Our last hiking day in Tennessee, last night of vacation

 Well, this is the last post of our vacation. I'm so glad you came along on this "little" tour. On our last day we decided to have an easy day of serene walks and nature hikes and taking pictures. We started out in the morning at Grotto Falls. It was a 1 1/5 mile hike up the mountainside. We started in the crisp dry leaves, found many small streams along the way,and by the time we made it to the falls, we ended up in the slushy snow. The beginning of the trail head was typical forest. Large rocks, huge trees, fallen mossy logs. As we ascended the mountain, it got colder, muddier, and we started to see snow. By the time we got to the falls, there was quite a bit of snow and you had to climb boulders and roots on a very narrow path. It was well worth it, though, and people of all walks of life were visiting that day.

(Remember, you can click the first picture and be taken to a gallery for full size photos that you can scroll through with your arrow buttons. My pics should be bigger, and I'm figuring out why Blogger will only let me do the first two. Bear with me, we'll get it :) 



Large boulders at the entrance of the trail head. Look at the long veins of quartz running through this one. These were all over the mountains. So beautiful.

I fell in love with these mossy logs, stumps and rocks. This is a mere few of the pictures I took.

This water fall was accessible from the back. I took so many photos on that day. Where I'm standing for this photo, is the actual trail. Narrow and very snowy. Everyone was courteous and took turns in this great spot to take their pictures.

Down the road from the trail head to the falls, there was another homestead. These little houses were along the roads in certain areas and just there for you to visit and explore as you wish.

After we stopped by the homestead, we decided to take a hike up the Trillium Gap Trail. Just inside the trail head we came upon this little graveyard. It had this lovely mossy stone wall around it, just a very interesting find.

Well, we walked and walked. It really was a pretty hike, but eventually we realized we were really getting far in. The trail was 2.7 miles in and 2.7 miles back. We had had a plan for nice, slow picturesque nature walks, and didn't want to spend all day on this one hike. Boy, we really moved double-time back out of that trail. It was very strenuous challenging and adventurous.

 Once we were back out, almost two hours later, we stopped and took some pictures on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.

This bridge was right close by. It's an actual fishing stream, and we saw two young boys gearing up to do just that.

The Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is a long one-way loop in to many trail heads, including Grotto Falls. It is designed for you to enjoy a nature trail from your car, with pull-overs for exploring. And, that we did. From the car through the trees I saw a large cascade (almost waterfall). We found a pull-over close by and noticed that their was a trail going way down to these massive rocks with cascades and streams. So, of course, down we went. It was really beautiful.

This is just some of what we saw while we were down there.

Later that evening, once we got closer to the Gatlinburg Welcome Center, we found this very cool bridge and, of course, I needed a picture of it.

There were quite a few more lovely walks we took just up until dark. I will post everything to Smugmug (a photo-keeping site) very soon, now that I've finished this series. Thank you so much for sharing in our adventures to Tennessee. We truly loved it, and I hope you enjoyed these posts as much as I did remembering our trip while posting them.

At the time I'm writing this, Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, next week, in fact. I'll have a post about that, and something for my other blog confessions of a thinkaholic about Giving Thanks and having Gratitude.

I truly appreciate everyone who is reading. and wish you a fantastic, abundant ThanksGiving and hope you will be able to share it with your family, friends, and loved ones.

Have a great day!

Nanette

Gatlinburg on Dwellable

Another sunrise, and long walk in the snow...up to Clingman's Dome.

Another glorious sunrise on our last full day in the cabin. We loved the hiking so much we extended our stay by two days and got a hotel room close to the Parkway so that we could take in as much as we wanted. This day, Thursday, we were off to Clingman's Dome. We drove up the mountainside, a long but beautiful ride through the snow, to get to the trail head of Clingman's Dome.

On our ride up the mountain, we were able to pull over and get this amazing shot of icicles. There were other photographers there, too, with tripods. I'm just a point-and-shoot girl...for now. These were all up and down the mountainside. Talk about a winter wonderland!

Once we arrived, this is what we found. There were plenty of people visiting that day. The snow was knee high. This couple were making a snowman.

The park crew did a pretty good job of clearing the path....

...until about here. It was a long and arduous hike, only 1/2 mile, but seemed so much longer. It was steep and slippery. We didn't fall once, though. I wish I could say the same for a few others. Everyone was in good spirits about it, though.

                                          Totally worth the climb.

         Here we are! Ten years and going strong. Now we can say we've climbed mountains together.

                                       After that drive, and 1/2 mile hike we were at 6,643 feet.

                         On the way back down the road from Clingman's Dome is Newfound Gap road. On it is a parking area with the Newfound Gap Look Out, and the trail head to the Appalachian Trail. Next time....look at all that snow! But if you ever want to get to Maine, the L-O-N-G way, start here. It's only 1,972 miles.

                Here's a little snow covered bridge we found while we were still at an altitude with plenty of snow. There were so many cascades and bridges in the whole area. When they say the Smoky Mountains offer a lifetime of hiking adventure, they are so right. Noah and I took our hiking map and highlight the trails we went on and wrote in the dates we completed them. We will keep this map and take it back with us every time we go and add on to our accomplishments. While I know we will probably
maybe never go all the way to Maine, there is enough to keep us busy and definitely coming back for more.

Thanks so much for reading today!

There's a little more, yet, on this adventure, hope you come along!

Nanette

Gatlinburg Falls Resort on Dwellable

A breathtaking sunrise, and a trip to Cade's Cove

Well, since the weather cleared, the mountains were in full view. We woke up early so that we could see the sunrise, and get started on our adventure for the day to Cade's Cove.

Here, the sun makes it's entrance...

               I couldn't believe I was actually witnessing such a beautiful occurrence. It was one of the many highlights of our day.
         

Ok, so, we did go to the Pancake Pantry. I ordered the Black Walnut Orange pancakes. These were buttermilk pancakes covered in my favorite...black walnuts, and served with a little pot of orange syrup. No butter needed, so I left that on the side of the plate. They had powdered sugar and obviously made with love, because they were delish! Pancakes aren't complete without bacon, for me, anyway ;) And, of course, a cup of hot creamed tea. These were the best thing ever! And, no, there was NO way I could finish. Noah had the Spice pancakes. They tasted like Christmas morning, he said.

 On our way to Cade's cove, some people were pulled over taking pictures, and when I saw of what, I got one, too. I really am not sure what this bird is, but I'm thankful I could zoom in and capture it on camera.

    Then, this little guy scampered across the road...

Cade's Cove is one big loop of a road, one way. There are several places to stop and explore, views to take in, and churches to visit. Here are just a few to give you a taste of the little village that used to be inhabited.

Cade's Cove Primitive Baptist church. I took some photos of some of the tombstones here. They were well protected and roped off, as they were so old. Most were pre-civil war.

                                I thought this was most interesting...

                 One of many Daddy Long Legs visiting to cemetery, as well.

            As we moved on down the road, several people were stopped again to get pics of this majestic fellow. He was completely unperturbed.

The second church we visited.

I thought this was a great photo op, not crowded at all. I got quite a few pictures inside this church. I loved the colors and light spillage.

  A view from a parking area to the entrance of a hike to more houses.

This is the beginning of the hike to those houses.

While in the Smoky Mountains, I fell in love with moss. I have quite the collection of mossy logs, rocks, and bridges. I found it to be so magical and beautiful.

Here is a little bridge you had to cross a little stream to continue on to the house.

An old chicken coop

I love how all the primitive houses and buildings have large stones to level them out. The mountains provide for very un-level ground. You had to improvise way back then to build here.

 On another drive and short walk, we came upon this little village. It has a working Grist mill and several out buildings and very old farm equipment. I got some great ones of that for Smugmug.

The working grist mill. There was a man inside, you could actually purchase wheat and corn flour from him. He had it set up inside with examples of the types of grain and what the result of the milling was.

On our drive out of Cade's Cove, we happened upon one of the 'pull-overs'. There are designated parking areas so that you can get out and explore. This is one of the cascades in that area. There are so many of these around, you don't even have to hike.

                            Noah pointed out this little guy basking in the sun on the rock I was perched on while taking pictures.

    On our way out of the area, look what we found right on the side of the road. A posse of turkeys.

     They did not care about us at all...they must not know Thanksgiving is coming...(or maybe everyone around here eats Tofurkey?)

And, finally, back "home" again. Just look at that sun setting on the mountain. As beautiful an ending as it was a beginning.

Thanks so much for reading today. I hope you'll come back for more, because there is so much more to share!

Have a wonderful day!

Nanette

Pigeon Forge on Dwellable