Great Smoky Mts (northern part)
We spent our last couple of days in Pigeon Forge, TN and its really a busy place, if you want peace and quite its probally not the best place. The traffic only travels at ~10 mph and it takes literally forever to get anywhere. Think of it as 10 times worse than the Silas Deanne Highway back in CT. So we’ve opted to get out of here and head down to the southern part of the park…hopefully it less busy down there.
But, for the park….wow! I started our stay here commenting on how silly it is for so many people to come to the park to see the Fall leaves, but boy was I wrong. It is so amazing, all the fall colors. The Great Smoky Mts is a Biosphere Reserve and there are more different types of trees in this one park alone than anywhere else on earth. So, when it comes to fall colors, you have more different colors and shades of colors than anywhere else on earth as well. It is beautiful and breathtaking.
The Cades Cove loop in the park focuses on life in the 1800s, with many houses built in the 1820s, grist mills and barns. You can walk in the houses and see what people lived in. [One thing that is so sad is that many people have written on the walls of the house…like I care so and so loved so and so…you are defacing a part of our history! Have some respect.] But other than that and the park traffic, they really need a public transportation system in the park, it is really neat. PLUS, we saw a momma black bear and three cubs while we were hiking to Elijah Oliver’s cabin. They were SO cute. I didn’t have my good camera with us so I was disappointed but we had the binoculars and the bears kept looking up at us. We could see them so well in the binoculars. I wanted to scoop them up and snuggle them.
We also drove the Roaring Fork Loop today. This trip brought you right into the woods. It was a really narrow road where the trees felt like they were going to swallow you up. So many different types of trees! This road brought you around another 1800s community but with more of a sense of trees and water…as they were so close to everything that this community held close. Plus this loop was more off the beaten path and not as many people were on this road, so it made it more enjoyable. Oh and did I tell you it snowed…just flurries but that makes it 5 parks now with snow! We'll let you know how the other side goes......
T&K
But, for the park….wow! I started our stay here commenting on how silly it is for so many people to come to the park to see the Fall leaves, but boy was I wrong. It is so amazing, all the fall colors. The Great Smoky Mts is a Biosphere Reserve and there are more different types of trees in this one park alone than anywhere else on earth. So, when it comes to fall colors, you have more different colors and shades of colors than anywhere else on earth as well. It is beautiful and breathtaking.
The Cades Cove loop in the park focuses on life in the 1800s, with many houses built in the 1820s, grist mills and barns. You can walk in the houses and see what people lived in. [One thing that is so sad is that many people have written on the walls of the house…like I care so and so loved so and so…you are defacing a part of our history! Have some respect.] But other than that and the park traffic, they really need a public transportation system in the park, it is really neat. PLUS, we saw a momma black bear and three cubs while we were hiking to Elijah Oliver’s cabin. They were SO cute. I didn’t have my good camera with us so I was disappointed but we had the binoculars and the bears kept looking up at us. We could see them so well in the binoculars. I wanted to scoop them up and snuggle them.
We also drove the Roaring Fork Loop today. This trip brought you right into the woods. It was a really narrow road where the trees felt like they were going to swallow you up. So many different types of trees! This road brought you around another 1800s community but with more of a sense of trees and water…as they were so close to everything that this community held close. Plus this loop was more off the beaten path and not as many people were on this road, so it made it more enjoyable. Oh and did I tell you it snowed…just flurries but that makes it 5 parks now with snow! We'll let you know how the other side goes......
T&K
posted by Baran/Narrow Family | 9:11 PM
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