Finally we make it to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, the most visited National Park in the U.S. For those of you who asked about our journey prior to our leaving you would have been told that this was one of the first places that we would be heading to.....obviously that wasn't the case. In fact, we were beginning to believe that we would never make it there, in part because of timing but also because of all the wildfires that were raging there last fall.
Technically we made it there, but it was so cold that we weren't really able to hike or anything. We got out of the car only to take a few quick pictures. We will definitely go back to explore the area. The Great Smokies falls within the borders of North Carolina and Tennessee. We did a drive that took us from the North Carolina side to the Tennessee side. The entrances to the park on both sides were distinctively different. Entering from the NC side you go through Cherokee, NC, a reservation area. This town was developed with a historical feel, log facades, country stores etc., definitely catering to the tourists. It felt a bit like Frontier Town....a wonderful day trip memory with the Burke family when I was younger...one that Wilson has heard multiple times. The TN side brought us to Gatlinburg which felt more like tourism of today. Gatlinburg was affected very much by the wildfires and there was still some evidence of fires.
As far as the wildfires are concerned I was surprised there wasn't more evidence as we were driving. We both expected to see total burn out in the woods along our drive but did not see that. Interestingly enough we did see spots in the distance that showed shadowed/burned areas but the area was in the middle of green areas...apparently wildfires "jump", which would cause that type of visual.
Lunch was noteworthy....If you are near Gatlinburg Trish's Mountain Diner is worth stopping at. Classic diner fare, serving the local crowd...clean and very, very reasonable prices!
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