We started our Middle States trip at Hot Springs National Park and ended it at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I always wondered why they called it the Smoky Mountains.
I wasn't sure how much we'd get to see at GSMNP as mostly what I wanted to do in eastern Tennessee was to see Gatlinburg, go to Dollywood, and enjoy time with the sibling-in-laws. But I did want to see a little bit of GSMNP and get a stamp in my National Parks passport!
I wasn't sure how or when we would get to the national park based on the other things we wanted to do. It gets a bit complicated, too, since they've imposed the parking pass that's required if you stop any place for more than 15 minutes, and there is limited parking at the Sugarlands Visitor Center and other sites within the national park. I had pretty much resigned myself to looking at it from afar and having to plan another trip where our focus was going through the National Park.
But as it turned out, I didn't have to do that! A few days before we were headed over, we were staying with DH's sister and brother-in-law, and our brother-in-law asked me which way we were going to Gatlinburg - staying on the interstate and dropping down, or getting off early and going through Townsend. I hadn't even considered an optional route, and what was so great about it is that it took us through part of the GSMNP. What I didn't realize was that it was also the way to Cade's Cove - so we missed getting to go see that. That was okay, though, because we were driving through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park! And since we were going to be going right by the Sugarlands Visitor Center, I could get my passport stamped and not have to make a separate trip back.
The drive through was beautiful. You can see the Smoky Mountains before you enter the park. We stopped at a corner where there were a couple of stores and some outdoor port-a-lets before heading on. We weren't sure how long it would take to get to the Sugarlands Visitor Center and had been warned that we might lose GPS signal. We also didn't know if there would be anywhere to stop for a restroom!
We stopped at one parking area for 14 minutes to stretch our legs and take some pictures by the river. It was overcast and humid so the pictures came out a bit muted. But it was still beautiful.
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We stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center as there were a few parking spaces open It was super busy, so we just got a few postcards and skedaddled. I kept saying to myself, "you knew it would be busy, you knew it would be busy!" For so much of our trip, we didn't have crowds of people, so it was a good reminder of how the next few days would be.
I did get my National Parks passport stamped.
One afternoon at the condo, my brother-in-law asked me which way we were going to leave to head down to Georgia. So we were looking at the map and it was only then that I realized Gatlinburg sits on the top edge of part of North Carolina. What?! Sure enough, driving through GSMNP, you go through North Carolina down to Georgia. So if you're counting with us, instead of visiting 17 states on our trip, we got to pick up a bonus #18 when we left through North Carolina.
We stopped at a few places on the day we left and got some nice pictures. What was also great about it is that the temperature dropped 20 degrees from when we left Gatlinburg to the top of the mountains! At one point the car thermometer showed 49 degrees. In June!! It reminded us of driving on the Talimena Scenic Drive in southeastern Oklahoma.
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When we got to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center just north of Cherokee, N.C., we stopped for a break. And there were hardly any people there, so we were able to actually look around at the exhibits and shop at the gift shop.
And there was a Smoky Mountain chicken. It was a nice end to our time at this national park.
~ Cindy D.
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