Cades Cove, Tennesee
Posted by Karen on 01-Jun-2007
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I flew to Tennessee to spend the weekend camping with my friend Tammy and her family at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They picked me up at the McGhee Tyson Airport and we headed to our campsite at Cades Cove and set up camp. I’m instantly fascinated by the differences from California; like these birds with a bright red crown all over the campground. The campground is in a wooded area, so it’s all nice and shady. We set up camp and then take a drive along the Cades Cove Loop Road. The park used to be settled before it became a park and there are numerous preserved homestead cabins from the early 1800s and the loop road takes you on a tour of some of them. We had fun touring the loop and were on constant bear watch. Barbie saw one near one of the churches we’d stopped at. But nobody else saw it run across the road and scamper away (will I ever see a bear!). Back to camp for a nice relaxing evening around the campfire. On Saturday, we hiked along the Trillium Gap Trail to the Grotto Falls. A nice leisurely hike along a river under the cover of trees. As we continued down the trail, we came around a corner and people ahead were shushing us to be quiet. Above the trail was a mama bear and her twin cubs foraging for food. This time we all got to see bears (yay!). The bears showed no interest in the hikers standing around gawking at them, but we all kept on our toes just in case. It was very cool to get to see them and eventually the bears came down the hill, crossed the trail, and continued on down away from the crowd. No more excitement on the trail until I slip and fall into the river–not the recommended way to cool off. One slippery rock and 6 inches of water sure does get you wet.. LOL! The waterfall is very pretty, maybe 30 feet high with a nice large pool below it. Back at camp, we’re lazing around when a torrential downpour comes out of nowhere. Not a big worry, we have a tarp covering the table, so we’re just hanging out until we decide to check and make sure the tents are waterproof–they’re not!! We make a mad dash and grab the sleeping bags out from them before they become totally soaked. The rain just would not let up, so we piled into the truck and headed to town to get dinner since we couldn’t make a fire. We found a laundromat next to a burger joint and killed two birds with one stone, drying out sleeping bags while having dinner. Apparently downpours like that are quite common out there; now we know why everyone had tarps over their tents and their dining areas. Sunday morning, we packed up camp and headed out. As we’re leaving the camp area, cars are just stopped in the middle of the road–a bear pile-up! We jump out with everyone else to catch a glimpse of the bear and cubs up on the hill. More coolness. We go to another area of the park and drive along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail and view more historic homesteads. As we meander our way back to town via the scenic route, I introduce my friends to the game of geocaching. They have fun finding their first cache, I find my first one outside of California and I find a historical marker that I’ll log in the Historical Marker Database (yes, I know I’m a geek). I leave in the morning, so my wonderful friends dropped me off at my hotel and then headed home themselves. I stayed at the Country Inn & Suites across from the airport and I have to recommend them as a friendly, nice, clean and reasonably priced option in Knoxvlle.
It was a great weekend and I can’t wait to visit again next year.
