Jon Russell: Smokey Mtn Nat'l Forrest

This past weekend Susan and I got away for our 12th anniversary. The trip was planned at the absolute last minute, but worked out really well. We stayed in a cabin outside of Gatlinburg TN, and spent all of our time in the National park.

The objective of our trip was hiking, and I think we overshot our target. After arriving Friday afternoon, we spent a total of 30 minutes in Gatlinburg and decided we had seen enough. We immediately took to the trails for a warm up hike, and Susan had developed blisters within the first 1/2 mile. After much berating from me, we turned around short of our goal and found ourselves back in town shopping for more suitable footwear.

Saturday was a hybrid of road and trail scenery to include 3 major destinations within the park:

Sat am - Cades Cove. Scenic 30 mile drive through the mountains along the river to a pasture that contained a historic preserved community. I might have found this more charming if it weren't for the absolute traffic gridlock along the 15 mile one way loop of the area.

From there it was onto Clingmans Dome, the highest peak in the park at 6,643, with a half mile walk to the top and tower structure to afford beautiful 360 degree views. Unfortunately, we arrived in perfect unison with a weather front, allowing for 50' visibility.

The afternoon was spent on Chimney tops, a five mile 1,700ft ascent to a ridge line with a very dramatic final 300' to the top, that neither Susan nor I had the courage to summit.

Sunday, against Susan's better judgement, we committed to the most aggressive trail we could find on the map, a 12 mile loop including Alum Cave Bluffs and Mount Le Conte. The trail was a 2,400 ft climb with several scenic views and rock formations along the way. The hike took us over seven hours round trip.

We stayed on top long enough to take in the view and snap a few anniversary day photos. Once back in town, we had just enough energy for an anniversary dinner, before an early retirement in preparation for the drive home early the following morning.

Overall it was a great trip, we really enjoyed the area, and I was encouraged to find a way to bring back the clan and take in the full spectrum of tourist attractions, and find a way to bring the Sport thou along for a spirited ride through deals gap.

Final thought, it's great to get down to the deep south now and then to bring perspective back to your own life.

The 'Susan with a river behind her' shot.

Clingmans Dome, in the smoke..

Chimney Tops. What this photo fails to depict is the 2,000 sheer drop on each side of the final 300' climb to the summit. We both came a couple feet short.

Walking..