Posts Tagged ‘Smokies’

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My World: Adventures With Mrs. P

May 31, 2011

Parson Branch Road, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. May 23, 2011.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Last Tuesday Betsy and I took a ride in the Smokies in our Prius, Mrs. P.  One of the seasonal back roads, Parson Branch Road, had recently been opened for the season.  Mrs. P sometimes thinks she is an off-road vehicle and was up to the challenge.

We had to drive through part of Cades Cove to get to Parson Branch Road, but that is always a gorgeous drive.  When we got to the road, we saw a big sign announcing that Parson Branch Road was a ‘primitive’ one-way road and that it would take at least an hour to make the eight miles to US 129.  (I wish I had thought to take a picture of that sign.)  The picture above shows one of the better sections.

We enjoy taking these back roads whenever possible, because they often lead to waterfalls that aren’t listed in any of the books we have.  We did find several waterfalls along Parson Branch Road which I’ll talk about in future posts.  At one point along that eight mile stretch of road I thought Mrs. P might let us down, but she managed to get up a pothole-filled stretch of road (slowly) and had no problems the rest of the way.

Image from the internet.

But our adventure wasn’t over when we reached the paved highway US 129.  We came onto the road along a stretch known as The Tail of the Dragon.  As the poster above states, there are 318 curves in 11 miles of road.  Obviously traffic doesn’t move at interstate speeds along this stretch of road.  It’s a favorite of motorcyclists, however, and people come from all over the country to ride The Tail.

All in all we had a very interesting, adventurous and scenic day in the Smokies.

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Close Enough

May 12, 2011

Black bear seen along Skyline Drive in Virginia. August 6, 2010.

As most of you know, Betsy and I do a fair amount of hiking in our search for waterfalls.  Many of the trails are in remote areas, but we’ve always enjoyed them.  We’re often the only people on a trail, and that’s fine with us.

We have a friend who is scared to death of bears.  Just the mention of the word can upset her.  Betsy and I have encountered bears on the trail only once.  We were hiking near the entrance to Cade’s Cove in the Smokies and saw a Mama Bear and two cubs cross the trail quite a way ahead of us.  We stopped and watched the three of scamper up the side of  the hill.

The picture above was taken at an overlook on Skyline Drive in Virginia back in 2010.  The bear was close enough to be easily seen, but this picture was taken with my long lens, so he really wasn’t that close.  But just between us, I’m glad he didn’t come any closer.

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Posted in Hiking | 20 Comments »

Scenic Sunday #132: Looking Toward The Smokies

January 30, 2011

The view of the Smoky Mountains from the Foothills Parkway, Townsend, Tennessee. October 14, 2010.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

In mid-October of last year Betsy and I took a ride along the Foothills Parkway.  The Parkway is west of, and parallel to, the Smoky Mountains and provides some wonderful views of the mountains.  Since the Parkway is at a fairly low altitude, there wasn’t much color, but the scenery was beautiful nonetheless.

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Cataloochee Valley Elk

October 28, 2010

A bull elk in Cataloochee Valley, North Carolina. October 20, 2010.

One of the high points of our visit to North Carolina was getting to see the elk in the Cataloochee Valley.  We got up early on a foggy Wednesday morning and drove to Cataloochee.

Elk once roamed the southern Appalachian Mountains, but they were eliminated from the region by over-hunting and loss of habitat.  The last elk in North Carolina was believed to have been killed in the late 1700s.

In February, 2001, there was an experimental release of 25 elk into the Cataloochee Valley of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  In 2002, another 27 elk were introduced.

We first saw elk in a field along Ranger Station Road, the main road leading into the valley.  There were twenty of so elk in a field bordering the road.  The bull elk in the picture above was apparently the dominate male, and his bugling call could be clearly heard.
Elk grazing in a field in Cataloochee Valley. October 20, 2010.
The herd we saw consisted mostly of females and young elk, although there were one or two other males in the herd as well.

A bull elk relaxing in a field in Cataloochee Valley, North Carolina. October 20, 2010.

We then drove over to see the Palmer House on National Park Road.  As we pulled into the parking area, we saw two more bull elk in a field across the road.  The bull in the picture above was one of those bulls.

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My World: Autumn in the Smokies

October 26, 2010

Chimney Tops overlook, Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. October 19, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Last Tuesday Betsy and I drove Newfound Gap Road through the Smokies and part of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.  We were on our way to Maggie Valley, North Carolina, but we took advantage of every opportunity to stop and enjoy the colors.

We had an absolutely gorgeous day, with bright sunshine and blue skies.  The colors may not have been at their peak, but they were close to it.  The picture above was taken at the Chimney Top overlook in Tennessee.

Webb Overlook, Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina. October 19, 2010.

As we headed down the mountain in North Carolina after passing Newfound Gap, we stopped at the Webb Overlook, where the trees were mostly yellow and orange.

Balsam Mountain, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina. October 19, 2010.

Later in the afternoon we left the Blue Ridge Parkway to drive to Balsam Mountain, where we took a short hike to an overlook.  We found these beautiful colors along the trail.

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My World: Rich Mountain Road

September 14, 2010

The sign at Rich Mountain Road in Cades Cove, Grreat Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. September 9, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

As I mentioned yesterday, last week Betsy and I went to the Smokies to drive the Rich Mountain Road.  We enjoy exploring new parts of the Smokies, and this seemed like a great time to go.  The entrance to Rich Mountain Road is in Cades Cove, and we’re always happy to find an excuse to visit that pretty place.

Rich Mountain Road, Smoky Mountains. September 9, 2010.

The road is gravel and closed during the winter, but we had no trouble getting through, other than having to dodge some pot holes.  And although there were no particularly steep grades, we did have quite a few switchbacks, as you can see from the picture above.

Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. September 9, 2010.

One reason for taking this road is that we were told that there were some nice overlooks from which Cades Cove could be seen.  We found one at roadside and stopped to get some pictures.  If you look carefully in the lower left of the picture above, you can almost make out the Methodist Church in Cades Cove, which Betsy blogged about yesterday.

We saw several trail heads along the road, so we’ll get some trail maps before we go back.  Perhaps we’ll find another overlook along one of the trails.  We’ll definitely go back to Rich Mountain Road.

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Our Smokies Adventure

September 13, 2010

The track of our trip to the Smokies. September 9, 2010.

I’ve mentioned our GPS unit several times and have talked about how much we like it.  This past Thursday we got a lesson in how much we rely on it.

Our GPS got recalled by Garmin, and we sent it in to be repaired a couple of weeks ago.  So when we went to the Smokies on Thursday we didn’t have it.  We were going to drive Rich Mountain Road, a road we had never taken before.  But we knew it was a primitive, one-way road out of Cades Cove, a place we’ve visited several times.  The sign at the entrance to the road said it went to Townsend, a place we’ve been to many times, so off we went.  I did have my geotagger with us, but that only showed (after the fact) where we had been, not where we were going.

We had no problems in the park.  After leaving the park the road became paved and two-way.  When we came to a four-way stop, we knew we were back to civilization.

That’s when the fun began.  We came to a ‘T’ intersection with no signs.  We figured we were west of Townsend, so we turned right.  A little later we came to a ‘Y’.  The right branch looked like the main road, so we took it.  We drove along enjoying the scenery — and eventually we arrived back at the four-way stop.

Trying to find our way home. September 9, 2010.

We tried again.  This time we took the left branch at the ‘Y’.  That led to more beautiful scenery — and a dead-end!  We turned around and followed the road in the other direction.  Eventually it led to the highway that got us on our way back home.

After all of this ‘fun’, we were delighted to get home and find a package on our doorstep.  Inside the package was our GPS!  We wasted no time getting it put back into our car.

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Skywatch Friday: A Hint of Rain

September 10, 2010

The skies above Rich Mountain, Townsend, Tennessee. September 9, 2010.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

The skies in this picture may not look pretty to you, but they look absolutely beautiful to us.

If you’ve followed my posts for any length of time you know that we’ve had a very dry summer here in eastern Tennessee.  We got some rain in the Glade on Wednesday, which was very welcome.  The weather service says that more rain is coming on Friday and Saturday, and we’re looking forward to it.  For once we’re hoping the forecast for rain on the weekend is correct.

The picture above was taken near Townsend, Tennessee near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Betsy and I had taken a drive to the Smokies to visit some areas we hadn’t visited before.  I’ll tell you more about our trip next week.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 23 Comments »

My World: Cable Mill

September 7, 2010

The Cable grist mill in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

When we visited Cades Cove in the Smokies a couple of weeks ago, we stopped at the Cable Mill area in the southwest corner of the cove.  Although there are several buildings (and a visitor center) here, it was the mill that most interested us.

John F. Cable bought land in the cove in the late 1860s and built a water-powered grist mill and sawmill in about 1870.  The same  wheel provided power for both mills.  The sawmill no longer exists, but the restored grist mill still grinds away.  It’s possible to see corn being ground most days, but we couldn’t get a decent picture of the inside of the mill.

Cable Mill water wheel, Cades Cove, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

The docent in the mill said that a water wheel lasts for about 25 years and then needs to be replaced.  She wasn’t sure how old the current wheel is.

The Cable Mill flume, Cades Cove, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

The mill flume is quite long, but does a good job of holding the water as it makes its way from the mill pond to the water wheel.  The flume also holds quite a few coins, as you may be able to see if you enlarge the picture.

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Technology and Cades Cove

August 30, 2010

The track of our visit to Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

One disadvantage to taking lots of pictures on a trip is that it is not always easy to remember where a particular picture or series of pictures was taken.

My blogger friend Neal brought an AMOD geotagger to my attention and I got one a few months ago.  While I have used it to tag the location of some of our pictures, I really haven’t experimented with it to get a good idea of what can be done with the data.

Betsy and I drove to Cades Cove in the Smokies after running an errand in Knoxville Friday morning.  The park service has repaved the Cades Cove Loop Road and we wanted to see how the project turned out.

As we got near Cades Cove I turned on the geotagger.  The yellow line in the screen shot above is a track of where we drove or hiked.  The screen shot is taken from Google Earth and I can put in waypoints and descriptions as you can see.  On Google Earth I can also zoom in or out to give different views of the area.  I could post the track on Google Earth so others could manipulate the view as well, but I’m inclined not to do that.  I have enough trouble posting my current web pages and blogs without adding more.

Map of places in Cades Cove where we took pictures. August 27, 2010.

This second screen shot is from another application that uses the tracking data.  The red dots on the Google map of Cades Cove represent a picture that we took.  When I’m in this application (JetPhoto Studio) I can click on a dot and the associated picture opens up.  This information could also be posted, but again I think I’ll just keep this to myself except for an occasional screen shot.

Hopefully, now that I’ve experimented with some of my new technology I’ll have some pictures to post in the near future.  And if I don’t get pictures posted soon I know Betsy will!

Stay tuned.

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Posted in Technology | 15 Comments »

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