Great Smokey Mountains NP

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

We left Somerst, Kentucky about 11:00 am eastern time and headed east to I75 south bound.  Just before reaching Knoxville, we stopped at a rest area and had a lunch Kitty had packed.  We can't stop at most restaurants due to my special diet requirements and we don't want to even think about trying to maneuver a 38 foot 5th wheel in some tight quarters.  So, we always pack a lunch and stop in a rest area.  We drove about 235 miles and reached Waynesville, North Carolina around 4 PM.  Creekwood Farm RV Park, in Waynesville, is one mile south of I40 and about 80 miles southeast of Knoxville, Tn. and 20 west of Ashville, NC.

It's a nice well kept campground with a small creek running behind our site and a larger creek along the eastern side of the campground.  They offer free WI-FI, cable TV, a dog run area, breakfast on Saturday mornings and live entertainment on Saturday nights.  They also have an RV wash station and the restrooms and laundry areas are spotless.

 

Here we are on site #38.

Kallie just finished her chores!

 

 Wednesday, we headed to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  We took US highway 276 south to highway 19 west, then US 441 north through the Cherokee Indian Reservation and entered the Great Smokey Mountain National Park via the southern entrance at Oconaluftee visitors center (say that three times real fast!).  Most people probably enter from the north going through Gatlinburg, Tn. and we wanted to avoid the touristy areas.

 

We are now headed for the highest peak in the Smokey's called Clingmans Dome.  It is 6643 feet above sea level.  We were lucky today, it didn't rain on us while we were up that high.  Clingmans Dome gets 8 feet of rain per year, and is often covered in clouds.  We took our rain coats just in case, but were glad we didn't need them, and there wasn't enough clouds to prevent photos. 

We are following the road to Clingmans Dome and the Oconaluftee river runs along side the southern portion of the road.

 

Here's Oconaluftee River

 

 

Here we are in the parking lot near the top.  We still have to hike a half mile trail to get to the observation deck.

 

It was 80 degrees when we started up this mountain.  Its now 57 degrees in the parking lot! 

These next several shots were taken as we walked up the half mile path climbing another 330 feet higher in the thin air.

 

 

At about 6500 feet high, the Appalachian Trail crossed our path.

Notice the dead trees in this photo below, and several other photos to come.  I will tell you later what's killing them later in this blog.

 

The thin air, steep climb, and my reduced lung capacity made us think about turning around a few times.  But, I needed to prove to myself that I could do this, so we rested a few times and continued our upward climb.

 

 Here's a shot of the observation deck that stands 6643 feet above sea level.

 

We stopped at the base of the observation deck to catch our breath.  Then, I started up the winding walk way to the top.  Kitty had enough exercise for the next few months, so she stayed at the base. 

 

Here I am, out of breath, but I made it to the top.  I did it!

I've been accused of having my head in the clouds, and here's proof of that!

 I don't know what the air temperature is up here, but I am guessing it is 50 degrees or less.

 

Here's Kitty at the base of the observation deck.  (No, she is not flipping me the bird!)

I had to zoom in on that photo so you could see who it is.  I am really higher than it appears.

 

These are photos from the top of the observation deck.

 

 

These photos were taken while heading down the trail back to the parking lot.

 

We made it back down to the parking lot.  It is much easier walking down hill than up hill.  Next, we are headed for Newfound Gap.  It's only 5046 feet high!

 

Here's some photos from Newfound Gap.

 

 

 

I am sure you noticed all the dead trees in these photos.  It's a little bug called balsam wooly adelgid.  It has killed over 95% of the Frasier Firs over the past decade.  The only way to stop it is to spray each tree individually, and that takes a lot of time and manpower.  We saw a lot of dead trees in South Dakota and Wyoming.  It is really alarming to see all of the devastation caused by bugs and fires.

 

There's lots more to see here, but it will be getting dark soon and we didn't want to be driving these mountain roads at night.  So, we headed back.

 

Tomorrow, we will take a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway!  Stay tuned.