Gatlinburg ... a Practically Unplanned Adventure! June 27 - July 5, 2009 About This Page:

[christiejay]

Originally Posted by pamcarey

Great updates!! Sounds like something I would really love! We are planning to go hiking to waterfalls of the White Mountains in New Hampshire next weekend.

Thanks! Your trip sounds like fun. You should take pictures to share! I've never been to New England. My sister went to college at Colgate, though, and her pictures from the Lakes area of New York were very nice. Maybe one day I'll make it up that way.

[chezp]

What wonderful updates.

[Colexis Mom]

Great updates Christie! Beautiful place!

[lauren-roxy]

Another great update and wonderful photos!! Joshua seems to really be enjoying the hikes!!

[Meggera]

Hi Christie! I always enjoy your TRs, and I remember your last visit to Gatlinburg. I am enjoying this trip just as much. Your pictures are beautiful, and the hiking looks like a lot of fun. I can't get over how much Joshua has grown! Hurry back with more!

[rhinohunter]

Love the updates and the pictures of the trails. It looks like you guys are having a great time. Looking forward to your climb at Clingman's Dome.

[MGW]

Thanks for the updates! The pictures are wonderful!

The last 2 times I've been to Gatlinburg I haven't stepped foot in the National Park! I guess when you live in the mountains you don't go there for the scenery. For me the big draw is shopping and eating! LOL

Oh, and I meant to tell you in my last post . . . you were asking a while back in a post about somewhere to go skiing in the summer. Well, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va has just opened up their year round ski slope. You might be able to find info about it on their webiste. Lynchburg would be about 4 hours from Gatlinburg, so it would be quite the drive for you guys, but there is lots to do up this way!

[christiejay]

Thanks everybody! Joshua was really ready for our hiking this time around. Of course I tried to pick trails that weren't too long or too strenuous for him. Well, for me too, as I'm not in great shape and get winded very easily! I was pleasantly surprised at how well he kept up on this trip. Jay, on the other hand, I think is already looking ahead to our next visit (prob in 2012) when Joshua will be even older and stronger and they might do some hikes on their own while I play shuttle driver.

Originally Posted by MGW

Oh, and I meant to tell you in my last post . . . you were asking a while back in a post about somewhere to go skiing in the summer. Well, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va has just opened up their year round ski slope. You might be able to find info about it on their webiste. Lynchburg would be about 4 hours from Gatlinburg, so it would be quite the drive for you guys, but there is lots to do up this way!

Somebody had mentioned that, and I looked on their website. But that was a few months ago and I guess it hadn't opened yet. It sounds really neat, though, and I would like to try it out. Originally we were planning on going back to Myrtle Beach next summer, but now are thinking of trying out a different resort in Gordonsville VA. If we do that, then we would be pretty close to LU and might make that a day trip, or either a stop on our way back home. Definitely something to think about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have to leave to pick Joshua up from school in a little while, but will post the next update when I get back.

[christiejay]

Continuing with Day 3 - June 28

Pulling out of the Chimney Tops trailhead parking lot, we continued our drive up the mountain along Newfound Gap Road. I took a few pictures along the way.

Can you tell we've gone up in elevation - lots more evergreen trees. Most of these are balsam firs and hemlocks.


The dark spots on the right-hand side at the top of the mountain are exposed rock from where there was a massive landslide. I got better pictures of this area later.















After a few minutes' drive up to the crest of the mountains we turned onto Clingman's Dome Road, which follows the crest roughly Southwest, on the TN-NC state line. Once we arrived at the parking lot for Clingman's Dome, I was glad to see that it was not as crowded as it was last time, when we had to park out on the road. Today we found a spot about halfway through the parking lot and opened up the back to get our hiking sticks out. Jay was wearing one of his Nissan T-shirts, and this particular one mentioned the Canton plant on the back of it. Jay was facing the truck, which meant that his back was to the roadway, where people were walking through to get back to their vehicles. I noticed this one family walk by, and the woman called out a name. I had assumed she was calling to her child, but it was actually her husband who answered and said something like Yeah, I know ... Then the woman said, No, that's not what I'm talking about. By then they had passed us by and I didn't pay them any more attention. But just a minute later the man comes up to us and asks Jay if he worked at the Canton plant. Jay said yes, and the man said he worked there too! Now of course there are so many employees there that they didn't know each other, but it was still kind of neat to run into somebody from home all the way up here. Then I realized what had happened - the woman must have noticed Canton written on the back of Jay's shirt, and called to her husband to point it out to him.

After taking a bathroom break, we were finally ready to tackle the Clingman's Dome Trail. This trail is something we always do, in the hopes that we'll have an awesome view at the top. It doesn't always work out that way, though. Even if the weather seems to be clear in the parking lot, there's a good chance you will have clouds once you get to the observation tower at the top. Before we started on the trail I took a few pictures from the "bottom".







All the dead trees are hemlocks. They have been infested with a bug that came over from Asia somehow. There are some treatments that have been applied to the healthy hemlocks in the hopes that it will protect them, and for now it seems to be working. I guess it's mainly a question of money, because the treatment has to be applied to each individual tree!

Now we were ready to begin our climb. The trail is only ½ mile long and paved, but deceptively steep. It's just a gradual ascent, but it doesn't let up. Plus at 6600 elevation, you get tired pretty quickly! As usual, for most of the climb Jay went off and left me. But this time, I had Joshua to keep up with me. He kept wanting to rest just like I did, so we took breaks at all the conveniently placed benches alongside the trail. I was so out of breath during the climb that I did not take any pictures on the way up!

Jay was carrying his GPS with him, to double-check the elevation and to see how many satellites he could pick up today. He had downloaded a National Park overlay, which had lots of trailheads and historical sites marked. It even showed the trail we were walking on. I guess because it is paved and can technically be used as a service road when they need to access the weather monitoring equipment. Well, anyway, this guy comes up behind Jay and is kind of looking over Jay's shoulder at the GPS. He asked about it and he and Jay got started talking. This guy was so impressed that the trail was on there, he kept making this really big deal out of it to his family. I don't know why I bring that up. I guess to show how easy it is to meet and talk to people in the park. Pretty much everybody is there for the same reason you are, so you automatically have something in common. Every once in a while you run across a grouch who just wants to get out of the traffic and back to his hotel room , but for the most part the people you meet are very friendly.

Continued in next post ...

[christiejay]

... continued from previous post ...

Finally we arrived at the summit and took one more rest at the base of the observation tower.


Once rested we walked up the ramp and were greeted with the best views I've ever had from there! I'm sure it could still be a little clearer, but this was great, compared to our recent trips where it's either been hazy or completely enveloped in clouds. Although that time we were in the clouds was kind of neat - very wet, but neat! I started taking pictures at the top of the ramp, progressing slowly around to my left to get a panoramic view.












In this one you can see part of the road we drove on to get out here.




















After a few more minutes of looking around we started our trip back down the trail. A man stopped me along the way to ask me about my hiking stick, if it was the kind you could attach your camera onto the top. (See, another friendly person! ) I told him yes, that it was my dad's hiking stick that he let me borrow. The top unscrews, allowing you to put your camera on and use it as a monopod. The stick adjusts in height. The rubber stopper on the bottom unscrews to expose a metal spike for when you need a little extra traction on the trail. Apparently this guy had been looking at the same one at Bass Pro Shops and couldn't talk himself into buying it. But you could tell he sure did want it!

I took a few pictures on our return to show you the views.






The light gray patch in the middle is the parking lot at the bottom of the trail.






















Jay's pictures from the walk:






Do we look tired, or what?








While resting at the base of the tower, I thought I saw a bird perched on the top of one of the dead trees. I knew there were falcons in the park, and I got excited, thinking it could be one. So I made Jay use the zoom on his camera to check it out. He said - that's not a bird, it's just a branch! He took a couple of pictures of it just to show me.










With Jay's zoom you could make out the outlet malls in Pigeon Forge, probably about 20-25 miles away.




Looking down to the base of the tower. The gravel path to the right leads to the Appalachian Trail.


Up Next: Is the day over already?

[Meggera]

Beautiful pictures of the mountains! That sounds like a cook walking stick.

[Colexis Mom]

Great pictures from the summit!! Amazing!

[christiejay]

Originally Posted by Meggera

Beautiful pictures of the mountains! That sounds like a cool walking stick.

Thanks! Apparently Daddy's hiking stick cost like $55 or something , so I was very glad I was just borrowing it and not buying it! I did get a little scare one time this morning - while walking the first trail (wouldn't you know it would be the first one! ) I noticed that the rubber stopper had loosened up and come off. Thankfully Jay was able to quickly locate it on the trail and I put it back on. I guess I was unconciously twisting the stick as I was walking , and the stopper slowly worked its way loose. From then on I made sure to check it periodically. It would be so easy to lose it in between some of the rocks along the trails.

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Great pictures from the summit!! Amazing!

Thank you! I forgot to mention the weather at the top - 55 degrees! (It was about 65 in the parking lot. Yes, a 10-degree change in just a half-mile hike!) In the middle of the afternoon at the end of June! That's one reason we love being in the park - cooler temps than in town.

[christiejay]

Originally Posted by MGW

The last 2 times I've been to Gatlinburg I haven't stepped foot in the National Park! I guess when you live in the mountains you don't go there for the scenery. For me the big draw is shopping and eating! LOL

I just realized I forgot to come back and respond to this part of your reply. This is exactly the point I was trying to make earlier. That even though we spent most of our time doing outdoors adventures, there is still so much more to be done in the area. So it truly is a place that has something for everybody. There are outlet malls, various gift shops, tacky souvenir stores, lots of craft stores, and art galleries. And lots of restaurants to choose from. Way too many! Our problem is that we end up going back to our favorites every trip and not trying new places.

[rhinohunter]

Wonderful pix. Really enjoying your TR.