Trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park PHOTOS
July 22-26, 2008
Participants: Perry, Monica, Alex, Nicholas Keidel
Jonathan, Ruth, Chris, Andy, Hana Clemens
July 22, Tuesday. We left Baltimore and stayed overnight in Bristol, TN at a Days Inn. The trip down was problem free and we enjoyed a scenic drive through the (long) state of Virginia.
We were fortunate to have an auto parts store next door to the hotel because the van badly needed a new windshield wiper. Ruth and I eventually figured out how to get it installed. We had supper at a Chinese buffet down the street, choosing that over the restaurant Fatz (the hotel desk clerk said that it “has good food, real good food.” This clerk, very helpful and friendly, said that she was related to Davy Crockett. She didn’t look at all like I had imagined a Crockett to look. It must be that over the generations the Crocketts have let themselves go a little.
Ruth and I also had an amazing Lowe’s experience, checking out the flooring possibilities for our kitchen. It was like we were in home improvement heaven. I found out later that Lowe’s is based in NC so I guess they wanted to be sure that the stores nearby are excellent ones.
July 23, Wednesday. After a delicious continental breakfast (complimentary) we set out and arrived in Cherokee, NC at about noon, just after Perry and Monica’s family got there. The campsite was called Flaming Arrow Campsite. We set up camp, it just so happened that a fairly heavy downpour happened just as we were setting things up! But we did ok and were especially proud of a tarp that we rigged over the picnic and food area. This tarp was to come in very handy on the last day of or campout. The lady in charge of the campsite took great pride in keeping it nice. She was especially concerned about anyone climbing on the embankments, causing erosion. We referred to her as “the erosion lady” after that. But it was clear that her camping facilities were well maintained, because of her conscientiousness.
Cherokee, NC is quite touristy—signs for all kinds of things, gift shops, strip malls, etc, just south of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which was not so touristy. It was set up as most National Parks are—visitors centers, ranger talks, nicely organized in every way. Whenever I visit a National Park I develop the goal of seeing every one, and this was no exception.
After getting things set up and having lunch, we set out for a ranger talk about how the Cherokee Indians made pottery back in the day. It was designed as a hands on make-your-own piece of pottery and the children enjoyed it. We saw signs for a grist mill, Mingus Mills, but instead went to a Settlers’ Village just near the Visitors Center of the National Park. This village was an interesting display of how the folks lived about 150 years ago. Unfortunately it closed down about 10 minutes after we arrived.
went back to the camp and had hot dogs and baked beans. Perry made a fine fire and we sat around it for a while and talked and listened to a drummer.
The night was cool, cooler than we expected it to be, but not as cool as Yellowstone.
July 24 Thursday The morning was also cool. We warmed up with coffee (cowboy style) and other hot drinks. We had pancakes for breakfast and eventually got going to another ranger talk event about the toys that kids in the pioneer days played with, The kids got to make their own buzz button, and we learned that the kids were allowed to play with the “Jacob’s ladder” toy because the name of this toy came from the Bible.
We finally had a chance to see the grist mill, Mingus Mills, just up the road a piece from the Visitors’ Center. It was fascinating, how the stream was diverted into a long trough which provided a stream of water to a “head”, a long wooden water tight column that exerted significant amount of pressure to run an ingenious turbine which turned a millstone to grind wheat or corn into flour. They sold fairly expensive flour at this mill but the guy in charge said that it wasn’t the same flour as what was ground. So we didn’t buy any.
We had a delicious picnic lunch of sandwiches on the grass near the mill, and then traveled to a Whitewater rafting outfitter (USA Raft) about a 40 min drive near Bryson City. On the way we noted how completely the vines (?kudzo) covered everything along the roadside. We all wore helmets and sitting in the yellow school bus on the way to the starting point, looking forward at the backs of heads encased in helmets and the ends of the paddles sticking up-- it looked like a low budget, intergenerational hockey team on their way to an away game in Guelph, Ontario. No other group wore helmets, we were the only ones, wanting to set a good example for the kids in the group.
pre-rafting lecture was the usual mixture of information plus “scare them to death so they behave” stuff. “Does anyone know what this is?” “An Oar?” “NO, a paddle—and it will knock someone’s teeth out unless you keep your hand over the T.” “Does anyone know what this is?” “A life vest? (meekly)” “NOO! It’s a PFD [Personal Flotation Device].”
two hour trip down the river was fun, we had a guide, the other boat just had Ruth. At the end, we were reminded to tip the guide, and I had the urge to tip Ruth, she did a good job of learning on the job how to steer a raft. At the end there were a couple of mini waterfalls that were a real thrill. No one fell out.
On the way back we stopped at a roadside stand run by an old timer and bought some boiled peanuts.
We had supper back at the campsite, chili over the fire. It was good.
That evening we were serenaded once again by the Indian drummer.
July 25, Friday: We had a conversation around the fire in the morning about families of origin, especially various dysfunctionalities in family of origin. It was interesting and enlightening, and the coffee tasted good too. Perry does a great job with fires and with making coffee with sweetened condensed milk.
We set off to drive to Clingman’s dome, the highest point in the park. We hiked the (steep) ½ mile to the dome where we could see (they said) five states. The peak is right on the Tennessee-NC border. The Appalachian Trail runs right along it, and we hiked a small part of the trail.
On the way down the mountain in the car, we stopped at a grassy pull off and had another delicious picnic lunch.
then went into Cherokee and bought some souvenirs, Hana a knife (she was thrilled that we gave her permission) and all three kids moccasins. Ruth and I mailed wooden postcards to our respective places of work.
July 26, Saturday: It began raining, often heavily, midway through the night and into the next day. The fly over our tent had some holes (sparks from previous fires had landed on it) so here were leaks. We had scrambled eggs and (of course) cowboy style coffee for breakfast and the expertly arranged tarp kept the rain off of us.
Packing up in the rain wasn’t easy, but we managed and then said good-bye to Perry and Monica and Nick and Alex. We had planned to stay the night in Harrisonburg, VA on the way back but decided not to due to the wet load. Instead, we drove the entire way to Baltimore on Sat, arriving at about 9PM..