Great Smoky Mountains

Driving east in Kentucky, we stopped first at Cumberland Falls. It's a big ol' waterfall, and if you come at the fall moon, you can apparently see a rainbow at night (which they call a "moonbow"). We weren't really sure it was for us, though (because after you look at it for a minute or two... then what?), and tried to time how much longer it would take to get to Great Smoky Mountains park in Tennessee.

But we decided to make the best of it, figuring there were some trails in the area we could walk on, and we'd just set up camp there and roll with it. So we go over to the campground... and it was just lame looking. Meager-looking sites, all of which seem to have either a wooden deck for your tent or a sandbox filled with gravel. We got information about which sites were available... and then saw a sign that said the trails from the campground were closed due to "bear activity". Since that was pretty much all the park had going for it at that point for us, we hit the road. Turns out we didn't take a single picture of this place.

 Pigeon Forge, TN, which is on the way to both Dollywood and Great Smoky Mountains Park, is the biggest tourist trap area I have ever seen in my entire life. There are no adequate words for it.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is pretty awesome. It's pretty big, and while there's not really a central attraction in it, there's a ton of trails, mountains, and waterfalls. Not a fan of the model here where entrance is free but they nickel and dime you on maps. But other than that - no complaints. Really neat park.

We weren't here a really long time, so we focused on hiking trails that went to waterfalls. We saw two in the evening, bumbled our way through another campfire (seriously, you would never know I was briefly a Boy Scout), then got up and went in search of more waterfalls.

We drove by a few of them that are close to roadways, then went on a loop drive towards more. I was pretty worried about the effect of a long hike on my knee, considering I'd been walking all week on the trip and still had a weekend full of walking ahead of me. Eventually I decided to stay back while my partner pressed on.

A creek intersected the trail, small enough that there was no bridge (picture above). Most people I watched just stepped on rocks to avoid getting their feet wet. While she walked on, I took my shoes off and stepped in the water. Upstream looked interested, so I went. After I climbed (carefully) over some mossy rocks, I was alone.

I was in a really neat area, quietly hidden just out of sight. I continued climbing in and around the water, occasionally stopping to sit on a rock and enjoy the area. I missed out on a great waterfall you can walk behind (check the next group of pictures), but I had my own Eden. Eventually I went back to the car and read and waited for my partner to get back.

We pressed on to the last fall on this stretch, which is called The Place of a Thousand Drips. Silly name, fun place.

I climbed around in it barefoot for awhile until I found a place where shoes would really help me. My partner was nowhere to be found, exploring another area, so I put my shoes on and went back to climb higher. It's right next to the road, so people would see it, then brake to look at it, sometimes taking a picture out the window. I didn't know whether I should be looking at them while they took my picture...