hikeabout

From Brevard we headed north to the Smoky mountains, we are drawn to them like a butterfly to a flower, we never tire of the lush greenness and smoky blue sky.


We stayed at our favorite place to stay, Rocky Top Inn - favorite because it is next door to the Log Cabin Pancake House and within walking distance of anything in downtown Gatlinburg. Sunday morning after getting our fill of pancakes and their special coffee, we headed out on a hike.



It was hard to find a hiking trail that we had not tried before, but we did. The Sugarlands trail between Gatlinburg and the Sugarlands Visitor center was a nice level hike of 2 miles one way, following along the west prong of the Little Pigeon River.



As is usual when hiking in the Smoky Mountains, we found remnants of long ago civilization, a chimney here, a cemetery there.



On the Fighting Creek trail we found the restored cabin of John Ownby, and Cataract Falls. We admired the work of the CCC on the NPS Headquarters building, we saw turkeys and squirrels, and a few late wildflowers.



As many times as we have been to this area, we always see something new, and this time was no different. The trail took us beside the maintenance area for the National Park Service where we saw all sorts of things like bear traps, stacks of new split rails for fences, and the picnic table graveyard. All this hiking has worn me out, so on to our next stop...