RVentures with Doug and Chris: Smoky Blue Beauties: Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountain National Park

During our recent stays near Asheville, North Carolina and Knoxville, Tennessee, we were in the shadows of the smokey blue hues of the Appalachian Mountains ... our chance to explore the beauty of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Blue Ridge Parkway

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469 mile road that meanders along Appalachian ridges through Virginia and North Carolina. The Parkway provides spectacular views as well as easy access to diverse natural and cultural treasures along the way. From our "home" at Lake Powhatan Campground, it was an easy three mile ride to get on the Parkway. We spent a few days exploring the features along the Parkway both to the north and to the south of us.

From the guide that we picked up at the Visitor Center near Asheville, we saw that many trails, waterfalls, and historical sites are easily accessible from the Parkway. We hiked up Mount Pisgah, checked out a few waterfalls, and found ourselves at one point driving our car through the clouds. We enjoyed the feeling of being alone in nature as there was not the heavy car traffic that is usually found when exploring a national park.

Up, up into the clouds ...
Spring hadn't arrived this high up yet!

While we often found ourselves driving alongside
a high mountain ridge, sometimes we had to
drive through the mountains via tunnels like this one.

There are many places along the Parkway
where you can pull over to snap a picture,

... or park at a trailhead and hike
to a mountaintop or waterfall.

We were able to drive an hour north of Asheville to
Mount Mitchell which is the highest point
east of the Mississippi at 6684 feet above sea level.
Yes, our Rocky Mountain friends are probably not too impressed!

We found Sliding Rock,
a natural waterslide and mountain swimming hole,
during a side trip down into a river valley. While we
passed up the chance to slide into the 40 degree water,
we hear that it is a popular summertime activity.

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

We were close to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park during our next stop at Douglas Tailwater Campground in Sevierville, Tennessee. Located in both Tennessee and North Carolina, Great Smoky is the most visited national park in the United States. The towns of Pigeon Forge (home of Dollywood) and Gatlinburg are two "gateway" cities into the park. While it was relatively quiet the day we went, I could see by the large numbers of hotels, restaurants, and other tourist attractions in the area that they are prepared for huge throngs of summer visitors.

We stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center, hiked to see Laurel Falls, enjoyed a picnic lunch by Laurel Creek, and drove up to check out the views at the highest point in the park ... Clingmans Dome. A brief walk on the Appalachian Trail that runs through the park got Doug thinking about adding that to his "bucket" list. While we enjoyed our brief exploration of this national park, we can see how large numbers of visitors on the roads and trails could make it challenging at times.

Beautiful views as we hiked 1.5 miles up to Laurel Falls.

Budding laurel bushes and rhododendrons surrounded the
path and falls. It will be pretty spectacular when their
showy flowers bloom in late May and early June.

We followed the Little Pigeon River until the road
started climbing into the Smokys.

After parking at Clingmans Dome Visitor Center,
it was another 1/2 mile steep hike up to the observation tower.

Magnificent views were our great reward after the hike up.

We saw a number of Appalachian Trail hikers
in the area and decided to check the trail out ...
we would definitely need to train up this kind of RVenture!

We came upon a traffic jam on the way down that was
the result of bears being spotted on the side of the road.
Can you see "Smokey the Bear"?

Reflections of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

It is always a gift to be able to visit the beautiful national parks during our travels. I am glad, however, that "visiting every national park" is not on our bucket list. We are discovering that some of the "lesser known" National Park Service areas as well as state, county, and city parks are often the greater treasure. The scenery was just as magnificent along the Blue Ridge Parkway, but the roads, trails and sights were much less crowded than in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It reaffirmed to us that wherever we travel, the beauty of nature abounds.