The Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Day 4

Our last day in Smoky Mountain National Park was a rainy one, so we only had a couple hours to try and hike. We stayed in town (Gatlinburg) and took the couple mile Gatlinburg Trail which connected to a couple other trails. We walked a few miles until it started pouring, and then called it a day.

 

We didn't get to all the hikes we wanted to do, so we will be heading back another time - definitely when it is less crowded!

  The Fab Four! 😁

 

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Day 3

We were once again up early to go back and hike Laurel Falls Trail, which we didn't realize was paved pretty much the entire four mile round-trip way. We did enjoy some pretty foliage along the walk....

We then decided to go to Cades Cove - it's a valley where people homesteaded in the 1800's.  We thought this would be just a couple hours, but everyone else in the park was also there and it was a much longer afternoon, albeit an interesting one.

The foliage along the drive was quite nice......

A few of the cabins and sites along the way.....

We saw this bear (and her three cubs) as we were leaving

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Day 2

Today we were up and on the road before daylight........

to get a parking spot at Newfound Gap so we could hike the eight mile, 1,886 ft elevation change round-trip Charles Bunion Hike. We found a parking spot in time to see the sunrise....

And get a picture of the four of us before we set off to Charles Bunion:

Note the puffy jackets (which for us, was the fourth layer over fleece and two long-sleeved shirts), gloves, and hats - it was cold - DAMN cold!  A cold-front came in while we were there and it was in the 40's some mornings - could see your breath.  ⛄ (Jeff and Julie also look cold, huh!)

It was a nice hike, with steady elevation. Eventually we hit some fresh snow from the day/night prior....

We arrived at Charles Bunion in about 2 1/2 hours - and were rewarded with clear skies (it was questionable the entire hike) 

 and some beautiful foliage.....

(Notice that after hiking for 4 miles, pretty much uphill, we are still bundled up - brrrrrr!!!!)

We turned around and made our way to the backpacker shelter (about a mile) to have some lunch and continued back towards the parking lot where we passed a ton of people hiking towards Charles Bunion. One more pic.....

 (We did this hike in 2013 - here's the link to compare the trail conditions, us 10 years younger - gulp!, and what the hike looks like in May, rather than October.)

After hot beverages and hot showers, we had an early dinner and then wandered around the town of Gaitlinburg to try some moonshine and local fruit wines.

We paid something like $7 to try seven different types of moonshine - served in (apparently) communion cups! 😅

How did it taste? As they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words:

 

But the jars were pretty, which is worth something!

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Day 1

For our first day of hiking, we decide to start with the 5.5 mile Cucumber Gap Trail, and easy trail in the trees. We were visiting the Smoky's with friends from Oregon and this was a nice easy hike to talk and reconnect. Some pics.......

 

 

The next hike we planned to do was the Laurel Falls trail - just a wee bit down the road. Well, it seemed as if everyone else in the park was there, as we could not find parking no matter how many times we drove by the parking lots. We had learned at The Visitor's Center than Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited park in the US - over 14 million people a year and the busiest month? October, Ugh. So that limited our ability to do more than one hike a day, as if we weren't parked by 8am, it wasn't going to happen. Bummer.

So after some lunch and showers, we took a drive and explores some arts and crafts areas/stores nearby. Not our favorite thing to do, but it was nonetheless nice and there was an opportunity for one more photo for the day......

 

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park - The Drive

We decided to head to the Smoky Mountains to enjoy the fall foliage and do some hiking. (Little did we know that pretty much every other person this side of the Mississippi River had the same idea! More on that later.)

Since moving to Florida, we have repeatedly heard of "Buc-ees" - a convenience store/gas station phenomenon that has a cult-like following. (Yup - we're serious.) So after many drives up/down I-95 going from/to Florida, we finally decided to make the effort to go to a Buc-ees (which also advertise immaculate bathrooms). 

 

The place was HUGE! It was WAY more than a "convenience store" - there was a full grocery section, clothing area, touristy stuff, cookbooks, gift items, etc.... Pretty much they had everything. They even have these "famous" brisket sandwiches (yes, we tried one - it was okay), 

a dozen (or more) types of jerky, 

 

a bakery, and more. Oh yes, and the restrooms were very clean. And there is gas, for sure. No exaggeration - about 100 pumps. All this being said, we wouldn't go back. It takes WAY too much effort to get to the bathrooms and the gas pumps - much easier to go to a more traditional gas station - and most of the time time a decent one has clean bathrooms. 

 

Hello from Brad & Buc-ee!