Day 16 - Cherokee, NC

Shaun braving the Appalachian Trail for the second time!

Sunday, May 22, 2022

Weather - Mostly cloudy with some thunder but little rain, high of 86F

Steps - Shaun: 16,141, Shannon: 15,139

Varmints - one lone elk, our first squirrels in the park, surprisingly enough, a groundhog, rogue chickens

It looks like the Starship Enterprise, doesn't it?

We finally made it up Clingman's Dome! We were so close on the day we hiked to Andrews Bald, but we just couldn't force ourselves on another 1/2-mile uphill climb after the final mile of the Andrews Bald trail on Shaun's bum knee. So, we drove back this morning, early enough that the parking lot was nice and uncongested, as was the walk up to the observation tower.

Clingman's Dome is the tallest point in the park, and we were hoping to get some good views of sweeping vistas, but the day turned out pretty foggy, with low clouds sweeping across the mountain and allowing spots of blue sky and green mountains to peek through every once in awhile. So while it wasn't the clear vistas we had hoped for, it was definitely atmospheric.

We took the climb slowly because the air is thinner up there, and the trail, while paved, has a pretty steep grade for most of the walk. We got to see some cool things along the way, including the sparkle of dew drops in the fir trees when the sun would break through the clouds, and the dark silhouettes of skeletal trees just visible through the fog. Here are some artsy-fartsy shots we took along the way up:

This iteration of the observation tower was completed in 1959 (a very good year, according to Shaun), and it has a long sweeping concrete ramp up to the tower itself. There are signs pointing to the various peaks and landmarks in the distance, only some of which we were able to see. The clouds were still very atmospheric, but the wind got to Shaun, so we didn't stay too long. The way down was significantly easier (of course), and we were soon back at the parking lot and heading back down the mountain to Cherokee.

We have been wanting to visit the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and the Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual for awhile, but the timing hasn't been working out. We made it a priority today, going to the museum first. It was really well done, a one-way loop through the exhibits and time, showing the evolution of Cherokee culture from pre-history to near modern times. Artifacts, including beautiful baskets and pottery, masks, hunting, farming, and cooking tools, and games, were displayed with really good explanatory text about their uses, history, and significance. Some of it was tough to get through, especially the exhibits on the Age of Colonization and the Trail of Tears, but it was necessary information to take in, feel, and learn. 

We swung through the gift shop and got some postcards, and then we made use of some tables under umbrellas in a courtyard outside the museum to eat some lunch. Also outside the museum is a huge, amazing sculpture made from a single California redwood log that shows Sequoyah, the creator of the Cherokee syllabary (written language). Near this sculpture is another of a bear that is wearing a turban and smoking a pipe (like Sequoyah in his famous portrait) and has some of the symbols from the syllabary on its back. There are many of these bears throughout Cherokee painted in various ways, much like the Cows on Parade in Chicago many years ago.

I see the resemblance, don't you?

After lunch, we went across the street to the Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual, a co-op that had all different kinds of art by mostly Cherokee but also other Native American artists. Not only did they have a huge shop, but there was also a really good exhibit showing the history of the crafts represented, the different types of basketweaving and materials used, the forms of pottery, jewelry, and more. We had really been wanting to buy baskets by Cherokee artists, and there were so many options, from small to large, white oak to honeysuckle vine, dyed to natural colors, handled, lidded, or open, and everything in between. The prices are pretty high, but we had expected that and thought they were worth it for the artistry involved. However, there was pretty clear difference in price between the ones made from thin strips of wood and the honeysuckle vine ones, which were cheaper but actually the ones we liked better because they remind us of this trip. The honeysuckle is blooming right now, filling the air with their lush fragrance. We've loved driving down the roads in the park with our windows down smelling honeysuckle on the wind.

This is a wood weaving that shows the incredible skills of the Cherokee artisans.

We ended up each buying a honeysuckle vine basket, and we found other art that spoke to us in different ways. Shaun bought a beautiful quilted wall hanging showing the Smokies in strips of navy, teal, purple, and emerald green. A quilter herself, this really fit Shaun to a T. Shannon bought a painting of a Cherokee woman in front of a sunrise (or sunset) wearing a cloak of Cherokee writing and with a handprint over her mouth. The artist's statement said that the painting is her response to the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Native American women, and though dark in content, it's beautifully painted and spoke to Shannon.

This is a picture of the flower of the tulip tree that we spoke about seeing from
the chairlift at Anakeesta. We happened to find this one on the ground
right at the beginning of the river trail.

This is a fire pink. It's pretty, isn't it?

This is a mountain laurel, and they were going great gang busters on this trail.
We must have waited long enough for them to come into full bloom. Yay!

From Cherokee, we made the hard decision to spend the rest of our last day in the national park walking on the Oconaluftee River Trail rather than hiking to more waterfalls. The trail was 3 miles long and followed the river through the woods. Along the way, we saw some beautiful wildflowers and blooming mountain laurel, as well as an elk hanging out in the river. It was low-key and easy and a great way to end our time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

We lucked out because we could hear thunder and see dark clouds overhead as we walked the trail, but it only sprinkled a little bit on us. Later in the evening the skies opened up, but we were already well inside by then. We took in a bit of the outdoor Mountain Farm Museum at the Oconaluftee Visitors Center while we finished the trail, including the horse and mule in the historic barn and the hens that had escaped the fencing and gone rogue through the fields. They were pretty funny wandering aimlessly; we wondered if the rangers put them back each night or just let them find their way naturally.

That was the last excitement of the day. We headed back to our hotel to eat dinner, do our family Zoom call, and pack for the final leg of our journey to Ashville on the morrow. We'll take the day tomorrow to meander through the little towns between here and there, seeing the sights, doing our parts to help the local economies, and ending in Marshall, NC at our VRBO for the last 6 nights of our trip. 

Day 12 - Heintooga Ridge & Balsam Mountain Roads

 

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Weather - clear and sunny, high of 80F in the lowlands and 72F in the mountains

Steps - Shaun: 5,468, Shannon: 4,329

Varmints - 2 elk, turkey vulture, numerous turkeys, small raptor we didn't see well enough to identify, chipmunk

How to describe today? Disappointing? No, too harsh. So-so? Also not quite accurate. Great, until it wasn't? Better. 

We decided to make today a driving day to give Shaun's knee a rest, so we planned a trip to the southern edge of the park, including a trip around the Heintooga Ridge/Balsam Mountain loop, a visit to Fontana Dam and Lake, and a return to Townsend via the Foothills Parkway along the western border of the park. As you can see from the map above, things did not go quite according to plan.

We had a late night, so we woke up and got ready an hour later than usual. We left the cabin after 10am, and started toward the Townsend entrance to the park. On the way, Shaun decided that she wanted to stop at a little collection of shops on Hwy 321 because they had a gallery and other gift shop-types of places. It was a little disappointing because the gallery was closed and the rest of the stores didn't have much to see, but Shaun did get a pretty teal speckled jelly roll pan that will go well in her kitchen.

After that little detour, we got back on track and headed down Little River Gorge Road to Newfound Gap Road. We took that to its end at the Oconaluftee Visitors Center, where we stopped because it was open! The exhibits were really well done, explaining a little bit about the history of the Cherokee and Euro-Americans who have inhabited this area. We'll learn more about the Cherokee who lived here once we move on to Bryson City.  What we do know is that the people who remained after the Trail of Tears  formed what is now the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.  There's a Museum of the Cherokee Indian in the nearby town of Cherokee that we're excited to visit as well.

We did briefly drive through the Big Cove community in the Qualla Boundary, the traditional name for the Eastern Cherokee Indian Nation Land Trust, and it was super cool because the road signs had both the English names and the Cherokee names written in the characters of the Cherokee syllabary (the written version of the Cherokee language, with each character representing a syllable). We're excited to spend more time in the area and learn more about the Eastern Band and their culture.

We spent a bit of time in the shop at the visitors center, buying another jigsaw puzzle (of course!), more postcards (double of course!), and other goodies, before continuing on. In order to get on the Heintooga Ridge Road, we traveled up the southern-most section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is something else we would like to explore further, as it runs all the way up to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and we'll only be seeing specific sections of it on this trip. The overlooks were beautiful, and we stopped at one to eat our al fresco lunch. 

From the parkway, we turned onto the loop road, which is paved for the first stretch and had several beautiful viewpoints looking out on both sides of the ridge, toward Newfound Gap and Clingmans Dome on one and Maggie Valley, which we haven't yet explored, on the other. Just at the point where the pavement ends is a short trail to the Heintooga Overlook. The overlook had some benches perfectly positioned to take in the beauty of the view, so it was a great place to stop for a few minutes, breathe in the fresh air, and enjoy the day. The path was lined in delicate wildflowers, and it made for a nice little jaunt to stretch our legs.

The road became Balsam Mountain Road at the unpaved section, which was one-way and "primitive." We thought it was better maintained than the track we took to get to Cataloochee, and it was nice that it was one-way so Shaun didn't have to worry about meeting someone abruptly around the next curve. The road followed an old logging railroad line along the sides of the mountain and down into a river valley, starting at 5,535 feet in elevation and ending at about 2,000 feet. 

Along the way were numerous wildflowers, including a different kind of trillium than we had seen before, and lush forests, starting with conifers and mountain laurels at the top and changing to deciduous trees and rhododendron groves down below. 

We didn't see much in the way of vistas, unfortunately, catching glimpses of the mountains through the trees every once in awhile, but it was nice to be in the cool comfort of the forest for awhile after our vista-heavy day yesterday. 

At Pin Oak Gap, we swung around and started heading back toward the end of the loop. One fascinating thing our road guide pointed out was that we would be passing the headwaters of the Straight Fork on the road. As we wound our way down, we would continue to encounter the Straight Fork, and we would see it grow from a small trickle at the start to a rushing river by the time we left the road. It was exciting to follow along with the "gradual maturity" (as the book put it) of the river.

Just before we left the gravel road to get on Big Cove Road and travel toward Fontana Dam to continue our day, we started to hear weird noises coming from the Jeep's right front tire. It started as a banging, then scratching, and settled into the sound of something rubbing against something else. We can only hear it when the car is moving, so it's definitely related to the tire or breaks, not the engine, but Shaun didn't feel any different in the handling or breaking of the car, so we're not exactly sure what it is. Still, no way were we going to continue on our regularly scheduled road trip around the western side of the park with a potentially faulty brake. Especially when we were already on the opposite side of the park from our cabin and had a 90-minute trip back up Newfound Gap Road as the shortest route back.

We gingerly made our way back, with Shaun trying not to brake too much (kinda hard when weenies who didn't know how to drive on mountain roads held us up), scaring all the elk we saw away with the noise, and by the time we got to the cabin, the sound was basically a rubbing noise when the brake was deployed. We're going to take the car to a mechanic tomorrow, which has the potential to derail all our plans going forward, but better safe than sorry, especially on these mountain roads. We'll let you know what happens!

We're finally going to the Smokies!

Three years after originally planning our visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we're finally hitting the road! We scheduled the trip for May 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic nipped that in the bud. So, we're going in May 2022 instead in hopes that we'll beat the summer rush and see some pretty wildflowers, waterfalls, and baby animals. Along the way, we'll also explore Knoxville and Gatlinburg, TN, the little and not-so-little towns around the park, and Asheville, NC.

The trip will be 24 days long, including two travel days, so stay tuned for news of all our adventures!