We visited several parts of the park today. We began the day trying to visit Grotto Falls and Baskins Creek Falls. When we drove toward the falls, we found that the road to the area of the park we planned to visit first was closed. Unfortunately, the government shutdown put maintenance behind schedule. The road will not open until May 1.
Our next destination was the Sugarlands Visitor Center. This visitor center has been central to our trip so far. Today we stopped by the entrance for a selfie.
Our hotel is about the closest hotel to this entrance.
We stopped at the visitor center to shop and to see their museum.
In the museum we saw many examples of the plants and animals native to the park. From the visitor center we headed to Laurel Falls. This hike was shorter and easier than our hikes yesterday. We could see many mountain views on the trail to the falls.
One of the views from the trail.
Once we arrived at the waterfall, we found the falls actually had an upper and a lower section. The trail places you just below the upper falls. You need to climb down some large rocks to see the lower falls. The two parts together are about 80 feet tall. These two pictures try to show the full size of the falls.
The water from the upper falls flows under the trail bridge into the lower falls.
After our hike back down to the car, we headed to Newfound Gap which is a pass through the Great Smoky Mountains. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the Tennessee/ North Carolina border. At one point Marlene was in North Carolina and Steve was in Tennessee. Here we are in our dueling states pictures.
Read the signs carefully to see where we are standing!
From Newfound Gap we went to Clingman’s Dome which is the highest point in the park. While we could drive to within about a half mile of the top of the mountain, the last segment was a fairly steep climb. The top of the mountain is not the end of the climb. There is an observation deck on top of the mountain.
We did manage to finish the walk up to the observation deck. From the deck it is possible to view seven states. (Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, and South Carolina). Part of the reason this is possible is because several of these states are very close together. The other reason is that on a clear day you can see over 100 miles away. Today was not one of those days. As we heard one ranger say, there is a reason they call these the Smoky Mountains. Anyway, here is proof we made it to the top, and one of the views from the top.
If you look at the left side of this view, you can see Fontana Lake just behind the first mountain. That lake is 15 to 18 miles away. Today you could see about four mountain peaks, one behind the other. The views are amazing.
We drove back toward our hotel after this, we literally coasted down the mountain. For about 20 minutes we were getting over 60 miles per gallon as gravity pulled us down the hill.
There are many places to see in the park. There are more stopping places than you can count. We made one more stop along the way back to the hotel. We stopped because of the great view.
We learned that this particular location, the Carlos Campbell overlook is used to study climate and wildlife interaction. Within the area you can see from there, there are at least seven different environmental areas. Scientists use this area to see how animals interact with their environment at different elevations and temperatures. Diversity of life and a beautiful view all in one small place. What a great creation we live in.
We finished early today because of the closed roads that kept us from two hikes. We will actually post today’s blog today, rather than tomorrow. We may even get to sleep before midnight.