Townsend, TN

Wednesday, April 24

Last night, Andi and I sat down to plan the next leg of our RV adventure. On our travel to-do list: visit The Great Smoky Mountains National Park and to spend time in Asheville, North Carolina. We decided to cruise through GSMNP first, and then make our way to Asheville for the weekend.

Before we left Georgia, Andi wanted to do a hike he’d read about near our campground so I woke up extra early to do my workout outside our camper while Andi quietly packed up the RV and the kids slept. I have to admit, working out outdoors is starting to wear on me — most mornings are a chilly 45 degrees and every campsite brings its own set of challenges. Sometimes I’m exercising on gravel, sometimes it’s raining or muddy from rain the day before, and I almost always have an audience of other campers watching me. This morning at Moccasin Creek Campground was a treat! A paved sidewalk to do my workout with a beautiful lake behind me and no one else around.

After I finished, Andi and I drove the RV up the road to the Hemlock Falls trailhead. It was still early — about 9:00am — and we had the entire trail to ourselves. To be honest, Tory and Aden aren’t big fans of hiking and they groan every time we simply mention the word, so we try to keep our walks with them under 2 miles. Andi also explained to Tory and Aden as we got them dressed that we are in a beautiful area of the country and it’s important to mom & dad to go on these short hikes because it’s something that we enjoy doing. On our trip, each one of us gets to pick activities that he/she wants to do and sometimes that means not every loves it, but we all go along anyway without complaining.

It was hard to believe we were in Georgia! I never expected this state to be filled with such lush, green forests, streams and valleys. We hiked the 2-mile trail to the end to see a beautiful waterfall cascading down into a small pool below. Tory said she liked this hike because it was like nature’s jungle gym: there were lots of roots to step over, tree trunks to balance on, and a beautiful wooden bridge to cross.

At the end of the hike, we went geocaching. This remains one of Tory’s favorite activities on this trip. The perfect reward at the end of a great hike.

Good-bye Georgia! We hopped back into the RV and drove 1 1/2 hours north toward The Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

First item on the agenda was to snap a picture at the Great Smoky Mountain National Park sign. I don’t know why, but I love doing this! Something about having a photo makes the visit feel official.

The Smokies are the most visited national park in the US, drawing over 11 million visitors last year. We were surprised to find out there’s no admission price and wondered if that’s why it’s the most visited park, or if it’s because The Smokies are within one day’s driving distance from most of the US population.

In any regard, we started our visit at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. The four of us wandered around the exhibits learning more about the early settlers who called the Smoky Mountains home and how the park came to be. We found out that it wasn’t as easy as designating a piece of land that the government already owned; the land was owned by hundreds of small farmers and a handful of large timber and paper companies. Supporters rallied to create the park and raise funds to purchase the land as early as the 1890’s, and when Roosevelt finally dedicated the land as a national park in 1940, he said it was a park "for the permanent enjoyment of the people." Andi and I wondered what this beautiful place would have come to be if it hadn’t been protected all those years ago? Before we left the visitor center, we also purchased Junior Ranger packets for Tory and Aden to complete. These packets continue to be an awesome way for all of us to learn what’s notable about a park, and the incentive to earn a badge is the perfect carrot to get Tory and Aden to participate willingly!

After viewing the park map, Andi and I decided to split our visit into two parts: We’d hike Clingman’s Dome this afternoon on our way to Cade’s Cove and camp overnight, and then we’d spend our second day in the northern half of The Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg, TN.

Clingman’s Dome is the highest part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On a clear day, you can see up to 100 miles including seven states from the top of the viewing tower. Today was the PERFECT day to do that — 75 and sunny — so Andi and I decided to seize the opportunity. We drove the RV through the mountains to the Clingman’s Dome parking lot and found a spot without a problem. During peak season, parking spaces can be hard to come by, but we didn’t have any problem in April.

I’d read the Clingman’s Dome observation tower offered an amazing 360° view of the Smokies, but I didn’t quite realize there was a steep half-mile walk to get to the top. Could Tory and Aden handle two hikes in one day? Andi and I weren’t sure, but decided to roll the dice.

Within minutes after we started up the hill, Aden was laying on the ground kicking and streaming — literally. Andi and I took turns motivating him to keep walking, but Aden would take about 10 steps and sit back down on the sidewalk again. At one point, a little girl about four-years-old walked up behind him and said “Excuse me! Excuse me!” like she couldn’t possibly walk around the spot he was sitting. I had to laugh. The embarrassment of being surpassed by a four-year-old girl seemed to kick Aden in the pants, and he eventually walked up the hill without another complaint.

Tory, on the other hand, was a different story. She was fine walking up the hill for the first 15 minutes or so, and then all of a sudden she burst into tears! I asked her what was the matter and she said her feet were hot and her legs were tired of walking. She moaned and sobbed the rest of the way up to the observation tower.

Was the view at the top worth it? It was pretty amazing… but it was pretty amazing from the parking lot, too!

On our way down, we passed by many people struggling to make it to the top of Clingman’s Dome. I heard one little girl ask her dad for a piggy-back ride and he growled back at her in a monstery voice, “ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Fun family memories, right? Another lady we passed was more optimistic as I overheard her tell her friend, “You can do it! Stop and take as many breaks as you need. We’ll get to the top eventually.”

It’s amazing the difference altitude plays in temperature. It was a warm 82 degrees at the visitor’s center and a chilly 62 degrees at the top of Clingman’s Dome. The sun and our sweat from climbing up the hill kept our bodies warm though! When we got back to the RV Andi said nonchalantly, “I could do that again.” “I COULD NOT.” Tory replied. Ha! I think the kids had enough hiking for one day.

We drove to Cade’s Code on the far west side of the park to camp for the night. The drive there was absolutely beautiful. A small river meandered along the road for much of our drive and the trees and bushes were every shade of green you could imagine. The two-lane road through the park wasn’t busy in April, but I could see that it would get very congested during the busy summer months.

After a while, Aden came up toward the front of the RV to sit with Andi and I & I noticed Tory had fallen asleep in the back. That explained why she was so moody during our hike. She’s had a runny nose since yesterday and I wondered if she was coming down with something more.

The campground office at Cades Cove was closed, but a sheet of paper posted on the door listed the first-come, first-served campsites available. Andi drove the RV through the campground looking for the best site. The ones with electric hook-ups were taken or were for “reservations only” and since we didn’t have one, nor was there a park ranger at the campground to talk to about getting one, we picked an available site without hook-ups. No problem — we had plenty of water in our RV to get us though the night.

Once we got settled, Andi grilled chicken for dinner while I made the broccoli, peppers and rice for chicken teriyaki. I started our RV’s generator to microwave the 90-second packet of rice and a guy camping in a tent next to us came running over. “Is that a generator I hear?” he asked. “ You can’t use those here!” Andi apologized and said we weren’t aware of that and that we only turned it on to use the microwave for a quick minute. “That’ OK then,” the camper replied, “I won’t report you for that.” After he left I wondered what he would have done to report us anyway. The Cades Cove campground office was closed and we had zero cell phone or internet coverage in the park. Not that we were out to be campground rule-breakers anyway. I turned off the generator as soon as my 90-second rice was cooked.

The kids made some friends after dinner and rode their bikes around the campground loop. Aden is obsessed with his new Paw Patrol bike and begs to ride it everyday, so any day he gets the chance is a good one in his book. I could tell Tory still wasn’t feeling 100%, and after a while she came back to our campsite to sit at the picnic table with me and complete her Junior Ranger packet.

Andi wandered his way over to another campground neighbor’s site and visited with the couple about their travels. Much like Aden, Andi craves social interaction and is always striking up conversations with travelers wherever we go. Tory and I are more introverted. I enjoy meeting people, but I would never in a million years wander over to someone else’s campsite to strike up a conversation with them. I’ve noticed that Tory is much the same. It takes her time to make a new friend at a playground, the beach or a new campsite. Once she does though, it becomes her favorite place and she never wants to leave.

Early to bed. Tomorrow, we’ll explore Cades Cove and the northern part of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park.