The Mountains of Tennessee

On the last weekend of spring break we took a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The trip was very nice although a little rushed. The weather was a little wet the first day but the second day made up for it. The park straddles the North Carolina and Tennessee border and has very nice visitors centers at each entrance. We stopped at both for directions and a break. ON one end we did a little walking tour of an old homestead. As the park is at a higher altitude there was still snow on the ground in places. It didn't stop the blooms from poking through along the road and in the hills. This was just outside the visitor's center. Our second stop in the park was a mill just inside the park boundary. Mingus Mill has a short canal from a nearby stream which guides the water down a millrace to the mill. From there it flows down the penstock into a working cast iron turbine. Inside the miller describes and demonstrates the process of grinding corn into cornmeal. Cornmeal is also available in the mill for sale. Below is the canal and the millrace. The mill is in the background. We arrived just as the miller was shutting down for the day. There is a video below of him shutting down the water by diverting it back into the stream.

Once he was done we had one of those magical moments when the girl stopped moving for just a few minutes and I managed to get a few good pictures of her. Here she is sitting near the millrace after the water was diverted. At the other end of the park is a sight that would make an environmentalists (and maybe a planner's) toes curl. The town of Gatlinburg Tennessee is a sight to behold. The place is not unlike Banff or other small towns on the outskirts of major parks but it has a certain flair all its own. Some people call it Myrtle Beach-without the beach! This is just a small taste of it. Jane has more pictures on her blog. There were lots of restaurants and small stores and attractions. It seems to be a small the landing site of Ripley's Believe it of Not. They have a few galleries and an aquarium. There are also lots of strange miniature golf courses. Some are indoors, some on hillsides, one is called Hillbilly Golf and from the sidewalk it looked pretty interesting. The hotel in Gatlinburg was fine and thankfully it wasn't too difficult finding a place that took dogs. In hindsight I think we would have left Maggie at the kennel since she wasn't allowed on the trails in the park and didn't get much out of Gatlinburg. We'll know better if there's a next time. The second day in the park was beautiful. The Tennessee mountains are amazing and the temperature is lovely this time of year. We took in a motor trail (you drive the scenic and beautiful trail rather than walk it) and Jane read the guide as we drove through. We saw lovely waterfalls, old homes and buildings, overgrown fields and some wildlife. A group of deer slowly sauntered across the road as we were coming around a bend. We stopped to get a few pictures while they grazed on the fresh grass in the woods. The motor trail took us through a community frozen in time. There were old homesteads from the days before power which showed how life was in the early years before the National Park Service took over the land. Some were larger than others and showed the diversity, wealth, and difficulties of raising a family in those far off times. As we drove through the park the second day we saw many more vistas than we had on our first trip through. We ended up retracing our steps but since we hadn't seen too much the first day anyway it was new to us. The highest peak in the park and on the Appalachian Trail is Clingmans Dome. It is a busy spot but we managed to find parking at the base of the trail and had a bite to eat. After lunch we headed up the very steep trail to the top. This is what we saw when we got there. Below is a shot from the tower with the tourists on the left and the serious hikers on the right. The hikers were happy to have a dry to day dry out. It rained for four or five days before and a few after. Some had been at it for three weeks. The ride back was uneventful and, all things considered, Isabelle did very well for being stuck in the car with her parents and the dog for about 6 hours both days. Maybe someday we'll all get to hike some of the Appalachian Trail...