Yesterday we found out one of the reasons the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is popular, besides its extreme beauty and miles of roads and hiking trail trails. Gatlinburg is at the entrance of the park. Gatlinburg is a South Lake Tahoe on steroids or a smaller version of Las Vegas. Lots of big hotels, restaurants, stores, Ripley’s believe it or not museums, a tram to the mountain top,and hundreds of people.

We are in Cade’s Cove campground, which is very nice. A “cove” is a flat space between mountains or ridges. Cade’s Cove was home to about 125 families in the mid 1800s and there are houses, churches, and farms from that period. We, plus many other cars, drove the Cade’s Cove loop today to see the historic sites. Much of it was slow bumper-to-bumper going. We felt like we were on Disney’s Jungle Cruise ride, but the slow pace allowed us to enjoy and appreciate the park’s beauty. 

Mr. “I have to drive remote, obscure roads” Reilly had us on a bumpy dirt road through the forest. No traffic 😂 and the fall colors were spectacular.

The weather has been a combination of bright, clear, skies, some rain, and very cold mornings. We have been surprised by the number of people in the campgrounds in mid October with many in tents. The national park campgrounds are usually totally full with the state and county campgrounds fairly full. Lots of retirees, but also some families and younger couples. In a few campgrounds, we did have last minute reservations but other times we just showed up and we were able to get a campsite first come first serve.