The Great Smoky Mountains

With Anne looking after Paul we took a couple of days out from caving to visit the Great Smoky Mountains which are part of a national park on the Tennessee - North Carolina border.

Fun Smoky Mountain Facts: 

• The park is the most visited in the United States with 11 million visits per year.

• The hardwood forest in the lower elevation areas is the most diverse ecosystem in North America.

• The name ‘smoky’ comes from the natural fog which often hangs over the mountain range.

• 99 different species of native tree grow in the park, which is more than anywhere else in North America or in all of Northern Europe.

• There are 31 different species of Salamander in the park, hence it is known as the Salamander capital of the world.

Before we got to the Smoky Mountains we drove past our hotel in Pigeon Forge. This was a surreal experience as the 6 lanes of traffic crawl at a snail’s pace speed limit of 35mph. Alongside are huge hotel buildings which look like an amusement arcade became a town. There was a huge haunted house, themed hotel and one which looked like it had been built upside down. We also drove past the wax works museum which had a huge model of King Kong climbing its spire and a Mount Rushmore sculpture which had the faces of the presidents replaced with films stars.

This continued as we passed by Dollywood in Gatlinberg, Dolly Parton's home town. This was styled as a tacky Alpine ski resort. I was beginning to think, what have I got ourselves into, when suddenly we left the town and were surrounded by thick forest. 

The national park was very well organised, with a visitor centre where you can buy very cheap guide pamphlets and ask for hiking/trail advice. On our first day we decided to have a chilled out trip to the highest peak in Tennessee which is Clingmans Dome. The walk is actually very short as you can drive almost to the top.

There were some cool, sweeping, views from the very 1960s style viewing platform, you actually only have to gain 91m over a distance of 800m to get from the car park to the summit peak at 2025m. The Appalachian trail runs over Clingman’s Dome and the summit is actually the highest point on the whole trail.

We decided to take a different route back to the car park and walked 0.5 miles of the Appalachian trail which has a total length of 2,200 miles (therefore we have walked 0.02% of the trail). Meeting and chatting to a thru-hiker reminded us of the South West Coast Path. Perhaps we should put this trail on the bucket list?

The following day we opted for a more serious hike, following the Alum Cave Bluff Trail to Mount Le Conte. This is the third highest peak in the park at 2010m tall. This time we had a 10 mile hike with 800m of ascent and decent. We had purchased a trail guide but found this was actually a nature guide. Olly therefore narrated all the interesting nature facts as we passed along the trail. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we didn’t see any black bears, which is almost surprising as on average there should be 2 bears in every square mile.

The hike was pleasantly shaded and started by following a pretty creek before gaining altitude. I carried the bag for the first section and Olly got to experience some of the sexist comments that I had, whilst hiking the coast path.  It also seems to be a common thing for Americans to say “don’t worry you are nearly there” or “you are doing really well”. This positive encouragement is a stark contrast to the British stiff upper lip. I’m not a big fan as when someone tells me I'm nearly there I expect the summit to be around the corner not 2 miles away. Brutal honesty I think is always the best policy when knowing how much walking is left to do.

After reaching Mount Le Conte lodge we struggled to find signs for the actual summit. It turns out the summit is in the trees so actually has no view and everyone instead heads to one of the panoramic look out points. We were headed for the summit to be completionists but someone on the route mentioned that today was lama resupply day and the lamas would be arriving in the next 20 minutes. 

My urge to see pack lamas overrode my need to reach the summit which is actually only 70m higher than the lodge. However we did walk as far the bothy complete with its food hanging rack to deter bears. 

We made it to the lodge in time to see the pack lamas being fed and watered. This group of lamas climbs three times a week to restock the lodge, each lama carrying between 20-30 kg. A little different to the Alpine huts which are restocked by helicopter. The lodge is super popular often being fully booked up to a year in advance.

After admiring the lamas we went to the cliff top look out which did have good panoramic views. After some picnic lunch including trail mix (which seems to be a popular US thing probably as it contains M&Ms) we headed down to the car. 

The Smoky Mountains were a pretty cool place and I would have liked to have spent more time doing the hiking trails and hunting for salamanders. We hit the road and headed back to Anne’s cabin to rendezvous with Paul before heading to Alabama for a caving conference.