Monday was a much sunnier day. It was time to do a bit of riding the motorcycles in the Smokies. The plan was to ride the Motor Nature Trail and then up US-321 to the Cosby Campground and back. We never made it to Cosby.
Finding the Motor Nature Trail was the first challenge as it doesn't actually start in the park. You have to ride to Gatlinburg, through a bit of traffic in town, up a side road and then you are on the trail...where the speed limit is 10 mph. It is a single narrow lane (one way) and there is a lot of traffic and the cars tend to just stop in the middle of the road to take pictures of nature (although there are lots of parking spots and turn-outs). Did I mention it was nearly nine miles?
While the scenery was great and the road would have been an interesting ride at a slightly higher speed than 10 (we might have averaged 5, if we were lucky), the actual ride was rather excruciating. By the time we got back onto a real road, it was nearly 2 pm and Ellen's hands were crying from all the clutching and braking. We headed back into the tourist maelstrom of Gatlinburg for a late lunch. After an unsuccessful stroll into town, we ended up at Bennett's BBQ right near where we had parked and had a couple of decent pulled-pork sandwiches for lunch.
Then it was back to Elkmont and an afternoon collapse.
Tuesday was much better. The day started sunny and cool and stayed sunny and pleasant all day. Our plan for the day was to ride up to Clingmans Dome and hike out to Andrews Bald, combining both a nice motorcycle ride and a good hike. The ride up to Newfound Gap and then up the Clingmans Dome Road was much more fun than the Motor Nature Trail and with a 35 mph speed limit, we just puttered along through the curves.
We had tried to go up to Clingmans Dome last May, when I was riding my new motorcycle home from Knoxville, but were stymied when the clouds blowing across the road turned into ice, covering the trees and the road. We turned back then, icy roads not being a favorite for motorcycles or Speedy. Today was just perfect, little wind, sunny skies and no traffic.
The Clingmans Dome parking lot was quite full when we arrived. The trail from the parking lot to the top is paved, only a half mile long and very popular. We packed away our cycling gear, put on our hiking boots and daypack and, after a quick stop in the visitor center, headed for the top of the dome with everyone else. There is an observation tower at the top which affords a panoramic view of the Smoky Mountains, which were quite smoky today. There was a lot of haze in the distance and a clear line of smog in the direction of Pigeon Forge and Knoxville, but you could still identify mountains over 50 miles away.
We also met a group of Appalachian Trail thru-hikers at the base of the tower. The dome is on the AT, as is the entire ridge of the Smoky Mountains through the park. These fellows had started out at Springer Mountain in Georgia a couple of weeks ago and were on their way to Maine on a mere six-month walk in the woods. They all were fit, cheerful and ready to charge on. Ellen has seen them at Baxter State Park in Maine at the end of trail, grim and straggling up the last peak, Mount Katahdin. We wished them well as we headed down our short section of the AT on the way to the Forney Ridge Trail and Andrews Bald.
It was an entirely different scene as walked away from Clingmans Dome. The people disappeared and it became quiet and peaceful. On the bypass connector trail from the AT to the Forney Ridge Trail, we saw only one other person. On the trail out to Andrews Bald, we saw another six or so hikers and there were about that many out at the bald.
The hike out was about 2 miles downhill then a half mile back up (we were staring at the highest point in the park, after all). Andrews Bald was a large open field at the top of a lower peak. It made for a great view and a warm and sunny lunch stop. After lunch it was about a half mile downhill and (you guessed it) a mile uphill (we weren't going all the way back up to Clingmans Dome, just to the parking lot).
Finally, It was back onto the motorcycles and downhill all the way to Sugarlands Visitor Center, through all those twists and turns in the other direction, and back to Elkmont.
Photos
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