Friday, September 30, 2011
Cheri Sept-29-11
10:23 AM | 
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
10am seems to be the magic time for us to be ready for our day’s journey.
It was only 67 degrees when we left this morning. We were headed for the entrance of the Smoky Mountain National Park. Our destination, Clingmans Dome, is known as the “Top Of Old Smoky”. This mountain reaches 6,643 ft above sea level, the highest mountain in the Great Smokies. We stopped to put on more clothes, as the further we went up the mountain the cooler it got.
The colors are beginning to change here in the mountain. They say color should be at its peak within a week or two. Maybe we will get to see that.
When we reached the peak it was 45 degrees. It was still ½ mile walk from the parking lot to the observation tower. On a clear day the tower provides a 360 degree view, but we weren’t that lucky. The ridges were covered in fog. The distance we could see was very limited. We made the decision to hike up regardless of this terrible weather. It was a steep climb. I had to stop often; I was really huffing & puffing. The trail to the summit is paved, but steep, gaining 330 ft in elevation in a half mile. When we reached the top, we still had to walk the circular walkway to the top of the observation tower. During good weather the view from the tower encompasses a seemingly endless sea of mountain ridges and valleys. All we saw was fog. At least we can say we’ve been here. The temperature was a chilly 35 degrees. There were a couple of guys setting up their antenna for a ham radio broadcast. Hope they were able to complete that. The walk back down was so much easier, thank goodness!
We decided to head down the other side of the mountain into Cherokee, N.C. It was only about 20 miles. Coming down from the Dome we spotted 2 black bears coming up out of the ditch. I managed to get a picture of them. WOW!
It was cold riding, but warmed up as we came down off the mountain. We spotted a sign for the Mingus Mill. It was an old flour mill. We checked out the flume and inside of the mill. They had flour for sale that they had ground right there at the mill. We finally figured out we had been there some 20 years ago when we were in the Smokies with the Gold Wing. We had one more animal sighting, a wild turkey.
We arrived in Cherokee around 1:30pm. We found a place for lunch and looked around in the shops. One shop had a flour mill in operation and was neat seeing it work.
We also checked out the Mountain Farm Museum. It is part of an effort to preserve some of the cultural heritage of the Smokies. The buildings dated from the late 1800’s and were moved from their original locations throughout the Smokies to this site to create an open-air museum. These structures offer a glimpse into the past.
The farm house was built in 1899. It took 2 years to complete. There was a woodshed, meat house, chicken house, apple house, cane mill and molasses shed, corn crib, barn, blacksmith’s shop & springhouse. They were well maintained and neat to explore.
We decided it was time to head back over the mountain. Not too far up the road we spotted another wild turkey and then a small bear started out into the road and got scared, turned around and scampered up a tree. What a picture that would have made but again I was not fast enough to get that picture. Gay has decided when we get back up on top of the mountain he wants to take that 7 mile road back up to Clingmans Dome. The weather has cleared and he wants to hike up to the observation tower and get those great panoramic pictures. I said “I can’t climb that trail again”. He started off up the trail and I checked out the gift shop. He was back in no time and happy he made the trip again.
It was time to think about heading for Pigeon Forge. Before we dropped to far down the mountain, we spotted another bear. He ran across the rod in front of us. No time for pictures. These bears are QUICK! We saw 4 bears and 2 turkeys, not a bad day.
It was 6:30pm when we arrived back at the 5th wheel, 119 beautiful miles.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Clingmans Dome.
For pictures of Clingmans Dome by other people click on this link http://www.google.com/search?q=clingmans+dome&hl=en&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS330US330&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5c-FTtiBG8y2tgeYu8w-&ved=0CEUQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=685
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