{"id":4063,"date":"2017-06-12T10:38:21","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T14:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hiddenmesa.com\/?p=4063"},"modified":"2020-05-17T07:10:37","modified_gmt":"2020-05-17T11:10:37","slug":"the-great-smoky-mountains-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hiddenmesa.com\/index.php\/the-great-smoky-mountains-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Smoky Mountains National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are places we enjoy visiting over and over, and one of those places is the great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee. It\u2019s located near the towns of Gatlinburg , Pigeon Forge  (home of Dollywood), and the often overlooked Sevierville, Tn. We\u2019ve enjoyed the Smoky Mountains from a 5th wheel trailer, staying in downtown Pigeon Forge. We\u2019ve traipsed back to Cade\u2019s Cove and stayed in our tent, and we\u2019ve stayed in hotels nearby with and without our Harley.<\/p>\n

No matter how we\u2019ve been there, it\u2019s always been a good trip.<\/p>\n

Our favorite time of year has got to be fall. That\u2019s tricky too, because the whole reason for visiting at fall is to see the colors. The Smoky Mountains is rich in hardwoods of all kinds, and the fall season brings fabulous colors to the mountains with the changing leaves.<\/p>\n

There are several areas of the Smokey Mountains to enjoy too. We like the road that wanders back to Cades Cove because of the abundance of wildlife. We usually join the road back to Cade\u2019s Cove by taking Little River Gorge Road that turns off Highway 441 at the Sugarland Visitor\u2019s center. It\u2019s about 30 miles back to Cade\u2019s Cove, and takes awhile. Be careful and judge the traffic. If you\u2019re visiting on a holiday weekend, especially in the summer, you can find some pretty ugly traffic jams back there, with no way out.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve read that there\u2019s a bear for every square mile of land in the area of Cades Cove, and we believe it. The bears are very, very small black bears, but they\u2019re still fun to observe. There\u2019s also turkeys, deer, and all the other woodland creatures you might expect to find in the forest in the south, and once you get back to Cade\u2019s Cove, there\u2019s livestock in the form of a large herd of horses mixed in with the wildlife.<\/p>\n

Another area we enjoy is accessed through Gatlinburg. It\u2019s called Roaring Fork Road. This roughly nine mile one-way drive is a day use area that\u2019s fun for driving through and visiting old homesteads, taking in the beauty of the small rivers, or day hiking one of the several trails in the area.<\/p>\n

Besides taking photographs and riding our Harley, day hiking has been our favorite activity in the park. There are dozens of trails with all sorts of difficulty levels. There\u2019s a little something for just about every interest and ability when it comes to day hiking this great park. The only tip is, arrive early at many of the trail heads if you don\u2019t want to significantly add to your hike.<\/p>\n

You can start your journey to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park by visiting the park\u2019s web site here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a small gallery of some of the images we’ve captured over the years. Every visit is new, and even though we\u2019ve been there over and over, we never get tired of trying to get a better picture than we did the time before.<\/p>\n

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