Cades Cove

Of course it kept right on raining. I decided to sleep in since I had a slow day planned. There was a break in the clouds and I got to organize my car but it started up again so I sat on my cot and read a book. Finally around 11 it cleared up so I decided to head out. The loop road is only 11 miles long but it took me 6 hours to do it all. This is the 75th anniversary of Great Smoky Mountain National Park and when they established it in 1934, many people still lived here. They eventually all died off or sold off the land to the park service and Cades Cove preserves several old homesteads and churches. When I drove in traffic was stopped taking pictures of turkeys, majestic beasts that they are. At the first site I went to there was a bear cub in a tree. Of course, everyone there runs over to the base of the tree while you can hear the cub bawling and I am the only one left on the porch with the ranger. I was having flashbacks to the Tarryall disaster where all of us spent a morning treeing a cub up and down various trees and letting the dogs after it before mama bear came to the rescue. I am now more mature and cautious of wildlife. I then went to various churches. They had a Methodist church and 2 Baptists because they apparently had split over their feelings about the Civil War. They all varied in architecture and all had cemetery's out back. One was from a guy that served in the Revolutionary War. The saddest one was a headstone of twin girls who had died at birth. Some graves were from as recent as 2008. I think you have to have a tie to that place before you can be buried there. What really angered me was all the graffiti in the churches. None of it was vulgar but to write on the church walls is really tasteless.


I decided to do a hike to Abrams Falls. I started from another cabin so it ended up being 7 miles round trip. It was a nice hike even though the trail was pretty wet. The falls weren't very tall but they were powerful. I walked up to the base to get a picture. There was a sign saying "danger 4 people have died here!". They don't mess around. I ended up hiking behind this family half the way out and I caught up to them again halfway back and they would not move over! I was behind the slow dad and I was practically kicking his heels and he just kept going. That annoyed me. I was walking back to my car when these three hiker Nazis came up to me an warned me of a bear up the trail. They said they had turned around. I kept walking past them and they turned around with their mouths open like they couldn't believe that I would go on in the face of such danger.

About 5 minutes later I heard a noise up on the hill and I look and there's a bear up there. I started digging around in my bag for bear spray just in case even though she was the size of Max (well maybe a bit bigger). She continued on up the slope so I moved down the trail and when I had passed I turned around and she came back down and then 2 cubs followed her! It was so cool. I went to the visitor's center next and they had an operating grist mill. I finished out the road by stopping by a few more old homesteads. I was at a barn and a guy gets out of his car and walks over with his camera and says "what is it?" all excited like. I said "another old barn". I cannot believe the ignorance of some people. I am so grateful to have grown up in the country. Granted it's not as rural as some places I've been to but at least I was exposed to a different way of life than many people. I can't imagine going to a park and stopping in the middle of the road, getting out and stalking a white tail deer or a turkey through the woods to take a picture! They're for eating not looking at! What's sad is that the parents are ignorant and don't bother trying to educate their kids and read the signs that are provided to help you learn. Enough time on my soapbox though...
I ended up sitting in the porch of the last cabin on the road while everyone else drove on by. I was sitting there contemplating my trip when I heard a noise and there was a deer walking in front of me. I thought it was going to walk right in the cabin but it kept on going. It was very peaceful. I also ran into a major traffic jam because a bear was in a tree eating cherries. They had 3 rangers waving traffic on by! Craziness! As soon as I got back it started raining. I spent the night at a hoedown. The ranger puts on a program and they play the guitar, fiddle, dulcimer and banjo. They give the audience spoons, washboards and shake sticks so everyone plays around. It was pretty cool. When I was sitting outside my tent later in a mama deer and her three fawns walked through the campground. I've never seen so much wildlife in a park before. It was amazing even though I still want to see a grizzly and a moose. Not round these parts though.