Well, It's About Time, and Here's the Rest of the Story....NC Trip

Sparky is FINALLY ready to finish her North Carolina tale, and to shorten things up, will just give you the highlights instead of drawing it out. Life got in the way of blogging these past few weeks, so best to move on, right? And besides, the HOLIDAYS are coming and FAMILY is coming for a visit, so Sparky better hurry up and git 'er done!

OK, where was she? Getting ready to go on the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, specifically the Deep Creek area. The Deep Creek area is where some of the Cherokee and their leader, Tsali hid out in the rocky areas at the headwaters of Deep Creek to avoid being forced to relocate to Oklahoma (Trail of Tears), and where later, one of the larger mountain battles of the Civil War was fought. There are some nice easy hikes and some LONG ones in the Deep Creek area. They are 1)the Juney Whank Falls Loop, .7 mile loop hike, 2) the Three Waterfalls Loop, a 2.4 mile loop hike, #3) Deep Creek Indian Loop, 4.4 mile loop, #5, Indian Creek/Thomas Divide Loop, TEN mile loop, #6) Deep Creek Noland Divide Loop, 17.9 loop hike...whew! and #7) Indian Creek /Sunkota Ridge Loop--12 mile loop.  Sparky took a couple of easy hikes and photos of some beautiful waterfalls....The area was absolutely gorgeous, shady and still green......

We bought a waterfall book at the park visitor center, well worth it! The Wayward Traveler's Guide to Waterfalls and Back Roads-- Franklin, Highlands, NC and Clayton GA Edition, which also covered waterfalls in Cherokee, Bryson City, and Cashiers NC. very close to where we were staying. This book had directions, ratings on the falls, unique lodging and dining, short hiking trails and much more. It was 5 bucks!  We spent the week visiting and hiking short trails listed in this book....Sparky went to one where after you hiked about a mile, the trail ended at the falls where you could walk behind them! Cool!  Some waterfalls not to be missed: Cullesaja Gorge area with the Cullesaja Falls, Mingo Falls and Soco Falls. There are over 1,000 waterfalls in North Carolina, one of the most beautiful states in our nation, in our opinion.

Sparky hiked, Eldo rested (broken rib healing time)....Sparky hiked the Water Rock Knob Trail...a VERY steep first hike in the week, and about had a heart attack, it was so steep...She realized very quickly how out of shape she was...Whew! But the view! The views were spectacular all week long.....

Sparky decided she was going to hike the Appalachian Trail! And she did! For about two miles....the Trail runs through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. You can pick up the trail at Newfound Gap Road at Newfound Gap. The AT runs for 72 miles through the national park. Sparky was excited to be on it and would love to do it again for longer distances.....Newfound Gap is the high in the middle of the park, about 4,000 feet up, and the Newfound Gap Road is the only road across the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Here's the part of the trail Sparky got on....

We were very lucky to see elk at the Oconoluftee Visitor's Center in the park the week we were in the area. We saw them two nights in a row, then they quit coming on their dusk visits to the visitor's center.

We heard stories from the rangers about dumb tourists who got too close to them. (Sparky, did you take notes? Were you paying attention? asks E., with a smile)

The male of the herd was AMAZINGLY huge and definitely had his harem with him.....We heard the elk bugling the first night, and saw two males lock horns! This particular male charged a car last year because some lady insisted on driving too close to him when he was crossing the road. He lost an antler ramming her car, they said. Because it was the rut season (October), the rangers were really on high alert with this guy in the meadow with his females and were shooing people away from the sidelines whenever the Big Guy moved.

We didn't see any bears this week....But they must be around....This was at our rental cabin...

Eldo is sort of glad about that, as Sparky was on a few trails by herself this week. But no worries, mate....there were lots of other people on the trails, too! We saw scenery after spectacular scenery....Many fabulous waterfalls and of course, the mountains....

View from our deck of our rental cabin

Above the clouds at one of the overlooks!

One of our favorite excursions of the week was the Roaring Forks Motor Trail--a 5.5 scenic drive through the park near Gatlinburg and a spectacular drive full of breathtaking vistas and canyons. Sparky took the Grotto Hikes trail there, awesome waterfall where you can walk behind it...Sparky reveled in the variety of trees, the beautiful colors, the crisp fall temperatures, she was in 7th heaven! Eldy enjoyed it, too, but Sparky more so....As you can see...

There was so much to see and do in the area, we decided to come back next fall and do some more! And that is that, folks, the quicky version.....Sparky now has to catch up with what we've been doing since we've been back home.....We'll be back soon.......

Picnic in the Park-Sort of!

It was a little nuts to try and head into a picnic area in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on July 4th, but try we did...We drove and drove along Little River Road on the north side of the park, coming in from the town of Townsend to look for a picnic spot. The park was overloaded everywhere, the Little River was very crowded with tubers, and not much water!  Most of the people tubing were floating in one spot and not moving because of a lack of depth of water. Good way to get a sunburn! We looked and looked everywhere, stopping to see some neat places for future return visits, without the kids, like this one... If you look closely, you can see two girls at the bottom of the little falls.

There were people all over this particular spot. We talked to a couple who had been here years before, but they didn't know the name of this stopping point. It's on a curve with a high bridge, and apparently, it's a popular "diving off the cliffs" spot. The couple said, if you asked a ranger in the park, "Where's that spot where you can you dive off the rocks into a pool below?" They would say, "We don't have anything like that." Yeah, right! This spot had a sign warning of drownings occurring in this place, yet people are still showing up in droves for the chance to dive head first into water that didn't appear to be all that deep! The same couple we talked to said that if you jumped in feet first, your feet touch bottom about the same time your head goes under. About six feet? These people diving head first were nuts!

It was so great to see some little waterfalls again, after being in dry Texas for a month! And to hear the sound of bubbling, rushing brooks and streams....

There were no picnic spots available, so we made our own. We pulled off the side of the road where there was room for the car, and we clambered down the hillside to the Little River banks. Out came the nylon beach mats still holding a little ocean beach sand from our trip to Florida. Perfect for placing on a flat rock for a picnic blanket and the kids were set!

Grandma Sparky decided to get her tootsies wet in the river....bad idea! Slippery rocks, VERY slippery! Back out she came......Back on went her shoes......

It was fun having a picnic in an unplanned spot... Cate, Trevor, Papa and Grandma Jeannie had a wonderful afternoon at the park today...Wish we had more time to explore the national park, but it's been so very hot. We managed to hike a trail, see some fabulous sites, see some wildlife and get to know our way around the park a little better. That's all very good because we definitely are coming back to our country's most visited national park. Twice as many visitors come to the Great Smoky Mountains as the Grand Canyon, which is the second most visited national park. We hope to return this fall for some SERIOUS hiking!  We leave tomorrow heading for Pennsylvania! We're going to take the grandkids to Hershey and Gettysburg before returning them to their parents. Should be quite the trip! We'll see how they do for hours at a time on the road in the motorhome.....Bye for now........

BEAR Jam!

Sevierville TN  High: 93  Low: 68

We're still trying to stay out of the heat....Trevor loves the water, so he's in the pool almost every day. Papa has been in a couple of times. Sparky has been in a BUNCH of times. Trevor LOVES to be the Splash King!

We decided to do the Cades Cove Loop driving tour late today, in hopes of seeing some wildlife. The eleven mile loop is closed two days a week early in the morning from sunrise to 10:00 AM so cyclists can ride without having to worry about cars. It's a very narrow, one way, one lane road so it would be crazy to try and bike it during the day. (And it's really hilly and extremely curvy, says E. You won't find ME biking this one! ) Sparky is biting her tongue....lol....

At first, it was empty field after empty field. Even if you don't see any animals, you can see really cool log cabins and homesteads, very old churches, and a grist mill. The scenery is gorgeous! We explored a number of cabins....It's surprising that they are not guarded or roped off in any way, you are free to go inside and walk around and touch and feel these old cabin walls.




A really cool haybarn.....

Some more cabins.....Interesting support foundation....

Trevor and Cate visiting an old cabin in the Smokies

HEY! WHAT ABOUT THE BEAR JAM?  Oh, yeah...just had to show the beautiful cabins in the country first! As we continued our drive around Cades Cove Loop, we came upon cars bunching up on a curve, then taillights lighting up. We got excited because we knew that THERE WAS SOMETHING OUT THERE! In our previous travels, we had seen an elk jam and a bison jam. Sure enough, it was a BEAR JAM! A BIG BLACK BEAR! Woo-hoo!  And Sparky managed to get a fairly decent photo. The bear was about 20 yards away. Sparky got out of the car and stood by the car to get an unobstructed view with the camera. It was dusk, so photo is a little grainy...Trevor wanted to know why he couldn't get out of the car to look, so Grandma Sparky pulled the "because I'm the grownup" card. He wasn't too happy about that!

But that's not all we saw! No siree, we saw TWO bucks in the woods...apparently there were three more nearby in the same area. Guess they are "batchin'" it right now....

And we saw a couple of does in the fields and some wild turkeys. The kids were really glad to get to see the bear today. Trevor did a drawing for the kids' blog today about it, C & T's Awesome Adventures. It's tough to get him to write anything, but he did, with a bribe to go swimming in the pool. Sigh!  (Whatever it takes, grandma! says E.)

It was a wonderful way to see the park today, in the A.C.  Temperatures are a little cooler there than they are in town, but it was still in the low nineties yesterday.  It's beautiful countryside, and although the kids are not as thrilled with the scenery as we are, it's still good to get them away from their games and ipods, and see nature.

On Top of Old Smoky......

Sevierville, TN  High: 93  Low: 69

Clingman's Dome at Great Smoky Mountains National Park

All covered with snow......Wait a minute...wrong time of the year! Sparky WISHES there was snow! (Hush, now, chides Eldo.) But we WERE on top of the Great Smoky Mountains today. At the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, to be exact--6, 688 feet high. It's about a 22 mile drive from the entrance into the park to Clingman Dome, the high point. It seems to be pretty centrally located in the park. There is a STEEP, half-mile paved trail to the tower. Then you climb the tower around and around to the top.  I guess Old Smoky might be a fitting name for the tower that was at the height of the climb there. It was pretty cool! A LOT cooler, twenty-six degrees cooler than in the town of Sevierville, as a matter of fact. Sparky thinks she'd like to go back to Clingman's Dome every day the rest of this week to get out of the heat!

Way to go, you made it, Papa! (He looks a little peaked, don't you think?)

Hey, we could hike the Appalachian Trail while we are at it. (Wait a minute...wait a cotton pickin' minute, here...fusses E. Don't think the grandkids are up to a hike quite like that!) Heh, heh, heh....Let it be known that Eldo said, "This old man is going to be dead next week if we keep this up. 'Course that's because I have sat on my duffy all winter!" Un-hunh! And Sparky has a new plan of action to whip ole Eldo back in shape. (Oh, boy, I'm in trouble, worries E.) Sparky is up for a hike on the Appalachian Trail, it was calling to her today from a number of spots in the park, but she's just gonna have to wait awhile longer. We wouldn't want the grandkids' parents to worry....(Whew! I'm off the hook for the moment, says a relieved Eldo.) But not for long...after our one mile hike up and down Clingman's Dome today, Sparky is all fired up to do another hike in the mountains where it's COOL! How about tomorrow, sweetie?  Eldy? Eldo? Uh, now where did he go? .........

Back to the hike...It's a strenuous half mile steep climb one way to the top of the tower, and then....the amazing view!

Papa about had a heart attack...Sparky has been trying and trying to get him to ride a bike, walk each day, but NO-O-O-o-o-o-o..... NOW he knows he needs to get back in shape! The kids hopped, skipped and jumped along the way to the top, with a little whining in between by Trevor. He kept wanting to turn back and head back down. Not until a gentleman passed by Trevor with his little girl riding on his shoulders and chided Trevor for not keeping up, did Trevor perk up and hoof it up the rest of the way.....We took a brief rest at the top, then headed back down, down, down, the rest of the way back.

Sounds like a celebration in order for having made it to the top and back down...off to Tutti Frutti for some frozen yogurt! Yum! And now, it's time for a nap or the pool, one or the other! Maybe a nap AT the pool, that's the ticket!  Papa and Grandma Sparky are whupped! But not these GRAND kids!

Whadda We Doin' Today, Papa?

Sevierville, TN  High: 105   Low: 71

The grandkids' first full day. Grandma Sparky decided to pull teacher rank on the kids. Little did they know it, but Sparky is going to have Cate, the oldest do a blog every day or every other day! And Trevor is going to draw a picture each day and write one sentence about what he is doing in his picture. Cate didn't mind the blog idea at all, Trevor, THAT was another story. He is not strong in language arts, so it was in his best interest to get a little practice in this summer. Sparky had to use every available motivational tool in her book of teacher tricks to get him to buy into contributing to his sister's blog!

Cate named her blog "C & T's Amazing Adventures" (C for Cate, T for Trevor) and she is now officially on Blogger. Woo-hoo! Here's a link to her blog that she did today, her first post. catetrevor.blogspot.com Trevor doesn't know it but he's going to be contributing every day...we hope! This will be a real test of Sparky's ability to get him to do something he hates--write. Might have to throw in a bribe or two......Sh-h-h-h, don't tell his mom. Sparky is already in trouble for letting him have a donut for breakfast! But he also had a bowl of cereal, mom.

It's still hot here...we heard that the entire state of Tennessee was at it's hottest hot yesterday in all the years of keeping weather records--a high of 107. We heard that at the Gatlinburg Great Smoky Mountains Welcome Center, where we picked up a pile of literature today.

The ranger said that in Atlanta, it was 114 degrees on the baseball field yesterday. Ugh!

We love getting information at the state parks before blindly heading into a hike or out driving around aimlessly. Sparky bought a packet of great stuff--Smokies Starter Kit for 5.00. All proceeds benefit the park. The packet included a backcountry trail map, day hikes map and guide, an auto touring map and guide, a safety in bear country flier, a Newfound Gap Road auto tour booklet, a Clingman's Dome Tour booklet, a Cades Cove tour booklet, and a Laurel Falls Nature Trail Guide.  Good deal!

After getting our information we needed for future visits to the park, we headed over to Big Daddy's Pizzeria for supper with the kids. Great pizza! Hand tossed, wood fire oven, that's the best kind, we think! We'll see you tomorrow...