Day 6 - Cades Cove in the GSMNP

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Weather - sunny, high of 73F

Steps - Shaun: 7,767, Shannon: 6,858

Varmints - 10+ wild turkeys (including 2 strutting their stuff!), 6 black bears (including 4 babies!), 7 deer, pileated woodpecker, ruffled grouse

Today was our big day at Cades Cove, the single most popular "attraction" in the park.  Everywhere we read about this beautiful 11-mile drive, it said to get there early and be prepared for it to take up to 3 hours to complete.  Can you imagine?  The issue is that it's one way, and if someone sees something up ahead, the whole line stops until the person at the head of the lines moves over.  Luckily, I was able to pry Shannon's lazy butt out of bed at 6:00 a.m. with the lure of bears, and we were on the road by 7 sharp, which was early enough to avoid the major crowds.

The road to get to Cades Cove is called Laurel Creek Road, and our first varmint sighting took place before we ever got into the Cove.  There were a bunch of people pulled over, so of course we had to investigate, and what do we see but a mama bear just taking it easy at the base of a tree.  It was pretty far off, though, so we didn't get any pictures.  Still, it was a legitimate bear sighting, so we were excited to continue on.

The Cove is made up of a series of flat meadows full of grasses and wildflowers surrounded by the glorious Smoky Mountains interspersed with forest and several historical houses that represent the people that used to live in this area.  The meadows are where wildlife can often be seen, and our first encounter within the Cove was a male turkey who was showing off his plumage to some lovely ladies.  We couldn't see the ladies, but we got to see and hear the gentleman as he sought to attract a date for the evening.

The vistas were crazy beautiful, so here are a couple examples for your viewing pleasure (including a turkey):

We had a ton of turkey sighting, and the interesting thing was that except for one group later in the day, every one of the turkeys was alone.  It was so weird.  They were spread all over the place, but they weren't in flocks like we see in Michigan.  I did get a decent picture of one of the horny gentlemen, so try to contain your enthusiasm.

One of our most exciting varmints of the day was a pileated woodpecker who just came and joined us on the fence line, and Shannon was able to get him before he grew tired of our company.  This is an awesome bird!  This one's for you, Betty.  There's also a couple more pics of the vistas for your viewing enjoyment.

We had just mentioned how weird it was that we hadn't seen any deer whatsoever (either in or out of the park), and what do we come upon but a family of deer frolicking in the field and then a few other random ones here and there.  I know deer aren't that interesting, but they were having fun, so we have to include them in our blog to celebrate their joy.  Also, the first deer looks like she is glowing in the sunshine, so it's a double whammy bonus bingo picture.  Enjoy!

It should be noted that not only is this the time of year to see babies, but it's also the time for wildflowers...and Shannon and I are big fans of wildflowers.  They were all over the Cove, so here's a representative photo to show the crazy amount of flowers that were in bloom.  Also, there were so many butterflies that we couldn't believe it.  Most of them were yellow tiger swallowtails, and they were literally everywhere!  There was also another kind that was found all over the ground which we thought was weird, but it afforded us the chance to get a great picture of him (or her, as the case may be).  We think it's called a pipevine swallowtail, and it was very pretty.

There is a little visitors center in the Cove that we visited and looked at a few 19th-century buildings while we waited for it to open (at 9:00 a.m.).  It was a small place, but it had some good stuff (including BBQ sauce that I couldn't resist).  The back part of the Cove wasn't near as interesting as the front side, and once we had finished going around the Cades Cove Loop Road, we headed back out on Laurel Creek Road, and what should we find but another crowd looking at the bears in the same spot from earlier in the day!  This time, though, we were able to see the babies and get a couple of good pictures even though they were pretty far away.  We were even able to use the camera to show a couple who were having a hard time seeing them, and they commented on the quality of my camera.  It does have a great telephoto lens, I must say.  I don't like it as much as my old one, but it does have its benefits, and this situation would be one of them.

Since we had gotten up so early, we decided to eat lunch at 10:00 a.m., and there was a wonderful little picnic area right on the outside of the Cove at the campground.  We had peanut butter and banana sandwiches (I had mine with no bread), and we watched a couple of women who had five children between them.  It was the perfect place for them to play, and it entertained us while we refueled and got ready for the next leg of our journey.

The setting for our lunch

Next we traversed a spur road called Tremont Road to its end where we hiked a small piece of Middle Prong Trail to view the Lynn Camp Prong Cascades. They were 1.4 miles (round trip) along a somewhat rocky trail.  The waterfall was fantastic, though, so we got a lot of bang for our buck on this one.  Also, we ended up seeing another waterfall right on the side of the road, so it was a twofer!

Once we were done gallivanting around outside the Cove, we went back into it to get to Rich Mountain Road which is accessed about halfway through the 11-mile road.  It was WAY more crowded going through the second time, but we took a few more pictures of the vistas and the flowers and also the herd of horses kept there for riding.

Once we made the turn onto Rich Mountain Road, the traffic backed down to a trickle, and we began to climb in earnest.  This was a real mountain climb with switchbacks galore.  Luckily, it was one way, so I didn't have to worry about meeting someone in the middle of a turn.  Pretty early in the drive, we were stopped by a few cars in front of us, which was weird since we weren't expecting to see any wildlife.  However, as we got a little closer, we realized that there was a mama and two baby bears right there in the road in front of us!  I almost had a heart attack, and Shannon whipped out the camera in preparation for our turn.  I tried to be helpful and rolled down her window so she could get a better shot, but she took exception to that move since the bear was literally right outside her window!  We got some great shots of the trio who went on their way past us, and we decided that we had officially arrived.

 Naturally, nothing could beat a bear sighting, but we did have one more encounter with nature later on this same road when a ruffled grouse crossed our path and posed for a picture for me.  The only problem was that she wouldn't get out of the way of the car, so Shannon had to get out and discuss her situation with her.  She took a liking to Shannon and didn't want to move aside, so eventually Shan had to corral the grouse on the side of the road while I went past them both.  Shan then ran for the Jeep and jumped in and said, "Go!", so I went, leaving Shannon's new friend behind without a parting thought.

 Shannon having a personal moment with the grouse.

Once we crossed a stream that ran over the road (our second one of the day), we headed back to the cabin, ate a second lunch of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, took a nap, played euchre with Mike and Dad, and then I updated the blog while Shannon read her book club book.  Good times were had by all.  Tomorrow, we're headed to Gatlinburg!

Day 5 - Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Little River Road

Tuesday, May 11, 2022

Weather - Partly cloudy, high of 78F

Steps - Shaun: 17,122, Shannon: 14,215 (Shannon took her watch off before cooking so she's off a bit)

Varmints - one wild turkey, common goldeneye duck (we think)

Today was a full-on hiking day. We got a late start because we haven't used our "big packs" since our Southwest vacation in 2018. This meant we had to go through everything we'd left in them from before and figure out what we needed now. It was a bit of a cluster, if I do say so myself (and I do!), and then we decided NOT to use the dang things! Our thinking was that the first hike of the day was only 1.3 miles, so we could use our little packs. The only problem is that we didn't bring our little packs, so we put what we could in our pockets and carried our water bottles (even though we had 2 liters of water in our water bladders in our big packs!). There was the additional problem that it was really 1.3 miles EACH WAY, but hey, it was a learning experience. We'll be better prepared on Friday when we will face our most daunting hike (hopefully).

The hard-won picture of the park entrance sign

Anyway, once we were all packed up and finally made it on the road at around 10:00 a.m., we entered the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the first time. Right out of the gate, we missed pulling off the road to take a picture of the sign, so I ended up pulling over at the next turnoff and walking back to take the picture. A little bit of a bonus was that in the process of walking, I found a really cool plant that had GIGANTIC leaves (which we later found out was a type of magnolia).

Our first hike of the day was about 30 minutes into the park from Townsend, going along the northern edge on the Little River Road (which was gorgeous) to a place called Laurel Falls. This is a really popular hike, and since we got there much later than expected, we actually had to park about a half mile from the trail head. The distance was advertised as 1.3 miles in our book, which we assumed was round trip, but we were mistaken, so the total walk for us was 3.6 miles (including the walk to and from the car).  

Lower right corner is the mountain laurel, from which Laurel Falls gets its name

Laurel Falls is an 80-foot waterfall with an upper and lower section that has a walkway between the two that makes you think you're walking right across the waterfall. The hike to the falls was almost totally uphill, so it was a bit challenging, but at least it was paved most of the way. This meant that the walk back was almost totally DOWNHILL, which was good because both of us had to use the restroom, so we made short work of the return trip. The hike was totally worth it though, and we felt like we'd accomplished something at the end of it.

Shaun, the daredevil

Next we rushed to the Sugarland Visitors Center (and the closest restroom), which was three miles further down Little River Road. Once we had taken care of our abused bladders, we went through the gift shop, bought some stuff, and then had our lunch of PB&J's, BBQ potato chips, and nectarines. It was good since we were hungry, but our nummy nummy bread from Whole Foods wasn't that great. Bummer.

A pretty rock we liked in in the river

After lunch, we went on a short (.8 mile) hike from the Visitors Center to a 25-foot waterfall called Cataract Falls. It was entirely flat (which I appreciated), and the falls were pretty but not near as impressive as Laurel Falls. After returning to our car, we started to re-trace our steps down Little River Road, this time armed with a book that described what we were seeing, but we didn't get very far. At the pullout for an overlook, a group in the car next to us mentioned a big backup caused by bears on the side of the road past Sugarlands. Of course, we had to go! And of course, we forgot to ask which road they were talking about! So, we ended up driving around aimlessly on Newfound Gap Road for awhile, not seeing any bears. We did, however, have our first official critter sighting: a wild turkey. After admitting defeat, we returning to our original plan of heading back down Little River Road toward Townsend.

The Sinks (this pic and the one below)

We stopped at two other waterfalls that could be accessed from the road; one called The Sinks, which was created when the river became backed up with logs from the lumber industry and had to be dynamited to clear the logjam. The dynamite ended up doing a lot more than that though. It actually re-routed the river!

Our final stop in the park was Meigs Falls, the second waterfall that we could see from the road. It was actually set pretty far back and could only be glimpsed through the trees, so I actually had to pull out my big camera to get a good shot of them. Four waterfalls in one day...we felt like we'd done a good job with our first official day in the park.

Meigs Falls

We stopped at a couple of little shops in Townsend on the way back to the cabin. Shannon got a fried pie that she was hankering over, so she was happy. Once we had both showered the bug spray off our bodies, we cooked a bunch of food to set us up for success the rest of the week. Shannon spent a couple hours working on Tickner stuff, and I wrote our blog. We need to get to bed early tonight because tomorrow we're driving to Cades Cove, where we have the greatest chance of seeing bears and other cool wildlife.  Since the best times are at dawn and dusk, we figured we'd get up at 6:00 a.m. (much to Shannon's dismay), which means that our day will probably end early. Shannon is glad about that because we got an awesome 2000 piece puzzle that she started to sort through day before yesterday, and she didn't get very far. We've never done a puzzle with this many pieces, so we're a little intimidated by this one to say the least.

A few pictures of the cabin for your viewing pleasure:

Our favorite spot: the screened-in porch