RV Tour Leg 12 - Great Smoky Mountain National Park

November 9 -16, 2024

Campsite at Great Smoky Mountain National Park

We continued to enjoy the best of the Blue Ridge Mountains at Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We have been traveling in the Blue Ridge Mountains through Shenandoah National Park (Virginia) and Asheville, North Carolina. In the fall, these mountains, offer a serene escape, where cool, crisp air and winding trails invite hikers to explore peaceful forests and stunning ridge-top views. The Great Smoky Mountains are a subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountains and get their name from the mist that tends to hang over the mountains.

We were now equipped with our new solar panels and new batteries and ready to try 7 days with no electricity. I am happy to report, we faired very well and only needed to run the generator on a few short occasions.

We had some beautiful hikes, exploring the old ruins, numerous waterfalls and hiking up to breath taking views.

Ruins of old settler homes on hikes near our campsite

From the top of Clingman's dome, we could see Mount Mitchell, way back in Asheville - 2 hours away by car.

Our hike out to Andrew's Bald brought us along a ridge of a beautiful pine forest on an amazingly well maintained trail.

Andrew's Bald hike

Andrew's Bald hike - clearly the National Park has put a great deal of effort maintaining this trail

Our friends, Robert and Ginger drove up from Atlanta and stayed in our trailer with us for a few nights. We had a lovely trip out to Cades Cove - a beautiful valley in the park with interesting buildings showing off the older settler days.

Water mill in Cades Cove

Lunch site near Cades Cove with Robert and Ginger

On our way up to Laurel Falls

Robert and Ginger at Laurel Falls.

Of course, it's best to finish off a beautiful day with a campfire and S'mores'.

S'mores at the campground

We did see some wild life - sometimes the other tourists just get in the way of a good picture.

After Robert and Ginger left, we had a lovely hike out to an artist Mayna Avent's cabin. There was one pretty scary river crossing, but it was a beautiful hike and so fun to commune in the space of a woman artist.

Bridge crossing Mayna Avent's cabin