GSMNP

Smoky Mountains

Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited national park in the United States. What? More so than Yellowstone or Yosemite? This surprised me until I considered its proximity to the population-dense East Coast. Its 800 square miles straddle the North Carolina/Tennessee state line, and the popular Blue Ridge Parkway connects it to the Shenandoah National Park. The park is extremely popular during peak foliage season, which is now–except that this is a dud year for foliage in this part of the US. Ah, well, there certainly are no guarantees.

absolutely perfect creek on the Alum Cave Trail

But not so, according to the woman from Pennsylvania whom I talked to in the park. She was quite upset that there wasn’t much color to capture in her camera. “My friends in Pennsylvania assured me this is peak season for foliage in the Smoky Mountains,” she lamented. “And there’s really nothing to see.” She regretted making the nine-hour drive when it was obviously not Peak Week. “But this is peak foliage week,” I told her. “It’s just not a peak foliage year.” She looked at me dubiously, and I wondered how she could live in Pennsylvania and not understand the relationship between a year’s weather and its fall foliage color. It’s not like the leaves don’t turn in PA.

below the arch

Despite the lack of color, we enjoyed seeing the Smokies–our first time. According to Wikipedia, the mountain range gets its name from organic compounds that are released from the conifers in the dense forests that cover 95% of the park. These chemicals have a high vapor pressure and naturally create smoky-looking vapors when released into the air.

through the eye and out the top of the arch

We hiked part of the Alum Cave Trail in the park. The first milestone was the arch naturally carved from the rock by wind and water. It’s 1.4 miles off Newfound Gap Road (US 441), the main thoroughfare that crosses the park from Cherokee, NC, to Gatlinburg, TN.

chubby little bird

Another mile along the trail was the Alum Cave Bluffs, with inspiring views of the mountains below us. There actually is no Alum Cave; the trail gets its name from the protective ledges that project from the bluff walls. The trail continues to Mount Le Conte, the second highest peak in the park. We opted out of the remaining 3.2 miles of strenuous, uphill scrambling and returned to the trailhead. Wise choice, as the sun was already starting to set.

victory cairns created by hikers who successfully return to the beginning of the trail

On our way out of the park, we were rewarded by an appearance of a park resident we were beginning to think was purely myth. Elk were reintroduced to the park in 2001, but despite our best efforts, we couldn’t find the herd. Three elk were grazing nonchalantly in a meadow next to the Visitor Center. They even performed a little rutting pas de deux for us. A planned performance for the tourists? I wonder….