Smoky Mountains Continued

On the last day of our Smoky Mountain Getaway, I found myself in still a lot of pain from the previous days adventures.  Our intentions were to hike a couple shorter trails, but I knew that with the condition I was in, that there was no way that was happening.  So instead we referred to another area of the park map and decided to do a tour of the Mountains from the comfort of our car.

This took us to Clingmans Dome.  You drive for quite a while then simply park and hike on a paved one mile trail to the top of an observation tower.  Sounds simple enough..... but take a real close look at the description.  That final little word that sort of blends in and doesn't fully register..... STEEP.  And while we are at it, "moderate" in no way describes the difficulty.....  they need to change it to "near impossible"...... okay maybe I'm exaggerating, but I took more breaks on this one mile then I did on the other hike.  But the views from the top were worth the pain and return of my leg spasms.  They were very pretty.

Views of the Smokys at 6,643 feet.  Clingmans Dome is the highest point in Tennessee.

That face gets me every time.  LOVE him!

Next we drove down to another popular area of the park.  And that's were we stumbled upon this entrance to the Appalachian Trail.  

Anybody up for walking to Maine?

We walked the trail for about 10 minutes and then called it good.  

Then after a little snack we headed to our last little excursion, Cades Cove.  This was an 11 mile car loop that we had heard great things about.  

The scenery was great and the loop provided you with opportunities to get out and explore original old cabins and read the stories of the people that lived there.  It was really fascinating to walk in the cabin and see how they lived.

It was on this loop that we got to experience what, until now, had only been a rumor to us.  

 We saw BEARS!  Da "Real" Bears!

  A Mom and her cub just eating some dinner.

And then all of a sudden we stumbled across 4 more, a mom and her 3 cubs.  We were so up close and personal that I could have hugged one if I wanted.  Well, I did want, I just really know when it's appropriate to resist the urge.  They were moving a lot so the pictures are awful.  When they were crossing the street Chris was just steps away from them.  It was really cool.

After our awesome encounter we left the park and went back to prepare for our drive home the next day.  The trip was in no way a rest and relaxation trip.  But we knew that going into it.  We had a blast and it was nice just being able to get away.