall or beachfront nearby.

We rode the elevator to the top of the Space Needle for a 360 degree view of the area.

0228 Tennessee, Gatlinburg - Space Needle 0232 Tennessee, Gatlinburg - Space Needle observation deck - view North of Gatlinburg Sky Lift 0244 Tennessee, Gatlinburg - Space Needle observation deck - view South

Look what we found…

0253 Tennessee, Gatlinburg

After leaving Gatlinburg we headed back to Pigeon Forge and our hotel.  We went to the local Food City and bought some groceries and some frozen dinners for tonights meal.

We will return to The Great Smoky Mountain National Park again tomorrow and see a different section of the park.

To see all of our photos from today, you can click on the link to our FLICKR site.

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