Smoky Mountain National Park!
We had to go to the famous Smoky Mountain NP. We were there for a whole day and we did 3 out of 4 visitor centers in the park. The park was beautiful and it was like skyline drive in Shenandoah NP where you could pull off and see the beauty off the park, and it sure did not disappoint!
There was a hike up a massive hill to the top of the mountain where there was a lookout where you usually could see the whole park but our view was “Smoky”. It took 40 minutes to go anywhere in the park which was crazy! Driving back we saw an Elk it was the biggest elk I’ve ever seen and it was drinking in the river, and then it pooped ( Eli told me to put that in 😂). There was a ranger bear talk we had and the ranger was honestly so funny. He talked about how they put collars on baby elk to help them know where they are and monitor them. He also talked about how they trap bears causing trouble in campgrounds and picnic areas and then bring them to a far away location in the park.
We stayed in a campground in Gatlinburg, TN. By far the coolest part was seeing black bears in our campground! Mom, Eli and I were walking back to the camper and other campers alerted us to a momma and her 2 cubs walking down the creek eating the chestnuts. We followed at a good distance and watched! The babies wrested each other and played under our neighbors campground. I told my dad who was inside and he didn’t believe me! Boy was he surprised when he walked outside to see them!
Dollywood!
We took a day to go to Dollywood because it was so close to our campsite. I was excited to ride the world-class roller coasters at the park! I rode ThunderHead which was my favorite, I went 2 times at night and 2 times in daylight. I also rode Mystery Mine twice which was a hybrid indoor outdoor coaster where you went though the mine and after you climbed up the big hills you went straight up on a chain lift. And then it looks like there’s no track and drops you straight down into a corkscrew where you did a loop upside down! It was different but not my favorite! Next up was Big Bear Mountain and Dragonfly which were cool. Best part was that Eli did both! Big bear was the longest and it accelerated you with magnets. There were no intense hill but the acceleration was fast! Dragonfly was a hanging coaster where you “Hang” underneath the track. There was a big hill and it was the shortest at the park but still fun. I ranked the coasters: 4. Dragonfly- only because it was short. 3 – Mystery mine it was slow at some parts but it had a story to it. 2- Big Bear Mountain the longest and the acceleration was intense. 1 – the wooden coaster it had the biggest hills and it was sooo smooth and fast! The food at Dollywood was also amazing especially the cinnamon bread. They make it hot and fresh and it comes with icing that they make at the park. It was delicious and definitely a 10/10! Dinner was at Reds Drive-in which is a 50’s style gas station/ drive in. I got my standard -burger and fries. Which was delicious 🤤 probably a 9/10. Dollywood also had great shows. Mostly we were to busy riding rides but we did see a show about birds of pray. They had owls, bald eagles, hawks, and falcons. We learned about each of them. The bald eagle, named Challenger just retired. He was the first bald eagle to go to Hawaii! He went for the NFL pro bowl game. If you ever saw an eagle on TV at the beginning of NFL games, that was Challenger!
Dollywood was fun but we also had to try the mountain coasters. They were awesome and cool. There are lots of mountain coasters in the Smoky’s so after some research and talking to some people we met, we decided to do the longest one and we got to go twice. The coaster was nice, you went fast and went through a tunnel. I really liked it because you got great views of the Smoky’s!
Our last full day we set out to explore the last visitors center in the Smoky Mt. National Park. Unfortunately with the government shut down the visitors center was not open so we did not get our last set of stamps for the park. However, the road to Cades Cove was closed to cars but open for bikers and walkers. We biked the entire 11 miles and had the park almost to ourselves! It was a beautiful ride but the hills were a lot by the end. Best part was coming around a corner and seeing a black bear. We startled him a little bit and he hurried off the path!
Current Leg: 27 miles
Total Distance: 1,895 Miles