Our Last Day in the Smokies

We spent today playing along the creeks in Tremont and then driving the Foothills Parkway.  We were trying for golden light on the streams at Tremont.  The hoped-for scenes never quite materialized.  Breland stopped to take photos of falls in the distance.  We were going along slowly and an irritated driver passed us, throwing up great clouds of dust.   The dust coated the sunbeams coming through the trees.  We pulled over and waited for cars to go through to raise even more dust as we took photo after photo.

The next stop was the Foothills Parkway.  Many of the trees along the Parkway had begun to show fall color and the driver was beautiful.

 Many photographs later we headed back to the motorhome to spend our last night in the Smokies watching the Saints beat the Packers.

Parsons Branch Road by way of Cades Cove and the Dragon

We woke up early this morning to drive Parson's Branch Road.  Parson's Branch is a one-way primitive road accessed from Cades Cove.  It has been dry for the last week and it didn't seem that it would be too much of a challenge for our little CRV.  Just in case we got stuck I stocked the car with lots of water and snacks.
The ride around the cove was non-eventful.  The sunlight was harsh by 8:30 a,m. and the crowds heavy.  We took a few photos and left the loop right beyond the visitors' center, traveling along the road to Parsons Branch.  We played with shooting starbursts and trying for a painterly effect with the foggy trees.

We encountered two other vehicles on the entire six mile route.  The heavily treed road was shaded for much of the way.  Trees were showing nice fall color but there were no vistas or good photo ops for most of the trip.  As we neared the end of the road the stream got larger and there were several good spots to photograph small waterfalls and pools.

While we were photographing the waterfalls we could hear the roar of motorcycles.  I kept looking fearfully over my shoulder as I stood on the narrow little bridge to photograph, sure they would come racing down the mountain and knock me off the bridge.  It wasn't until we drove a little farther that we realized we were near the end of the road where it would intersect with the Highway 129, the Dragon.  Hundreds of motorcycles careened around the curves of this fabled road.  Every possible pullover was taken up by photographers with tents, set up to photograph cars and motorcycles as they negotiated the steep curves.  Breland reminded me AGAIN about the time I took him over this road in the dark.

Playing in the Creek 10.24.2014

A Drive Over Rich Mountain Road 10.23.2014

Instead of circling the Cove this afternoon we took a detour over Rich Mountain Road, a well-maintained gravel road leading from the Cove to Townsend..  It's many twists and turns make for an interesting trip.  The fall colors seemed to be very near peak for most of the trip.

Bobcats, Elk and Shy Groundhogs

Today we took 441 over the mountains to Oconalufte to see the beautiful color one more time.  We were excited to see a bobcat and her kitten along the road in Wears Valley.  The color was quite a bit further along than our last trip, with many of the yellows already fading.  Overcast skies would have helped a bit but even with the bright light the fall foilage was breathtaking.  The elk were out at Oconalufte!  The dominant bull, a 6X6, stayed near the trees with his harem but the less fortunate bulls were nearer and in an open field.  We stood near a friendly ranger and were able to take some pretty decent photos.  The groundhogs were camera shy.  One popped up for a bit but as soon as we had the cameras out he disappeared.  A beautiful and thoroughly relaxing day.

A Day with Friends 10.19.2014

We spent today with friends touring Cades Cove.    Two loops around the Cove yielded only a single deer.  The air was crisp and clean and it was wonderful for Bre and me to spend this morning with these two great gentlemen.

After visiting the Cove we went to Buz and Elaine's house to watch the Saints game.  The company was great and the game was exciting, with a most disappointing ending.

A Crowded, Foggy Morning in Cades Cove 10.17.2014

We arrived at Cades Cove before 7:00  AM this morning, excited that the rains had ended and we could visit a place with many happy memories.  Unfortunately, hundreds of others had the same idea.  Even though the gates wouldn't open until the 7:45 sunrise approximately 50 cars were ahead of us in line and many more that that were behind us.  Once we were allowed beyond the gates, the fog was so thick that we pulled over to wait for it to clear a bit.  We went down Sparks Lane through that dense fog but did manage to see a couple of nice bucks.  The fog lifted around 10 and we drove in bumper to bumper traffic around the loop.  Here are a few photos from today.

A Trip over the Mountains October 15, 2015

The weather has been really dreadful and our drive to Townsend, Tennessee was in a driving rain.  It didn't let up when we arrived and rained throughout the day and night.  This morning was a bit better and we decided to make the drive over the mountains to Cherokee to see if the fall color was a bit farther along at higher elevations.  I was worried as we started along the Little River Road.  The trees were already showing so much color that I thought we might have missed the peak.  We stopped several times to take photos of waterfalls and the color along the roadways.  When we got to the overlook near Gatlinburg we could see the fog settled into the valleys and stopped to admire the view.  I got my binoculars out to identify the numerous birds in the area.

As we climbed into the mountains toward Chimney Tops the trees became more and more colorful.  On the descent toward Cherokee we stopped at almost every pullover.