Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

The Great Smoky Mountains was everything I had hoped. It was nice to just stay in a place for a while. 

Creek in the morning fog at Smoky Mountains National Park

The first hike we did was 8.5 miles around a mountain. Within the first 15 minutes I flipped a rock with 5 salamanders followed soon after by two more, for a total of 3 species. The small mountain streams are perfect for salamanders. No wonder this is the salamander capitol of the world! I wish I had been here in the right season for finding more.

Blue-ridged Two-Lined Salamander (Eurycea wilder)

The trees still have some leaves hanging on making the views gorgeous with fall colours. The fires in Tennessee and Carolina also made the Smoky Mountains true to their name and we could see smoke lower down in some of the valleys. Since we had a bit of a late start on the hike up the mountain we ended up hiking the last part of the trail in the dark. Sunset over the ridge was definitely a worthwhile experience to witness and I found hiking in the dark actually very relaxing and peaceful but the other girls didn’t feel quite the same way about going down a mountain in the dark. I had made sure they brought their headlamps with them just in case this happened.

Sunset in the Smoky Mountains

The scenic loop has the best views since you actually see the surrounding mountains well over the cleared fields and don’t have to look through trees.  The traffic is VERY SLOW because everyone is taking pictures or looking for wildlife while driving. There are a lot of pull off areas for people to use for parking but most don’t and you can see them hanging out of their windows.

Quicksilver on the scenic loop in Smoky Mountains National Park

With the forest fires somewhat surrounding the Smoky Mountains there is a very obvious fire ban in the park but some friends we made along the way (Todd and Elizabeth) had a propane heater so we spent a night having a guitar session with them around the heater.  They were also kind enough to let us hook up to their generator to charge up our RV battery that had died.  

Our new friends at Smoky Mountains National Park

Abram Falls was a gorgeous hiking trail. I was sad we didn’t have time to do the full loop but just walking to the falls and back follows a nice fast flowing creek with some rapids. The understory is a lot of rhododendrons (shrubs with big pink flowers that bloom in the spring) that made me want to visit again when they are in bloom. The falls was very packed with people when we went and I imagine in the summer it is even more so.  It is definitely worth it to bring a tripod to get some long exposure shots but I didn’t even think of this so I had to make do without.

Abram Falls

It was sad to leave the Smokys but Nashville offers a very different atmosphere that will also be enjoyable.