Thursday, October 6, 2016: Hiking Smoky Mountain National Park

I am up this morning before dawn to catch the sunrise over the Smoky's.  Too bad we couldn't have some clouds.
Today is hiking in the park.  We start off with breakfast at the Mountain House Cafe where your eggs come with either biscuits & gravy or grits.  B&G seemed like the obvious choice,
We chose the Chimney Top hiking trail in part for the panoramic views at the top and the moderate distance.  It is only 4 miles in length but gains 1748 feet in altitude.  This was a tough hike for me.  It starts out reasonably enough.
 It crosses the stream a few times on very nice bridges.
 And then the UP and the stairs begin.
 Beverly hiking up the trail.
This is a glimpse of the end of the trail.  The rocky outcropping in the left third of the picture is the summit.  It is the only bare summit in Smoky Mountain National Park.  It is also extremely steep and narrow.  It requires literally crawling on ones hands and knees and scrambling up the slope.  With a camera dangling around my neck, this is not an option for me.
 My consolation prize are very nice views of the surrounding mountain tops.

Following the hike, it is nap time back at the cabin.  We later head to downtown Gatlinburg, which we have been avoiding like the plague, for Beverly to go to a craft show at the convention center while I borrow the internet at Starbucks.  Alas, the internet at Starbucks is down but the beverage is still great.

On the way back we stop again at Wine a Little, the tapas and wine bar near us where is we chat with the owners who are now friends and use the internet to sync pictures.  Oh ... and to have a couple glasses of wine and tapas including homemade English trifle.  No picture.  Sorry.

The blog tonight is a little delayed due to a hot tub visit after arriving back at the cabin.

Tomorrow we head in the opposite direction of everybody fleeing Hurricane Matthew and drive south through the park to Asheville, NC (but still at the extreme western end of the state) for the next stage of the road trip.

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