The road trip from New York to Tennessee - Day6 @ Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Our last day in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and we only have half day before we headed to Kentucky. Somehow we still manage to squeeze in just one more trail to hike, Grotto Falls which is also a loop road and have many points of interest to visit

view along the way to Grotto Falls trailhead

parking is really limited here too but we were early

the trail was alittle muddy from the rain last night

and there are lots of salamander near the falls....they are small but not difficult to spot if you look really hard

the Grotto Falls

Honey Adaric Mushroom, can be found from August through October, and we were there in late August early September. i was told they glow with yellow, green or bluish light. Would be cool to see them glow at night

some primitive shelter along the loop road

we managed to spot a black bear family here......i though i caught it in my gopro....but it was too far away( boy i was pissed should have filmed it with my smartphone at least i can zoom in)..... but i saw it with my own eyes and it's was an amazing experience.....although I've seen black bear before in Grand Teton National Park, in Wyoming.

Seeing the black bear family (mama bear with 3 of  her cubs enjoying their breakfast) was a very special experience. Great Smoky Mountains certainly make an impression on me.

Best thing it's a FREE National Park!!

as we were leaving it started to rain heavily....so lucky!

we then headed to Kentucky

by the time we reached our hotel in town just outside of Mammoth Cave National Park. 

Guess what we had for dinner??? Kentucky Fried Chicken.....couldn't resist as it's the birth place. But unfortunately we were disappointed.....it's not good. Oh well we gave it a shot i do prefer Popeye better

next day we are visiting Mammoth Cave

~ to be continue ~

The road trip from New York to Tennessee - Day5 @ Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Another day at the Great Smoky Mountains. Day 5 we were going to explore the western side of the national park, To the Cades Cove Loop road. it was a rather long distance about 1-2 hours drive one way. The drive was nice and we had a few stop over along the way

beautiful creek

there is a nice short trail, Laurel Falls trail. We were told to get there early as parking was limited and it's a popular trail. we were lucky to find one right away though the parking area was almost full

the 1.3 miles trail was paved, and easy walk

Laurel Falls

and we reached the Cades Cove Loop road

luckily we have the whole day here....this 5 miles hike took us about 4 hours

very nice trail

i even saw a small snake, not a fan

there was a section of the trail where it's really rocky and uphill but just a small part,

that was the only strenuous part

the rest was easy walk

Abrams Falls

rest and had some nutrient bar(which was our lunch for the day) before we hike back

a good place to meditate

continue our loop...visiting some primitive back country shelters

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it's was a very relaxing day for us...doing a few hikes and just enjoy the lushes green around us truly a great way to stretch after a long drive the day before. Though the weather was cloudy and gloomy the whole day but we were fortunate at least it was not raining.

After a day of exploring the Smokies and had only nutrient bars, time to find food. We headed back to Gatlinburg and went to a nice restaurant, Cheerokee Grill and Steakhouse and the food was nice...totally recommend this place for dinner

we then spend the rest of the night just strolling along the main street.

the next day we checked out and spend half day in the national park before driving 5 hours to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky

~ to be continue ~

The road trip from New York to Tennessee - Day4 @ Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Day4

Early morning it was pouring like crazy. After checking out from our hotel at Staunton we headed to Great Smoky Mountains NP. It was supposed to be a appox. 5 hours drive turn to a 7 hours drive as it was raining heavily for almost the 1st 5 hours of our journey. We also had to cancel our short stop over at Natural Bridge, in Virginia which was on the way.

the only treat we have on the way was Bojangles hehe which was not so bad for a rainy day....oh yeah fried chicken

after 7 gruesome hours driving from Staunton - Great Smoky Mountains .... we made it! And the is no entrance fee...it's FREE!!! 1st stop Sugarlands Visitor Center. we only had few more hours left before it gets dark. The ranger suggested us to just drive to the nearby viewing points and overlooks as the weather was nice and the next day's forecast seem a little cloudy, which was a great idea. 

a world heritage site

the view along the way was beautiful

we went to Newfound Gap

next we visited the Clingmans Dome

best place to see the Great smoky Mountains. Absolutely breathtaking view

there is a steep half mile paved trail leads to Clingmans Dome tower, the highest point the in Smokies (6,643')

its a climb

we come a across the Appalachian trail(a very long trail from Maine-Georgia)

Clingmans Dome tower

from the tower one can see Tennessee and North Carolina

i think this is the Western View, Tennessee

it was really windy and a bit cloudy but i did managed to get awesome pictures

Eastern View, North Carolina

after enjoying the beautiful view we head back and checked in to our hotel located in Gatlinburg which is a little town from the north entrance to the Smokies.

plenty of restaurants and small shops and games for everyone in the family

more of Great Smoky Mountains NP

~ to be continue ~