On to Great Smoky Mountain National Park



Maya checking out the view near Clingman's Dome
in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park

 

After weeks of being so near the Great Smoky Mountains we finally made it into the National Park.   As we are ‘On the Road with Maya,’ staying in state parks and national forests gives us more options because Maya can hike with us there and she isn’t allowed on the trails in most national parks.  But that doesn’t mean we would pass up a great national park like the Smokies.  We understand that wild animals need protected places, too and we are glad they have them. So we spent more time in the car and less on the trails but we still had a wonderful time in the Smokies.

Spruce-fir forest near top of Clingman's Dome

Many of the Fraser fir are dying because of an insect attack

All of our national parks are special places but it is especially touching that the states of North Carolina and Tennessee worked so hard to help create the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  In the 1920’s commercial logging was destroying the Appalachian forests. The citizens of North Carolina and Tennessee became alarmed and wanted to save some of their precious forests.  Most of the land that eventually became the Smokies was private land and had to be purchased and donated to the federal government.  So the people got busy and raised over half the money – even school children collected pennies and in 1934 the park was established.

Two room log home in the Cades Cove area of GSMNP

 

Larger farm and home in Cades Cove

Because so much of the GSMNP was private land, that meant many people were displaced from their homes.  Over two-thirds left the park.  A few were given lifetime leases on their places and some were given special permits to allow them to stay on and farm.  But the regulations in the park made it really hard to stay on.  People couldn’t hunt or cut firewood or even farm in the ways they had known since childhood.  Most eventually moved away and that was a sad thing.  Yet many of their farms, homes, barns, mills and churches are preserved in the park for their children and grandchildren and all of us to see how they lived in these beautiful mountains.  The park not only protects amazing Appalachian ecosystems but these historic structures as well.

Methodist Church with two doors, one for men

and the other for women and children

Church interior

 

I told David I must lack imagination because as I looked at where the farmers had made their homes and fields I would have never thought that it would be possible to build a house or grow corn on those steep slopes with all those rocks and trees.  Or maybe we are all used to much easier lives.  Life may have been simpler about 160 years ago when the Smoky Mountains were settled but there was nothing easy about it.

Our campsite at Elkmont Campground

Maya and David relaxing at camp

We spent 4 days at Elkmont Campground near the northern entrance of the park not far from Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We had a beautiful riverside campsite and neighbor campers from Texas.  Who would have thought we would have camping neighbors from Austin, TX right next to us?  Maya introduced us and we shared a few fires and s’mores and bear stories.  We were excited because all of us saw mama bears and cubs in different places in the park!

Maya and Melissa, her new friend from Austin

 

After four days of exploring the northern end of the park we left for an overnight trip to Knoxville, Tennessee for  some minor brake work on our Honda.  While we were there one of David's friends from AT&T was traveling through Knoxville on vacation with his wife.  So we arranged a lunch 'meet-up' with David W. and Sharon from San Antonio.  They had been having a great time in Kentucky and were on their way to South Carolina.  It was fun to catch up on all our travels and see friends from home. 

False Salomon Seal and Fern

Lady Slipper orchid

We hadn't seen all we wanted of the Smoky Mountains yet, so we headed back to the park.  The southern entrance to the park is right next to the Cherokee Indian Reservation.  Many of us forget that before our ancestors made the Smokies their home, these mountains were part of Cherokee territory.  The Cherokees have a rich history and many stories and legends centered in and around the park.  We spent the better part of the next three days exploring this part of the park, the town of Cherokee, NC and the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway. 

Tiger swallow tail butterflies getting some minerals from the soil

 

 

David's Stats: 
Days Hiked      5
Rain Days        2
Total Miles Hiked   9.07     
Ave. Miles per Day      1.81
Total Elevation Gain       2,100
Ave. Elevation Gain per day   420