Taking Monday Off

I was exhausted and sore from all my activities doing walking tours around Charleston, keeping up with two elementary-age children in Raleigh, and hiking one Great Smoky Mountain Trail, AND the Appalachian Trail in Pigeon Forge. I needed a break.

So I slept in, took my time getting ready in the morning, and then went to Panera Bread for lunch because they have internet. I stayed there for 4 hours getting caught up on all my internet stuff - blog posts, Facebook posts, and searching for info on what to do in Nashville. I discovered that the Nash Trash Tour is all booked up for the whole time I will be in Nashville. Bummer.

I did have to go off in search of a laundromat because my campground does not have a laundromat, and the U.S. Corps of Engineers are lousy campground hosts. Their brochures say that there are laundromats "in the vicinity," so I stopped to ask them where in the vicinity I could find these unicorn-like laundromats. They had no clue. I drove around and only found one Chinese laundry that would wash and fold my clothes for $12. So I took them up on it. Ah, the joys of packing light.

I was not, however, too tired to go shopping. I made a trip to Target to restock on supplies, to buy a jar for my Boss Hogg BBQ sauce, and to pick up a few groceries. I got some hummus to go with the pita crackers I have been carrying around since San Antonio, and had that for dinner, along with the last of my Raleigh orange juice. I downloaded some photos from my camera after "dinner" and then went to bed early - like 8:30 pm early. It felt good to do nothing of any note for a whole day - almost like a vacation from my vacation. Plus there are no photos of me doing nothing. Bonus!

Y'All Come Back Again, But I'm Goin' to Nashville, Nashville Here I Come

Day 80 (Sunday) and it’s time to leave the Smokies and Pigeon Forge. Woke up at 7 am, feeling like an 85-year-old, showered, washed my hair, packed up the car, took down the camper. All done by 10 am. I drove to Fast Stop to: (a) take a photo of me in front of Mel’s Diner, and (b) gas up the car and buy ice. Then I went to Lid’l Dolly’s to buy a quilt and a gift for Kelly.

Pigeon Forge told me to come back again. Mighty friendly of them.

Hit the road – I-40 to Nashville. Had to stop at Exit 398 for a short 10-minute namp, and once again at a Love’s gas station, and once again at a Tennessee highway rest stop. I was tired, really tired. I had lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken at Exit 398 also, since Col. Sanders started his empire in Tennessee. They had a brochure for his museum at the counter.

Ran into construction along the way; drove 6 miles going so slow I had to do most of it in 1st gear, since the car would sputter in 2nd. Took forever. I had no internet at Creekside RV Resort the last morning and found no internet along the way, but a Tennessee Welcome Center at Carthage had a map and the attendant said there was a Stewart Ferry Pike Road exit off I-40. This same rest stop had a plaque up memorializing U.S. Senator Al Gore, Sr. for his role in helping Eisenhower create the federal interstate highway system (and from the photo you and Mary Krueger will note that I found a boiled peanut stand in a gas station along the way - right between the front door and the ATM machine in case you just can't wait for a boiled peanut fix on the go).

Stopped for gas and a dreamcycle fudge bar in Mt. Juliet (a suburb of Nashville) and they confirmed that Stewart Ferry Pike does have its own exit off the freeway. The welcome center map got me to the campsite (7 Points Campground run by the U.S. Corps of Engineers) about 7 pm. Still daylight – a first for me. But my back-in campsite went uphill AND curved. Yikes!!! A really nice fellow camper helped me back in. Whew!!!

Mileage on my car this trip so far = 9,140

Hiking the Appalachian Trail on Top of the Blue Ridge Mountains

Saturday, April 2nd – the day I chose to hike the Appalachian Trail. I have to now since yesterday I mailed off a bunch of postcards (about 30) to my friends saying that I was going to AND I bought a medallion to attach to my walking stick. I am committed.

I woke up at 7 am, got ready quickly, had a hearty breakfast, but still managed to waste enough time so I didn’t get started on my hike until 11 am. I did, however, get the sleeping bag laundered.

I had to stop at the Sugarlands Visitor Center to get energy bars and chocolate for the hike. The clerk talked me into 2 chocolate bars. It wasn’t hard. I visited the facilities and then drove to Newfound Gap parking lot, which is the jumping off place for a hike to Charles Bunion on the A.T., which the Ranger had suggested as a more moderate hike.

When I got to Newfound Gap, there were no directions to Charles Bunion, no map, and the only sign pointed the way to Kephart Prong Trail and Boulevard Trail, and Maine (yes, the State of Maine). None of which were on my map. As a note: on the way back to the car, I ran into some hikers heading to Georgia who had the same problem, but there were going north instead of south, and they meant to go south.

No one I talked to knew which way went to Charles Bunion. One local person pointed to the Kephart/Boulevard Trail and said that is the only one he ever takes. So I did. There seemed to be a lot of people heading in that direction.

First a note, from Newfound Gap park-ing lot and a few places along the trail, one can clearly see Hwy 441 cut across the mountains across the valley. Hope my photo of same turned out.

I decided to take the trail slowly since I started at 11 am and didn’t have to be done til 6 pm – 7 hours for an 8-mile hike seemed doable. So, I took my trusty walking stick and my day pack with camera, wet wipes, Kleenex, water bottle, energy bars, and 1 of the two chocolate bars, plus a rain poncho for a hike.

I walked slowly up the dirt, stone, and tree root path letting others pass me. It was a beautiful, sunny day and you could see for miles. Since you have to watch where you are step on the narrow, rocky trail, I stopped periodically to lean on my walking stick and look around, or to sit down on a clean stone or recently cut tree trunk, and take in the Smokies. Side note: my nose dripped the whole time, so I used my sweatshirt as a Kleenex for most of the trip. Whenever I sat down, I would take a swig of water from the bottle in my day pack. But not too much as there are no biffies on the trail.

Observations on the walk:

• People hiking the Appalachian Trail are very happy and very friendly. They always asked how I was doing, said hello, or excused themselves for passing.
• People walking up have the right of way, which one experienced hiker explained to me when I wanted to let him pass by me when he was going down.
• People, like me, going slowly have to pull over and let the speedy ones go past.
• The mountains are eroding. You can see evidence of the trail being undermined, and even occasionally moved over closer to the peak.
• Someone (probably volunteers) have placed some logs across the path in strategic places to make the walk easier and to prevent more erosion.
• Same someones have laced some pretty big rocks in places to shore up the path and prevent a cave-in/
• The Smokies are incredibly steep mountains – much steeper than the Rockies. If someone bumped you in the wrong section of the trail, they would find you at the very bottom, unless you splatted on a big, live tree.
• The trees at the tops of the Smokies are dead or in the process of dying. There is a bug that is eating them. The Canadian Fraser Firs up there may not survive global warming, which even the Park Service doesn’t have the nerve to mention in their printed materials about the dead trees.
• These dead trees periodically fall down. Mostly the Park Service leaves them where they fall, but they chain saw any parts that fall across the path, and probably use them on the path later. These newly cut trees don’t have moss on them yet, and make good benches for senior hikers.
• The mountain tops are nice and sunny, but windy. The sides of the mountain have trees in layers above and layers below, plus the mountain peak on one side, so are shady and dark, but at the top, there is just one layer of trees so the sun pokes thru. You don’t know how much you enjoy the sun until it bursts in on you when you reach a peak.
• When you reach a peak, you think you are finished going up. Oh, no, no, no. There is always more up a little further along the trail.
• The mountain peaks are very narrow across – most about half a football field or less and fairly flat. It was like walking thru the woods in Minnesota – but with more dead trees.
• Even with all the dead trees there, new baby fir trees are trying to grow. I hope some of them make it.
• I stopped at this one beautiful, flat, meadow-like spot with 2 other people. It was a gorgeous view across the valley of ridge and ridge after ridge of beautiful blue and purple mountain ranges. You can see why they call this chain of mountains (to which the Smokies belong) the Blue Ridge – they really ARE blue.

This woman (50ish) was one of the two admiring the scenery. I took a photo of her with that backdrop and she took one of me. Trail magic. I saw her again later on the way to Icewater Spring Shelter.

• When no one comes by for a while, you really feel the peace and tranquility of the mountain. Glad at those times that I was alone – it’s hard to feel that when you’re talking.
• Did not see one single bear.
• The flowers blooming up there on the ridge tops are very tiny – but they are present and happy.
• It was thrilling to reach the Kephart Prong Trail branch-off and: (a) discover that I had just hiked 1.7 miles, (b) that Boulevard Trail was just one mile away, and (c) I was never going to make it to Chas. Bunion. But thought I could still do Clingman Dome after I was finished here.
• I sat down on a grassy hill in a sunny spot and ate my energy bar (never tasted anything so delicious), drank my waters, and took a very short video of me walking the Appalachian Trial.
• I truly did love the walk along the relatively flat ridge tops. It was magical!
• When I reached the Boulevard Trail branch-off, the sign said that the Icewater Spring Shelter was only 0.2 miles further, so I went there. I had to see it.

Side note: the people who manage the Appalachian Trial don’t want the long-distance hikers to stake their tents and start campfires just any place they feel like it, so you can’t take a tent with you on those back country hikes. Instead, they provide yurt shelters with very, very primitive toilets and fire rings. Everyone has to stay there; some people cheat and bring hammocks with them. I’m sure the Park Service doesn’t want them attached to their dying trees either. The yurts inside look like the steerage accommodations on a 19TH Century immigrant ship – two long, deep benches on which people spread out their bed roll and sleeping bag so they are sleeping side by side in two rows – one up and one down. The non-windy side of the yurt is covered with a translucent sheeting, held down by rocks. And there is a pretty fancy pulley-type contraption for keeping your food away from bears – or raccoons.

• At this yurt, I saw a chipmunk, a warbler, and an indigo bunting. More wildlife.
• This was my zenith, and then I started the trek down. On the way down, my heart was not racing and I was not flushed, but my knees did not like it, and I kept losing my balance, which can be fatal in the wrong place up here.
• I tried to take a photo at the Boulevard Trail – Icewater Spring split, but they came out fuzzy. So, a nice young woman hiking with a fraternity, took the photo for me. P.S. they made it to Chas. Bunion and then passed me again on the way down.

• I was surprised at how many people were still hiking up as I got further down. There were a lot of people coming up after 4 pm – one guy wearing expensive Italian leather loafers – and I wondered if they would be walking down in the dark. I bet he didn’t have a flashlight either.
• I met a couple with big backpacks with lots of camping gear coming up and they were just gleeful that they had received some trail magic in the parking lot. Someone had arrived with sandwiches for the long-distance hikers. They don’t have much opportunity to go shopping while on the trail, so trail magic is much appreciated.

Just before I reached the bottom, this young couple called out to me from behind. He had cut his hand badly on his pocket knife and they needed a band-aid. All I had was wet wipes. They bandaged his hand with wet wipes, and were extremely grateful. The trail ended and my feet hurt, my legs hurt, my back hurt, even my toe nails hurt, and I felt like I had just gotten off a boat, but I did it!!! I did a 6-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail (3 miles out and 3 back).

I took a 20 minute snooze in the car, then headed back my by campsite. It was a little after 5 pm. Clingman Dome will have to wait for a return trip. On the way back, I called Bryan at Bzzzz Auto Repair and he and Charlie came out and put a new headlight in and changed my oil in the trusty Subaru. Now I don’t have to worry about being pulled over on the interstate for not having a right side headlight.

I was too tired and sore to go out to eat, although I had planned to go to the Old Mill Road Restaurant which I heard from everyone was excellent. But instead I ate the chocolate candy bar and called it dinner. It was, after all, dark chocolate. I was also too tired and sore to sleep, so ended up calling both Brent and Grant around midnight.

Rain Fizzled, So Cades Cove Exploration Happened

Awww! It’s April already and my Great National Retirement Tour is almost over. It rained hard all night. I was afraid my campsite might flood. There was a mountain peak right behind me and across the road. I could just picture water pouring down from the mountain and taking my poor little camper down into Walden Creek.

It was bright and sunny by 10 am, and only Campsite #12 right beside me is flooded. I was high and dry. Spent the morning (Friday, April 1st) downloading photos and adding them to the blog. Finished blogging about Charleston and started the Raleigh stop. Didn’t get going anywhere until after 1 pm.

Had breakfast at Mel’s Diner on Wear Valley Road. Very friendly staff. Huge meal! Don’t order the sausage patties – everything else is pretty good.

Wasn’t going to do anything because of the rain, but it stayed mostly sunny all day, so I decided to do Cades Cove – an auto tour loop of an historic farming community inside the National Park. First stopped at Sugarlands Great Smoky Mountain National Park Visitor Center to buy a stuffed animal (a request), and a long-sleeved T-shirt for me. Then drove to Cades Cove. A cove (in mountain lingo) is a flat valley between mountain ranges where farming can happen. The landscape, nestled at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountain chain, was gorgeous. The National Park Service explained that Native Americans had been planting and harvesting grains here for thousands of years, and they are engaged in a process of burning off the European grass and replanting native grasses and grains. One of the photos below shows this. Another shows baby fir trees trying to grow to replace the dead and dying ones.

Cades Cove is an 11-mile road loop thru an historic site where few people live now and most of the homesteads are owned and managed by the National Park System as historic preservation sites. The road is a one-way loop thru the cove that no one but tourists use – so the speed is less than 20 mph not because it is signed, but because people are going that slow to see stuff along the way. The oldest homestead is from the 1820s, the newest from the 1870s.

Wildlife:

Saw my only wildlife in the Smoky Mountains so far on this drive – a total of 4 ducks and about a dozen deer foraging in a fenced pasture. I’m sure they can, and likely do, jump the fence. Oh, and I saw a dead red fox on the road on the way to Cades Cove.

Cades Cove Homesteads:

1. The oldest homestead belonged to John Oliver, built in 1826, round log home. I did not walk up to see it because I was doing the map the wrong direction at this point.

2. Two churches: I walked up to and inside the Methodist Church. It was disbanded during the Civil War because the congregation was divided in their loyalties.

3. Elijah Oliver, son of John Oliver, 1865. I did walk up to this house and its 4 outbuildings, and took some photos. It was built from some round and some square logs, but a log home none-the-less. It was interesting to me that the kitchen was separated from the house by a covered porch. I suppose that kept the house cooler in the summer.

4. Grist mill: The mill was built on this site and operated by the side of Mill Creek. John Cable built the two mills here in about 1870; he operated them and did some farming. There are 5 other buildings on this site now, but 4 of them were moved in by NPS. One was a “drive through” barn. The mill is what was called a “slash” sawmill. Most of the milled log homes in the cove show signs of being slash milled, according to the brochure. I did park and walk around, took some photos. There was also a water powered sorghum molasses mill there. Both pretty moss covered. NPS could probably do a better job of making sure they are not moss-covered if they mean to preserve them. The other building on the site was a house that was built some years later and rented out by Cable to a couple who ran a general store out of it.

5. Dan Lawson house, 1856, son-in-law of the grist mill owner, has a brick chimney which was unusual for this time. This is called a “transition house” since it has some milled logs and some lumber construction. It also has a very Scandinavian looking storbord – or granary. I walked around a little and took some photos.

6. Carter Shields cabin. Still in remarkably good shape. I did not walk around. Did text Richard that I was parked in front of it.

It was very easy to see why people call places like this a “hollow.” That is exactly what it looks like. It was also easy to see why people had to leave – everyone here was eventually related. And I can better understand why the National ParkService is so involved with the National Historic Register. They own a lot of historic buildings like these inside Park boundaries.

I realized on the way out that the road is much shorter taking the Townsend Road to Wears Valley Road, which is just a stone’s throw from my campground. Wears Valley Road has a lot of river tubing businesses, a couple of really local restaurants, and a few moonshine distilleries that it might pay to investigate on a return trip.

I stopped at Boss Hogg’s little roadhouse for some BBQ since I noticed the smoker outside. It was fabulous and had a sauce that defied description, but seemed to owe more to mustard than to tomatoes. I would go back. And they were so nice. When I said I wanted to buy some sauce, she just gave me some since they had closed out the till already.

The internet worked tonight, so I loaded a couple of blog posts on there. I did talk to the guy in the office who promised to reboot it. Must have worked.

Exploring Great Smoky Mountains, Hiking to Chimney Top

It was very, very, very windy last night. Not constant, but big wind gusts would blow down from the mountains occasionally to rattle the tent and make me worry. I didn’t really sleep well. A big storm and a cold front were moving in for Friday.

The winds died down by 7 am today (Thursday). I added a couple of blog posts and some Shreveport and New Orleans photos to Facebook. Wrote a couple of blog posts. Then headed for Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Got to the entrance sign and realized I left my camera in

the camper. Back-tracked and redo. Took some photos of me standing in front of the sign (as I always do), and some more photos of the mountain views, including some selfies with the large tripod. Think I got some good ones of both views and features of the park. Stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center, bought some postcards, bookmarks, and magnets, got my Parks Passport book stamped, and got some good advice. No longer a shuttle service to pick people up at Clingman Dome if they are hiking in on the Appalachian Trail. He suggested I hike the A.T. to Charles Bunion and then drive to Clingman Dome.

I picked up quite a few maps – I love maps. In fact, I started scrapbooking because of maps. I wanted to include my maps in with the photos, but can’t do that in a photo album.

First stop: Chimneys Picnic area. Really beautiful river running downhill over huge rocks there. So picturesque! Dozens of picnic tables on cement slabs and two WPA-era local stone restrooms. I took some photos of the WPA style picnic structures, of the scenery, and of some of the flora there (lichens and wild flowers). Lots of people there enjoying the day and the water.

Then on to Chimney Top for a trail hike. There are 2 trails there – Prong Road is 0.9 miles and Chimney Top is 2 miles and requires one to crawl up to a mountain top over very steep rock for the last several hundred yards. I opted for Prong Road. I walked uphill for 1.5 hours and thought I would never get to the end, so I stopped on the 3rd set of bridges and turned around. Little did I know that the Prong Road Trail ended at the end of that bridge. Missed it by that much.

But the scenery along the way was fabulous, and everyone walking on the trail was so friendly. It was great to be out in that clean, fresh mountain air enjoying the day. As I was almost back to the start, a light rain sprinkle started. When I got in the car to go to Clingmans Dome, a real

rain started. Clingmans Dome is 6,600 feet above sea level, so I was in the clouds on the drive up and really in the rain when I got there. Very dark and foggy at 2 pm, so headed back to my campsite. I did snap this photo of it.

Did stop at Clingmans Dome to check my lights, and sure enough the right passenger side headlight was out, so stopped at an auto parts store for a replacement light. He showed me all the stuff I would have to rembove to replace the light, and then gave me the phone number of a mechanic who makes house calls. Took a short nap, downloaded photos, made myself another Smithfield bologna sandwich with Chimayo red chile pepper power (delish), and then went to the Comedy Barn for a night of entertainment.

The Comedy Barn is HUGE! And stuffed full of kitsch. The comedy was clean, but sort of stale, and mostly came from making fun of audience members who volunteered to go up on stage for skits. I admit that I did laugh at them too. Maybe feeling uncomfortable and laughing helps. Would not go back on a return visit.

Smoky Mountain Opry

Woke up about 7:30 am on Wednesday, March 30. Brushed my teeth and went to the office. They don’t open until 9 am. Went to McDonald’s just down the street for breakfast. When I got back, the maintenance man brought over a heavy duty jack, jacked the front of my camper out of the dirt (it was in a good 2 to 3 inches), put the wheel on properly, and helped me push it back near the electric box. I set up the camper and spent the rest of the morning playing on my computer. The campground has attraction brochures. When I went to take a shower, I brought the ones for Smoky Mountain Opry and the Comedy Barn back to the camper. They had a special if you buy tickets to both at the same time. So I did.

Did the laundry, put Shreveport and New Orleans photos on Facebook. Went in search of a grocery store. Found a nice bakery and got cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow. Had to buy buns at Kroger – yuck to the gun nuts.

Cooked up that thick Smithfield bologna with green onions and some red Chimayo chile powder – Nummmm!!!! It shouldn’t even be called bologna. It’s too good. Trudie agreed – I talked to her and Carol on the phone.

Then I got dressed up as much as I could in camping gear, but did add the lovely shawl I bought in Santa Fe for a little festive touch, and went to the Smoky Mountain Opry. An overly enthusiastic usher hopped in a photo with me – we took 3 – I am sure for sale later.

The M.C. said that the two men who own the Comedy Barn also started the Opry – and meant for it to be family entertainment for all ages. That explains the discounts for buying both venues.

The show started out slow with mediocre music covered up by a laser light show. At one point, they actually sent two guys with guitars down in flying halters from the rafters. Then it got better. They had music impersonations by Charlie Bob Smith that included a great duet by Louis Armstrong and Kermit T. Frog – both sung by Smith, acrobats to music, a tribute to music thru the decades with a Singin’ in the Rain number with real rain in a channel, the Beatles with Hey Jude, Broadway tunes like Lion King, tributes to Simon & Garfunkel, Nat King Cole, and Tina Turner, and then a bunch of gospel and patriotic stuff. Overall I ended up liking the show. For one of the gospel songs, they let some very well-trained doves fly over the audience. It was a surprise and impressive.

Day 75, Drive to Great Smoky Mountains

Day 75. Woke up late – 8:30 am. Packed up my stuff, including dishes from yesterday’s lunch. Took down the camper. It was 1 pm before I got on the road. Realized that I forgot my retirement memory book at Grant’s house, so made a stop there. The kids were amazed to see the camper down – it looks so small when it’s down. I brought back Nasir’s sock, Naima’s scarf, and their rocks. Can’t forget the rocks!!!

Gassed up the car and hit I-40 west which will take me all the way to Tennessee where I get off on Hwy 321 to Pigeon Forge. Had to stop twice on the way to nap, but only ate junk food all day – brownie, doritos, etc. Stopped for gas in Marion, North Carolina where I also picked up ice for the cooler and propane gas for the furnace. This is my first peak at the Smoky Mountains.
Reached Gatlinburg before sunset, but not Pigeon Forge. I thought I had missed the town, but I didn’t. Pigeon Forge was not what I expected. I thought it would be a beautiful, bucolic small mountain town; instead it is a long skinny suburban strip mall with flashing and neon lights and great big digital billboards. Actually found the campground relatively easily, but had to fire up the GPS to get there. When I got to the campground around 9 pm, it was dark. I backed into my campsite at Creekside RV Resort and did a better job than usual. But I kept hitting the picnic table slab with the passenger side trailer wheel. Decided to unhook the camper and push it around the slab and back toward the electric box. I thought I had the 3rd wheel attached, but it wasn’t. Made it around the slab, but then when I tried to straighten it out – the 3rd wheel fell off. Spent the night sleeping in the car.

Total trip mileage to date – just a hair under 8,700 miles. The car also turned over to 34,000 miles on this leg of the trip.