Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Day 1, Tuesday, 9/8, To The Great Smokies

Getting Ready to Leave. Are we taking too much luggage? Will the cat care person show up this morning so we can have a warm and fuzzy that our cats will be taken care of? Can we control our anxieties to avoid conflict? Will the disparate pieces of this 8-week road trip (hiking, photography, music, and more music, civil war and civil rights, genealogy, high holidays, relatives, and more ) come together to meet our expectations?

9:00 A.M. We leave Garrett Park for our first destination, the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee. Our first stop is one of 5 Starbucks on Rockville Pike within a 10 minute drive from our house to get a 16 oz. skim latte and a turkey and Havarti sandwich (about equal parts carbs and protein, ~30 grams) for Martin. Tammy had a protein shake and coffee at home. Then fill the gas tank. The MDX guzzles premium gas, a little more than 20 mpg. The trade-off is a very comfortable ride. Head to the Capital beltway toward Virginia. Exit onto RT 66 West. And then about an hour out, go south on Rt 81. Stay on Rt 81 almost all the way to the park.

The Drive. RT 81 follows the Great Appalachian Valley from the Shenandoah to the Great Smoky Mountains. The Blue Ridge Parkway, a more scenic by-way hugs the top of the mountain range to the east of Rt 81. Rt 81 is a shorter drive, about 7½ hours from Garrett Park to Sevierville TN, where we are staying, which is about ½ hour from the main entrance to the park in Gatlinburg. The drive calms us down. We adjust our electronics. Tammy tunes in WAMU on the Tune-In app. Martin Googles the route to gauge progress and see our ETA. We take a break from talk radio, plug in the iPod and sing along with Johnny Cash's “Legend of Johnny Cash” and Paul Simon’s excellent “Graceland” album where he tells about his trip to the Mississippi Delta that "[shines] like a national guitar”. We are also heading that way. Most of the drive is in excess of 70 mph, although we slowed down near the most southwestern part of VA in Bristol, where “smokies” were ticketing speeders. We make several pits stops at gas station convenience stores and rest stops. We brought along lunch. Martin had a hard boil egg and turkey roll-ups. Tammy had two hard boiled eggs, carrots, and nuts.

Sevierville TN. We exit RT 81 to Rt 40 and then onto a local road to Sevierville. We get a taste of the business and entertainment industry in this part of TN: Signs for Dollywood and a gun and knife show this weekend. Strip mall after strip mall with motels and fast food franchises—Sonic, Jack-in-the-Box, McDonalds, and so on. A few restaurants with a better chance for a decent meal, like Outback Steak House, where later we had a much needed filling dinner. We arrive at our motel at 5:30 P.M. It's a AAA 2-diamond motel (Best Western Greenbrier) for $57 a night. Accommodations are adequate, commensurate with the price. The A/C dies. The TV remote didn’t work. We figure out how to operate the TV w/o a remote (we wanted to watch the premier of Steven Colbert on NBC Late Night Show.)

Day 2, Wednesday, 9/9,  Potter's Creek Hike

We had a restful night sleep. The motel breakfast is adequate (eggs, sausage, and coffee) and just in case we brought along yogurts (Chobani Greek yogurt) and granola (the excellent Bear Naked Original Cinnamon granola with 10 grams of protein and 13 grams of carbs per serving). The maintenance man fixes the A/C. We would have benefited from subtitles to understand his thick Appalchian Mountain accent. But that aside, he was very quick about the fix and friendly.

On our first day in the Smoky Mountains, we went on a hike with a guide from the Walk-in-the-Woods Company.  We gathered our hiking gear, put it in the car trunk, and then drove down RT 441 (through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg) to the park’s Sugarland Visitors Center to pick up information packets about drives and hikes in the park. After a short drive through this well-maintained park, we drive on RT 321 North to the Greenbrier entrance to meet our hiking group. We had a sneaking suspicion that there weren’t going to be that many hikers in this group, since there is a lull in park visits after labor day until mid-October leaf color fest.

When we pulled up to Parking Area 1, we only saw a small Toyota pick-up truck that belonged to “Blue”, our guide. We liked being the only ones on the hike.  Blue, who we guessed was in his mid-20’s, told us that he recently returned from living “off the grid” for two years. He lived in a very tiny 8 x 8 sq. ft. house that he built and later added a porch. He hunted for food with a sling shot and bartered with the locals. He told us his parents are of the Pagan persuasion, also living close to the earth as small-scale farmers, and that “Blue” is short for the name of a river whose name we don’t remember.  Blue has moved back with his parents. He helps out on the farm and works as a wilderness guide and camp counselor. His aspirations are to start a camp for city kids. He was nice to be with.

Blue and Martin on the trail

We follow Blue’s truck to the end of a dirt road, hopped out, and start walking along the Little Pigeon River to the Potter’s Creek Trail. The river is low exposing river rocks and boulders as far as the eye could see. The Potter’s Creek Trail is an easy-side of moderate hike, about 3-4 hour round trip with only a few rocks and tree roots to maneuver around, and a moderate ascent. 

Little Pigeon River

The weather worked against us. The sky darken and it started to rain. Luckily we weren’t far from shelter, an abandoned farmhouse and barn with a small family cemetery in back.  Unluckily, we forgot our rain slickers, but Blue had ponchos for us. The former inhabitants were mostly subsistence farmers. When the government decided to make the area a national park, inhabitants had the choice of selling their land or staying there on a lifetime lease. The barn was built with a cantilevered second floor held up by two rooms on either end like pedestals.  Blue told us this designed reduced the taxes on the property because taxes were based on the amount of land covered by enclosed structures. 

Cantilevered barn built by John Whaley in 1875.on Potter Creek Trail

We continued on the trail when the rain subsided. Blue pointed out edible plants, some having medicinal affects. We turned around when we reached a stream crossing that required walking on a narrow plank. It was a good decision. By the time we returned to the car the rain started again. We were tired. Headed back to the motel.

Day 3, Thursday, 9/10, Cades Cove Tour

Today we are taking an auto tour through Cades Cove. To get there, we follow the Little River Road for about 20 miles starting at the Sugarland visitor’s center. The road is lined with tall straight trees that run up the mountain sides and creeks running along the roadbed. It is a scenic drive that shouldn’t be missed.

Cades Cove is a valley that was crisscrossed by Cherokee  hunters and then settled by Europeans who farmed the land. What remains is fields bordered by Smoky Mountains and dotted with settlement structures—farmhouses, churches, and at the Cades Cove visitors center a water powered grist mill and a relocated farmhouse, barn, and a few other structures.  

Cades Cove valley

The John Oliver farmhouse, the first house on the Cades Cove loop, housed 12 family members in 8 x 20 sq. ft. structure. The sons slept in the loft and the daughters, infants and parents down stairs. You didn’t come home and plop down on the sofa in front of the fireplace or read a book. The house was for shelter. Most of the time was spent outdoors.

John Oliver's 8 x 20 sq ft farmhouse

We visited 3 abandoned churches on the loop, a primitive Baptist church, a Missionary Baptist church that was formed by dissenter from the primitive church, and a Methodist church.

View of back of Primitive Baptist Church and cemetary

At the primitive Baptist Church, Tammy started a conversation with a man from West Virginia who was looking at the bibles on the pulpit. The pews were plain hard wooden planks, but the pulpit had decorative wooden cutouts.  Sensing a photo op, Tammy asked the man from West Virginia to pretend to be the preacher reading from the bible. Although he had a reserved demeanor, he was game and read this passage: “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." Then he told Tammy that he had suffered a life threatening disease 5 years ago (Tammy thinks cancer) and has survived. He believes Jesus played a part in his recovery. Martin thinks that the man from West Virginia was lonely. His wife wasn’t with him. Maybe she had died.  He needed to open up to someone. A sweet moment.

Man from West Virginia on primitive Baptist Church pulpit

We exited the Park on RT 321 through Townsend. RT 321 connects to 441 in Pigeon Forge. Follow 441 to the motel.

Day 4, Friday, 9/11, Photo Ops

Today is dedicated to photography. Real photographers know that the best light is at sunrise and sunset. We set out early in pitch black and drive on the winding road up to the New Found Gap, elevation about 5,000 feet. The Gap lies on Tennessee-North Carolina border and looks over the Oconaluftee Valley. The Appalachian Trail crosses the gap. We aren’t the only ones setting up cameras with long lenses on tripods. We befriend another couple. It’s cold. Martin didn’t bring a sweater. The fog drifts in and out. With patience, photo-worthy scene appear for a moment.

Clouds at New Found Gap at sunrise

Late afternoon, we drive past the New Found Gap up to Clingmans Dome, at 6643 feet the highest peak in the Smoky Mountains. We get out of the car. The air is light and still. The quiet is palpable. The fogs rolls in and out. The sun descends. The view is spectacular.

Cacading Mountains at Clingmans Dome at sunset

To close out the day, we stop in Gatlinburg to window shop at the NOC outfitters and dinner at the Park Grill (great salad bar). Another long day. Back to motel. Tomorrow heading to Nashville.

At first, the GSMNP was to be an overnight stop on the way to Nashville, and then a short stay. Wish we stayed longer. More hikes and photography.

Driving on Rt. 441 through Pigeon Falls

If we had stayed at a motel closer to the Park in Gatlinburg, we would have missed driving through a slice of Americana worth noting.  Besides the campy establishment in Pigeon Forge, 

Hatefield  and McCoy's Diner Theater

this week and weekend car fancier line-up along Rt 441 to gawk and hawk customized classic cars. Pigeon Forge “rod runs” are an Appalachian tradition dating back to the Prohibition and the moonshine culture. Moonshine distillers and runners souped up cars to outrun government agents. These are the predecessors to hot rods and stock car racing popular today. (See Tom Wolfe’s exposé on the hot rod culture in The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.)

1958 Buick Limited (Thanks Randy!)