Yeah, some more trip photos...
(I've been having problems loading photos off my External Hard Drive but I think I finally figured out the problem and yeehaw got Day 6 photos loaded)...It's really hard to choose which photos to post at I had over 600 photos from that day alone...To me this was one of the highlights of our trip...MOUNTAINS!! And the Smoky Mountains at that...
We drove into the North entrance taking Newfound Gap Road...
First stop was an overlook looking towards Mt. Le Conte Peak, 6,593 ft.
Above is the Peak on a clear day and below...
is what it looked like the day we were there, covered in clouds.
We stopped to check out the river that flows along the road...
Michael loved playing in the water
One of the tunnels we went through...
The views are spectacular...and it's GREEN!!
View from Newfound Gap and you can see the winding road (winding ribbon) below...By the way we crossed from Tennessee to North Carolina to visit Newfound Gap...
Checking out the area around Newfound Gap
WooHoo I am standing on the Appalachian trail...One of my dreams is to hike that trail!
Storm coming in...uh oh!
Michael and I had our rain jackets, thank goodness.
We then left Newfound Gap and drove to Clingmans Dome, we are driving in the clouds, cool! Clingmans Dome is the highest point in the Smokies, 6,643 ft.
Clouds were coming and going...
Clingmans Dome was covered in a thunderstorm. We went back to the jeep and waited out the storm. I couldn't believe all the people that continued to walk around in the lightning, not very bright.
Storm finally cleared out and we walked around for a bit to make sure the coast was clear before we got too far from the jeep. Of course I managed to find some wildflowers!
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Michael found a cave...
The views were breathtaking, sheesh!!
I wanted away from the crowds and it was crowded so we took a different trail...
He was loving the rocks
Storm clouds are clearing off from the peaks
Clover
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Gorgeous...
So glad we took this trail, few people, lots of wildflowers and beautiful views...
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Okay Michael which way now?
We decided to head towards the Appalachian trail of course...
And this was the trail...beautiful!
Lovely...and how am I going to get up here with the camera and 300mm lens?
Come on Mom...
and just to let y'all know yes I did wipe out on the trail and no I did not have my hiking boots on but my crocs, stupid me, valuable lesson learned, sigh!
The parking lot...I was so glad we got away from that crowd...
I love him and hope he'll do some more hiking with me later...
Fungi, cool...
and more...
and more...
We left there and headed back to Gatlinburg...
Oh how I love the Smoky Mountains...I don't want to leave!
Michael posing for me, lol.
We stopped and turned around and took our photo with the Park sign before leaving the park.
Ugh and back to downtown Gatlinburg, sheesh it was a mess!! I did manage to find an outfitter store on the outskirts of town and got myself fitted for a new pair of hiking boots that did NOT hurt my feet, woohoo!! They were so good and so patient with me and afterwards they let Michael climb their rock (fake) wall for free....The next day we leave the Smokies and head to Michigan. But don't worry I have plans to go back and do some hiking...
