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

[christiejay]

Continuing with Day 7 - Friday, July 3, 2009

Leaving the parking lot (from Ober Gatlinburg tram station), I couldn't remember which road to take back to the Parkway so that I would come out at a traffic signal. If you don't have a traffic signal it's almost impossible to get across because the traffic is so heavy. So, I made the bad decision to go to traffic light 10, which was fairly close, but meant that we would have to drive through bumper-to-bumper traffic for a few blocks until we got to our turn at traffic light 8. I was keeping an eye on the clock, and knew that Jay would probably be about finished with his hike any minute now.

Finally we were able to turn and head up toward Roaring Fork and the Rainbow Falls trailhead. But at the entrance to the park we got behind a real sightseer who was only driving about 15 miles per hour. But by this time we were in range so that I could use the walkie-talkie to contact Jay. He had just finished hiking a few minutes ago and was waiting at the entrance of the parking lot. I told him about getting behind a slowpoke, and that we would be there soon.

Finally the slow driver pulls over and lets me pass, and we pick up Jay and head back into town. The gas gauge was on empty and I was so nervous about it that he agreed to stop at the expensive Texaco station on the Parkway to put a few gallons in the tank. Then we headed back to the resort for the rest of the evening.

Jay said he had a great hike, and met lots of people along the trail. Sometimes they would hike together and at other times would set their own pace, passing each other and then meeting up again as they stopped to rest. At one point the summit was engulfed in clouds, but it never did rain. Here are his pictures:










At times a cable is provided as a handhold:








Another hiker heads up the trail:







This is Alum Cave Bluffs. This is the point where Joshua and I would have accompanied Jay to, and then turned around. So far the trail has been rated moderate, but after this point it is rated strenuous.








Yes, that's the trail.




See how close those clouds are? Like you could just reach out and touch them.

At the summit there is a side trail which Jay took for a little way, and came upon these deer grazing.















??? Apparently Jay turned around to take a picture of something else ... this was the very next picture on the card, so he hadn't left the area yet. Because the next picture is -



He said that he stood very still the whole time, and by the end the deer were almost close enough for him to touch. You can tell from that last picture that he is almost directly above the deer. Then he headed over to the lodge area.

Up Next: Mt. LeConte Lodge - who wouldn't want to hike 5 miles up a mountain to spend the night here?

[christiejay]

Continuing with Day 7 - Friday, July 3, 2009

After watching the deer graze, Jay continued toward the lodge, stopping for a quick lunch too.


Along the way to the lodge, Jay noticed this huge pile of rocks. There was no indication as to its purpose. He assumed that everybody who visited added a rock to the pile.


This is a close-up of the rock he added.







This was the picnic site that Jay created for himself.

The view from his picnic site:


And proof that he cleaned up after himself when he was finished eating. "Leave No Trace"











I love this picture. The blue, white and green are all so vibrant.




Do you see the bee, and the bug on the leaf?




And finally, LeConte Lodge. They change the sign out every day, so that when you take a picture you can "prove" when you were there. Jay forgot about that, so you can't see the date very well in his picture. This is the scene as you first enter the lodge area.


There are several primitive cabins available for nightly rental. Most are small, a few are a little larger.









These pictures were taken inside the office building.
















As mentioned, Jay decided to descend the mountain by way of Bullhead and Rainbow Falls Trails - that's where these pictures come from.






Looking down into Gatlinburg -








Up Next: Where's the Rainbow?

[christiejay]

Continuing with Day 7 - Friday, July 3, 2009

Pictures from Rainbow Falls. Jay said from here on out the trail was very crowded and very crazy.



















(Random Person)















This is no longer at Rainbow Falls. It is a smaller waterfall more toward the end of the trail. Or the beginning, if you were starting here and strictly hiking up to Rainbow.




So that was Jay's adventure! We all had a great day, even though doing something completely different. For supper, we had leftover spaghetti, and I think leftovers from a restaurant meal or two. After eating I took Joshua over to the playground for a while since he'd been asking.














We spent the rest of the night in the room relaxing! We each did our regular routine of playing, watching TV and reading, then we all got ready for bed, looking forward to our last full day in the Smokies.

Up Next: Day 8 - Nice and Relaxing

[chezp]

What a great adventure Jay had - I love the deer photos.

[Colexis Mom]

More great pictures!

[pamcarey]

Wow, that looks like some hike! Great pictures!

[rhinohunter]

Great hike and pix. The closeness of the deer is unbelievable. I do not know how he was able to stay so still and be able to take the pictures. The "strenuous" trail looks like anything but a trail. Glad you made it safely.

[Katara81]

Great updates!

[christiejay]

Hey you guys, and thanks for your compliments! Maybe one day I will be in good enough shape to make that hike, or some other similar hike. Jay really enjoyed himself.

Originally Posted by rhinohunter

The "strenuous" trail looks like anything but a trail.

Yeah, at times it appears there's not much of a trail! I think that's where a lot of people get themselves in trouble. They forget this is a true wilderness, and tend to treat everything, including the trails, like a theme park attraction. But not all areas of the park are meant for all people and you really have to limit your activities to whatever your fitness level is. For now I'm only a "moderate" hiker, but I have "strenuous" aspirations!

Okay, for today I'm only doing one fairly short update. For one thing I'm trying to watch the Olympics at the same time and that doesn't work out too well! And I also need to fix up the PhotoPass pics from mine and my sil's Christmas WDW trip so I can get the CD ordered. Since I've only got a couple of days left to do that, I guess it has to take precedence today. There weren't too many pictures taken during this day, so I've still managed to go through half a day in just one post. Until next weekend!

[christiejay]

Day 8 - Saturday, July 4, 2009

This morning we took our time getting up and dressed, and ate breakfast in the room as we had done throughout the trip. I think today might have been another day when we cooked something for breakfast. Maybe the sausage biscuits? Not positive. Our original plans had been all switched around by now, and what we decided to do today was get into town and do some shopping. We hadn't yet ridden the trolley, so we drove out of the resort and across the road to the City Hall park-n-ride lot. After a few minutes the trolley came and we hopped on. We made a few stops on the way into town, and the end of the line was the main transit station beside Ripley's Aquarium.

Walking across the river we spotted a snake swimming across but I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get a picture of it. Instead we took pictures of the ducks.




In front of the aquarium:










The first thing we did was walk through the multi-level Mountain Mall. While I enjoy looking around in here, the only thing we bought was a cell-phone case for Jay. It hooks onto his belt. Now since he has an iphone, the case and phone are now mine! Next up was a cool store called Earthbound Trading Company. Joshua picked out an archaeology kit where you have to dig up a dinosaur skeleton and put it together, and I got a Moroccan lantern candle holder for my sister. At Jonathan's, I discovered the scrapbooking supplies in the basement and picked up a few odds and ends for whenever I get around to making a scrapbook from this trip.

For lunch we stopped at McDonald's. Joshua had a hamburger happy meal, Jay had a quarter pounder, fries and a Coke, and I had a supersize fries and Coke. I've never been able to bring myself to eat the burgers here. It was very crowded and we had to circle like hawks to find a table while Jay waited in line to place and receive our order. I was getting a headache but took some medicine and felt better later, mainly just getting out of there helped me feel better.

After eating we stopped at a small shopping center just past McDonald's - I can't remember the name of it, but it is a multi-level center. The street level is the upper level, and then you can go down some stairs into a courtyard area where there are more shops. We went in the Buckboard store which mainly sells collectibles like Coca-Cola, John Deere, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, etc. Jay and I enjoyed looking around at all their commemorative Coke bottles. They've got some from probably every state, and it was fun to pick out the ones from Mississippi. Joshua picked out a car to buy - kind of like a Hot Wheels car, but it was a replica of a race car.

Walking to the back of the shopping center, I was surprised to see that what had once been a Mexican restaurant was now a gift shop that sold a lot of Native American gifts. I loved the giant rain sticks and they were very reasonably priced, but I don't think Jay wanted to carry it around town and back to the resort on the trolley so we never got it. I think he was close to buying one, though!

Just on the other side of traffic light #8, across the parkway from the Convention Center, was a newly (to us) constructed complex that we stopped in briefly. It contained Lineberger's Seafood Restaurant, the Hollywood Wax Museum and a few offices. But I remember it for different reasons. First of all, we used the restroom here and I was pleased to find that they were clean. There was a parking garage on the back of the property, and we rode their elevator up to the third floor observation deck to look around. I took a few pictures:

looking down into the courtyard


The Star Cars Museum across the street. To the far left you can see the movie filmstrip on the Ripley's Movie Rider attraction, and the skinny building wedged in between the two is the Ripley's Haunted attraction. The hexagonal or octagonal shaped building on this side of the road, on the left of the picture, is Lineberger's Seafood. And on the right, the two-story building that looks like the top level is open, is the Hollywood Wax Museum. That open upper level has a King Kong display. I thought I took a picture of it, but I guess I didn't.


The base of the Space Needle which has an arcade in it


The Space Needle - you can take an elevator to the top for a scenic view


Looking straight out from our location - you can see the previous locations from the other pictures all together in this shot.


A close-up of the round hotel


The observation deck went all the way around the top of the elevator shaft, so when we went around to the back I waited and got a shot of the Ober Gatlinburg tram coming down.


Zooming out from the above shot (you can still see the tram) shows just a few of the many many many hotels in town.








Behind us, and the opposite direction from the tram, was the Gatlinburg Sky Lift.



We crossed over the Parkway and started making our way back. But the P. Graham Dunn Gallery caught our eye, so we went inside. What I really wanted was this HUGE slab of wood that was framed to hang on the wall. On it was laser-engraved the hymn Amazing Grace. Not just the words to the hymn, but the music as well, just as if you were looking at a page in a hymnal. Wow! They had other hymns to choose from, and several smaller sizes as well. Jay liked these too, and we got a 5x7 size of It Is Well With My Soul. I don't remember how many hundreds of dollars the largest ones cost, but this smallest size was $25. We also got a wooden magnet that was in the shape of a leaf and said Trust in the Lord. Oh, another thing that caught our eye was the laser-engraved crown molding! Well, on to other things. At The Village shopping center we looked in lots of shops, and Jay got a Mt. LeConte T-shirt, a deck of cards about tying knots, and a metal spike tip for his hiking stick at the Day Hiker store.

More shopping was in store for us at The Maples Tree. I got a keychain with a "C" for me, a Christmas ornament that looked like the older version of the National Park signs, and a bluebird figurine for my grandmother. At the Reagan Terrace Mall I found a couple of things in the Candle Shop, amazingly neither one was a candle! I chose an Asian-design windchime for my sister and a cross for me. The cross is made from black metal, and has lots of smooth tumbled stones wired onto it. We continued making our way back down the Parkway but didn't make any more purchases. We looked in the small National Park shop at the Welcome Center but didn't find anything different from what we had already seen. We waited for the trolley at the stop right outside and made our way back to the resort. Once we got back in the room, we put away our purchases and discussed our plans for the evening.

Up Next: Fun in the ‘Forge

[B.M.]

Just found this TR! I've got a lot of catching up to do....... So far I've only made it through yalls first day; but so far it sounds like a great trip- We only live a few hours from Gatlinburg and have never been; so I need to pay close attention- I'm considering a trip this summer....

[rhinohunter]

Gatlinburg can be a lot of fun if you can get through all of the traffic. I have always enjoyed the scenery, the shops and the aquariam. When shopping, it is like there is at least one of everything you could ever want or think that you need. I have to make a concerted effort to keep the money in my pocket. There is no more room at my house for any more STUFF.

[chezp]

Another great update.

[Katara81]

Great update! We love to stop at The Buckboard when we're in G-burg, and isn't P. Graham Dunn's wonderful?!? We spent at least 45 minutes in that small shop last summer - when we were there, they had a nearly floor-to-ceiling-high copy of Amazing Grace on display....I think it cost around $5000.

[pamcarey]

Sounds like you made some great purchases!