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

[christiejay]

Originally Posted by GoofEme

I'm still here ChristieJay We miss you, but family and obligations come first. We're glad to see you whenever you can stop by

Thanks Jamie!

[christiejay]

Continuing with Day 6 - Thursday, July 2, 2009

Well, after one hour from leaving the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, we have driven a grand total of 11 miles and have reached our turnoff onto Heintooga Ridge Road. My road guide book tells me that the first few miles are officially part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, up until you reach the boundary of the National Park once more. We have never driven this way before, so I wasn't sure what to expect as far as the particulars went. Here are a couple of pictures taken shortly after making the turn:




And the main place I wanted to stop, the Mile High Overlook:





I loved that one little cloud floating by itself ...








It looks like that rock was wedged into the ground to hold up the tree.

Jay was going to get the tripod set up for a self-timer shot, so while he worked on that and took some panoramic shots, Joshua and I walked across the road - diagonally across from us was another overlook. There was no sign - this might have been the place where there was a note stating that it was going to be replaced - but my road guide says that this is the Maggie Valley Overlook. As you can tell from the pictures it was very grown up and hard to see too much:

















Looking back over at Jay taking the panoramic pictures that didn't turn out.




I think I caught a bird in that shot!

Here is the picture Jay took of us at the Mile High Overlook.

Don't you love how the boys are showing their legs?

I thought the road was pretty along this section:


Lake Junaluska Overlook:





I like this one.





Horsetrough Ridge:

Have you noticed we've started gradually going back down in elevation?







Up Next: It's times like this I don't feel cut out for nature hiking ...

[christiejay]

Continuing with Day 6 - Thursday, July 2, 2009

At this point we reentered the National Park at Black Camp Gap:


Just ahead was the official park boundary and sign.


I took this picture on the opposite side of the road, then came back.


There was a small picnic area here. But the main reason we stopped was to see something interesting I had read about before we left home. At this point is a memorial that was erected by Masons from around the country. I'm still not sure why they chose this location, but I wanted to check it out even though I don't know too much about Masons (Well, you know, except for the fact that they buried a huge treasure under a church in New York City. ) We started off along the walkway toward the memorial, with Joshua first. I was not far behind him and Jay was bringing up the rear. We rounded the corner and I practically screamed at Joshua to STOP!!! What had I seen that freaked me out so much? These guys:







ELK!!! You can't tell so much from these pictures, but they were so huge! I knew that Cataloochee Valley was the best place to see elk in the park, but I never expected to see any at such high elevations. I doubt that has any validity, and I don't know why I thought that. But when we saw them, it scared me! I guess I thought they were going to charge us or something.

So I got Joshua to stop moving and we took a few pictures. I didn't want to keep walking toward the elk, so we backtracked around to the wheelchair access ramp which was a little further away from them. At that point we were slightly above the elk and not so much in their space. After a few moments they got up and grazed their way to the opposite end of the little clearing and then into the woods. It was very cool to have seen them, especially since it came as such a surprise.

Here are Jay's pictures of the elk, one of which was #93:










Also up here was the Masonic memorial, which was what we had come to see in the first place!

This sign explains more about the stones and the location.






The hole in the side - I read somewhere that when built, a time capsule was placed inside. It had already been opened.

Keeping an eye on the elk while still checking out the memorial:






I took some close-ups of some of the stones, as they were inscribed with their place of origin:

That looks like petrified wood to the left.




These symbols were embedded in the sidewalk on all sides of the memorial.




Do you think Nicolas Cage could find a treasure with this?




A cross-section of coral









Some weird fungus Jay saw on the side of the trail coming down from the memorial:


Some weird boy Jay saw on the trail coming down from the memorial:


And another nature item that caught Jay's eye:


Eventually we left this area and continued our drive into the park. I took these pictures on the road:




We stopped at the Balsam Mountain Campground because there lies the very last of the self-guiding nature trails that we have yet to walk. It is supposed to be only 3/4 mile long and easy walking. The brochure for it is the one I've been looking for at all the gift shops with no luck. We found the trailhead, parked and walked over, only to find there were no trail guides in the box. I had seen another box at the entrance to the campground so we walked up there to see if they had any, but they were just regular trail maps and not for the nature trail. Well, I hated to do it, but I decided to skip over this nature trail. We had taken a really long time on our drive this morning, and not knowing exactly how long this nature trail was made me change my mind. It probably would have set us back another hour, knowing me and my propensity for taking pictures. So we will leave it for our next trip. We loaded back up in the truck and headed for the end of the road and our picnic lunch.

Up Next: This place really puts the "bat" in bathrooms!

[Colexis Mom]

Great updates and pictures Christie! Glad you're writing again!

[rhinohunter]

Great pix. Aren't you glad that there are so many overlooks in the parks. This way you do get to see something every now and then. Interesting about the elk and the Mason memorial. I did not know either existed in the park.

[Katara81]

Great updates Christie!! Good to see you back to writing!

At the elk! I had forgotten they had been released back into the area. How lucky that you ran across some!

The Masonic memorial is fascinating. Most of the men in my mom's side of the family are members of the Scottish Rite - I bet my grandfather would loooove to go see that memorial sometime!

[chezp]

Good to see you writing again. Great updates and more wonderful photos.

[pamcarey]

Great updates! Glad that you had time to write again! Don't think I like the sound of the "bat" in the next update.

[PrincessSharon]

Glad to see you writing again, Christie! I'm really enjoying the TR and photos.

[christiejay]

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Great updates and pictures Christie! Glad you're writing again!

Thanks Marnie!

Originally Posted by rhinohunter

Great pix. Aren't you glad that there are so many overlooks in the parks. This way you do get to see something every now and then. Interesting about the elk and the Mason memorial. I did not know either existed in the park.

I am definitely glad for so many points of interest in the park. Especially since this is one of our favorite vacation spots, it practically guarantees a different trip every time we are there. The elk were reintroduced to the park several years ago and apparently have done very well. The main place to see them is Cataloochee, but that is a trip unto itself due to the remoteness of the area and the little roads you have to take to get there. I want to go there one time, maybe "next time". I had heard of the elk coming into the Oconaluftee area by Cherokee, but I still never expected to see any. It was a wonderful surprise.

Originally Posted by Katara81

Great updates Christie!! Good to see you back to writing!

At the elk! I had forgotten they had been released back into the area. How lucky that you ran across some!

The Masonic memorial is fascinating. Most of the men in my mom's side of the family are members of the Scottish Rite - I bet my grandfather would loooove to go see that memorial sometime!

Thanks! The good thing about the Masonic memorial is how easy it is to get to ... if you don't mind a little bit of driving. Our journey to get there that day sounded like a major undertaking, but you have to remember I was insisting upon stopping at all the scenic areas along the way. Just to drive straight there is not that far, and the memorial is just a short walk from the parking lot.

Originally Posted by chezp

Good to see you writing again. Great updates and more wonderful photos.

Thanks Cheryl!

Originally Posted by pamcarey

Great updates! Glad that you had time to write again! Don't think I like the sound of the "bat" in the next update.

I didn't mean to end with that cliffhanger ... I tried to post that update last Sunday, but my computer was not cooperating ... I think I copied and pasted a few times too many.

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

Glad to see you writing again, Christie! I'm really enjoying the TR and photos.

Thanks Sharon!

[christiejay]

Continuing with Day 6 - Thursday, July 2, 2009

At the end of the road is a picnic area and the Heintooga Overlook. This was where we had planned to eat lunch. It was a beautiful spot, only a couple of other people stopped there while we were there (and then only to use the restroom) and the temperature was nice and cool, at an elevation of 5535. Here are pictures from the picnic area:

I thought this was the perfect Christmas tree, I loved how green it was.




We made friends with this little squirrel who wanted some of our lunch!

The view from our picnic table:


The trees were so tall, I felt I couldn't squeeze them into the picture!


After eating we walked up the hillside to find the overlook. There were huge chunks of rock everywhere, in fact some of the picnic table tops were sitting on them.







I loved these picnic tables ... if we ever eat here again I would like to eat at one of these.





There was no overlook on this side, but the trail continued around the back and along the other side of the picnic area. We found the overlook almost all the way back around - it would have been so much closer to have walked this direction in the first place!







As you can see it had started getting very cloudy and I was concerned that it might start raining, but it never did. The clouds did offer up some nice patterns on the landscape below!

Another squirrelly friend:


Before we started the next part of our drive, I sent all of us off for a restroom break. These restrooms out in the middle of nowhere kind of creep me out - I always open the door slowly and carefully, especially when we are the only ones at the campground or picnic area. Well, nothing there, so I used the restroom and washed my hands. And then I saw it. Something dark hanging above the door. What is that??? I looked as closely as I dared, then ran out to get Jay. When he and Joshua came out of the restroom, I sent him to the ladies' room with my camera to get a picture of it. Yes, it is a bat!!!



As you can tell, it's not really inside the bathroom because of the screen, but still! That was a mighty interesting experience.

So after our batty pit stop we were off again, this time along another road we had never driven before - Balsam Mountain Road. It is 13 miles along a gravel, one-way road, an additional 5 miles along a two-way gravel road, and a final 9-mile paved stretch to get back to Cherokee. I really had to talk Jay into going this route back, and quite honestly we probably won't do it again. The roads were in fairly good condition, but such slow driving gets pretty tedious after a while. We saw no animals and only an occasional scenic view. But I'm still glad to have done this! We would probably visit the Balsam Mountain area again, but instead of coming out this way, we would just backtrack along the Blue Ridge Parkway when we got ready to leave.

I didn't take many pictures along this drive. One reason is because it all pretty much looked the same. Another reason is that many of what I thought were scenic areas were looking off into deeply wooded valleys that were very shady, and I thought the pictures would all turn out too dark. But here are the pictures that I did take:

I was excited at the beginning of the drive!







The view from the main scenic overlook:






And then we saw a lot of this:


The better roads toward the end:




Up Next: Now that's what I call a waterfall!

[christiejay]

Continuing with Day 6 - Thursday, July 2, 2009

As we reached the end of our one-way journey down the mountain, we entered a portion of the Cherokee Indian Reservation. I had done a little research and discovered that we could easily get to a waterfall on our way back into town. This is the Mingo Falls waterfall which I had wanted to see on our last trip, but it had started raining the day we were over here so we skipped it. But today we had the perfect opportunity. I carefully watched for the road signs as we approached town and it was very easy to find the parking area. What I was not prepared for was all the stairs!


I think I counted about 135 stairs, but once you were at the top the trail was nice and level, and just around the bend was the waterfall. Most of the stairs are paved, and they are wide, so you could always rest along the way. There is also a bench at the top of the stairs if you need to catch your breath. Here are a few other pictures from the trail:



That's a long way down!



And here is what awaits those brave enough to make the climb:

beautiful Mingo Falls! It is 120 feet tall.

I was entranced with it. Here are various pictures of the waterfall:













The catch pool at the bottom, as viewed from the bridge above it

Bad pictures of me and Joshua on the bridge:




And a completely unflattering picture that I asked Jay to take of me in front of the falls:

"The lighting was off ... "
I really was excited about being here, and even made some comment about it being one of my favorite things of the whole trip, the pictures just don't show it ... I think I was just too tired after the stair climb.

We spent a few minutes at the base of the waterfall and then headed back down to the truck. There was one thing we needed to do, back at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center - a Ranger Program. If you remember, Joshua was working through the Junior Ranger program and we had been doing activities in his booklet for the past several days, and picking up garbage as we walked along the trails. We had intended to go to one program, but our outing today took longer than I had thought it would, so we ended up at a later program which involved the kids wading into the river. I did not think Joshua would like this, but we would see.

Up Next: What Life Used to Be Like

[christiejay]

Continuing with Day 6 - Thursday, July 2, 2009

Arriving at the Visitor Center, the first thing we did was to turn in the garbage Joshua had collected. The Ranger was so excited to see we had done this. We later learned that there is another version of the Junior Ranger program that consists solely of the kids attending Ranger-led programs throughout the park, with no book of activities, and no requirement for picking up litter. I hope they don't end up going with that program! I loved the activities in the booklet, and I thought picking up litter was a very worthwhile activity. This Ranger signed Joshua's booklet to state that she had received his bag of litter, and we went out back to await the start of the next program.

We had a little time left, so we looked around the Mountain Farm Museum. This is an area of various farm buildings that were relocated here from various other places within the park. Before the park was a park, families lived here, and these are some of their buildings.

The sign by the parking lot that explains the construction of the new visitor center building:


And the area it will be:


I liked this tree:

Those people are beginning a walk along the Oconaluftee River Trail.

I also love this whole area along the river.



Bee gums (instead of hives) made from sections of sweetgum tree trunks

Wood shed




Kitchen








The house of necessity


As you can see, they really do grow things here. The whole area is used as a living history farm museum, the only bad thing is that the people doing the demonstrations are not always there.








The furnace for cooking molasses


And where the sugar cane was squeezed to get the sugar for the molasses




Corn crib - the wagon of corn was parked under the roof and the corn was shoveled over the wall into the storage side.


This is at the corn crib ... guessing it is for shucking the corn?


They were re-roofing the large barn so it was closed off today.








That guy's legs were huge!


Wilbur!


Up Next: Becoming a Junior Ranger

[christiejay]

Continuing with Day 6 - Thursday, July 2, 2009

Finally it was time for Joshua's class to begin so we made our way over to the side of the river. I took a few pictures while we waited with the other families for the instructors to come out.











Some of the creatures they would be looking for in the water.









This class was called Stream Splashers. There were two young ladies teaching it, I am guessing they were probably in college or grad school, they were not regular park rangers. They had a special badge on their shirt that had volunteer on it. They talked to the kids for a minute about how it is important that stream water be healthy, and that the presence of some organisms in the water (like mayflies) were an indicator of healthy water. In this class the kids were going to wade out into the water and collect organism samples to see what they could find. The instructors told the kids what to do, and passed out nets, although there weren't enough nets for everybody.

Also you'll notice that most of the kids were prepared for this class and were wearing their water shoes. We had planned to go to the earlier class that had nothing to do with water, so Joshua just had to go barefoot. He handled it pretty well! Jay showed Joshua how to pick up the rocks and look on the bottom for some of the creatures:






Everybody crowded around to see what was found:


Joshua was unhappy because he couldn't see:



The same info as before, but now the dishes are filled with some live examples that the kids found


The crawfish that one boy found

And looking at a few other farm buildings on our way back to the Visitor Center:


The springhouse, or "refrigerator":


This building is for apple storage. The door on the second story is for easier access once the snow covered the ground. (This is the back of the building - there was a first-story entrance on the front.)




Once inside the Visitor Center we waited for the other Junior Ranger badge recipients to gather, and for the Ranger on duty to sign all the kids' booklets. Then she lined them up and made an announcement to everybody in the Visitor Center, that she was about to conduct a special ceremony and everybody was invited. It was nice how she made a big deal out of this! She started by explaining the program, and had the kids recite a pledge. Then she paid special attention to Joshua for picking up litter along the trails, and then awarded everybody their badge. It was really cool! Unfortunately I have no pictures ... I think Jay was using my camera to try to video it ...

Up Next: Cherokee Shopping and a Night In

[rhinohunter]

Great updates. Congrats to Joshua for the extra recognition for the litter gathering. The kids looked like they had fun in the water class.