So much better on the NC side of the Smokies

We traversed the park and are now in Cherokee, NC. It is SO nice on this side. It is not crowded at all, we’re not battling traffic and people each turn. I highly recommend that you visit this side of the park. On Tuesday, we drove some of the Blue Ridge Parkway and then detoured to Balsam Mountain. We then did some offroading on Balsam Mt Road. Keith decided that he wanted to ride in the bed of the truck and get a full nature view of the trees. He’s crazy, the temps here right now are only in the 40’s! He was a bit chilly when he came back to the truck.

We hiked to Andrews Bald yesterday and it was an awesome trail. Just the right elevation change, sun/shade, wood hiking and mountain views…really all you could ask for in a 4 mile trail. I would definitely recommend to anyone this hike. Keith and I are sort of becoming trail connoisseurs as we’ve hiked so many miles over the past few months. We also hiked a bit of the Appalachian Trail over to Clingman’s Dome and the views from Clingman’s Dome by far topped the views anywhere else in the park.

Today we’re planning to hike along the river front (a trail Rosie is allowed to go on) and then we head over to the eastern part of NC tomorrow.

See you all in a week!