Day 65

Day 65: 7/21 (Great Smoky Mountain National Park)

49 miles

We had two nights reserved at Great Smoky, but they were at two different campgrounds so we had to pack up and move this morning.   Once we were in the car, our first stop was not too far from our first campground.  We hiked to one of the parks many waterfalls which was a nice start to our day.  We didn’t seem too many people along the trail, but once we arrived at the falls, there were a lot of people dipping their feet in.  From there, we continued our journey down the Newfound Gap Road.  We didn't stop again until we reached the gap which is on the Tennessee / North Carolina border.  The view was beautiful and reminded us a lot of home.  We were finally surrounded by deciduous trees again, and lots of them!

One of the coolest parts about Great Smoky is that the Appalachian Trail runs through it.  We decided to hike a very small portion just to say we did it.  We could have just hiked home - Maine was only about 2,000 miles away.  A bit of rain was starting again, but nonetheless, we decided to persevere.  We drove a few miles down the road to Clingman's Dome which is supposed to offer one of the best panoramic views of the park.  We had to hike a half mile up hill to reach the observation tower and unfortunately, the Smoky Mountains were living up to their name.  We could not see anything through the fog.  We waited a while to see if it would pass, but as far as we could tell, we were sitting in the middle of a cloud.  Once we were back to the car, we headed for the campground.  There weren't as many stops and viewpoints at this park as the ones we had been to previously.

We got to the campsite fairly early in the evening so we at least got to set up while it was still light out.  We were also hoping to have a fire so we headed down to the "camp store".  It ended up just being a little office selling wood and there were a few vending machines so no marshmallows for us.  When we got back, we cooked up some ramen and put some beans on the fire for dinner.  After eating we walked down to the river and walked along the water for a bit.  It was starting to get dark so we jotted down a few notes about the day and took our books into the tent.  Rico didn't last long reading, but Jillian was happy to get a few chapters read. 

  

Fact:

The Newfound Gap trailhead in Great Smoky is 1,950 miles from the end

Lesson:

Even if the day starts out with good weather, it's bound to get gloomy somewhere in the park

Eat Well; Travel Often

Rico & Jillian