Laurel Falls hike Day 4

 

A quick ... but beautiful hike before we say goodbye to the Great Smokey Mountains. 

Clingman's Dome - Day 3

Clingman's Dome - the highest point within the Great Smokey Mountains, highest in the state of Tennessee and the highest point along the 2192 mile Appalachian Trail at 6643feet. We drove up and then hiked the half mile to the observation deck.  It had snowed there on Monday ... we went up on Wednesday. The views along the drive and from the top were AMAZING.

 

Smoky Mountains Day 1 and 2

 

Cades Cove Loop drive ... 11 mile one way loop of bumper to bumper looking at the mountains !?!

Took time out from the drive to hike to this beautiful waterfall.

Wildlife sightings along the drive and hike.

Crazy "wildlife" in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. We only spent a rainy afternoon in town. WAY too touristy for us. 

Update October 20th

 We are a month into this adventure. It is everything we hoped for and more. We are having an amazing time. There are challenges don't get me wrong. Laundry for one. We learned laundromats are expensive.  We have found that many campgrounds have laundry rooms and we have learned to take advantage of the cheaper prices at the campground. We do laundry when we have access to cheap laundry facilities.  

We have also learned to grocery shop more frequently and get just what we need for the next few days. No storage for extras!  Sadly Walmart has been our go to one stop shopping. Dave dropped me off at a local Target today to detox !! 

Internet is an ongoing issue. We have been using our phones as hotspots when we have good signal or finding "free" internet when we have no good cell signal. Free usually means a couple of beers and a snack ... negating the free. 

Changing up plans has it's challenges as well. It's not always easy to find campgrounds last minute. We have gotten creative and done some boondocking to fill in the gaps. 

We have met some amazing people along the way and learned a lot from some other full timers. Glad to be on this adventure together. 

We hope you all are enjoying the posts. Let us know 😊

Rock City - October 12th

Dave thought I was crazy when I told him I wanted to go to Rock City. He thought paying $28 each to see "a bunch of rocks" was stupid. Boy was he wrong. It was absolutely amazing. And when you read the story behind this place it is even more amazing.  A must see if you go to Chattanooga. I know there are a lot of pictures ... but I took twice as many as I posted.

seerockcity.com

 

An insane long swing bridge.

A view from the top of Lookout Mountain. Chattanooga below.

1000 Ton Balanced Rock

From the top you can see 7 states.