Great Smoky Mountains

Some of you have noticed a slight delay in my blogging over the last few days. That's because I found Alice in Charlotte, NC, and we went camping in Great Smoky Mountain National Park over the long weekend!

According to my National Geographic National Park Guide, this is the most visited National Park, and the most crowded during the summer. We got there at about 6:00 pm and were fortunate to find an open campsite. As we drove around and saw other people's campsites, I tried to explain to Alice that my tent is designed for ultra-light weight and compactness, for backcountry backpacking trips-- i.e., it's very small. So I kept having to answer "Is it smaller than that one? How about that one?" as we drove around the campgrounds. And the answer was always "Yes."

Please don't read any innuendo into that.

Anyway, like I said, we found a campsite and set up camp. There was a trail nearby, and we had a few hours to kill before sunset, so we hiked for about a mile up a steep hill, and unfortunately, did not see any wildlife. I did find a metal cage, whose purpose I would not learn until later on in the trip.

We learned something fairly quickly when we got back to camp: it's not easy to make fire in the Smokies. (ironic?) It's just so humid! Even while tearing the newspaper, I could feel it getting damp. Anyway, I failed in my first two attempts to light a fire, and then Alice stepped in and lit one. For all of you who already know Alice as the great outdoor hunter, camper, and survivalist, I say "HUH???" but I was happy there was fire and didn't ask questions. We roasted hot dogs over the fire and had a great time.

We started the next morning with a quick walk up Clingman's Dome, one of the highest points in the park. Most National Parks are aptly named, and we found out that this is true here as well (although Great Foggy Mountains would be more accurate.) All the mountain peaks were shrouded in clouds, so the view was rather hidden from us on that day.

Drove into the Tennessee side to Gatlinburg for lunch, and then drove toward Cades Cove. We found another campsite here and set up the tent for later, and here we found what we had missed the previous night: marshmallows! and graham crackers! and chocolate! We stocked up...

Drove to Cades Cove, a driving loop section of the park that contains about a dozen restored buildings from the late 19th century. Three of them were churches, which went defunct during the civil war due to parishoners' sympathies being divided between the Union and the Confederacy. About midway through the loop, we found a trail that lead, according to my National Geographic book, to a "stunning view of a waterfall." So we hiked the 2.5 miles to the waterfall, at which time our reaction was: "eh." And then hiked back. Later on at a mill site, I saw another one of those cages, and this time, there was an exaplanation: it's to catch wild hogs, which are non-native and are dangerous to the natural wildlife of the park.

Saw lots of deer on the way home! Back at the campsite, we again tried to make fire. Alice had the Firestarter title from the previous night, so she got to try to make the fire this time. And try. After she had sufficiently heated the wood in the fire ring, I stepped in and lit the fire. And this time, after cooking hot dogs, we toasted marshmallows and made smores! YUM!

Found Laurel Falls (no relation to Laurel) the next morning and hiked. These falls were not that impressive either, and there were crowds of people playing around in them, but the hike was fun. After that, hiked a few nature trails and headed back to Charlotte. We were both pretty tired from the previous day's hikes. But we survived three days in the great outdoors (more or less!) without internet service or cell phones coverage! (er, 2.5 days without Alice's Blackberry...) Amazing how people survived twelve years ago.