Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: Great Smoky Mountain National Park and Murphy NC

October 31, 2021 – We closed another campground on Sunday as Mt. Pisgah was closing for the season. We had spent a week on the Parkway and were ready to get off. Also the stretch between Mt. Pisgah and Great Smoky Mountain N.P. looked to be higher elevations and more crooked. We opted to go back to Asheville and take I-40 north and west and enter Great Smoky through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. It added a few miles (131 miles vs 100 miles) onto the drive but was still only took about 3 hours. After stopping at the dump station near Sugarlands Visitor Center to top off our water tanks we arrived at Elkmont Campground.

We didn't do any hiking in Great Smoky for a couple of reasons. One is they do not allow dogs on most of the trails. Also there were so many people in the park so the trails were very busy and it was very cold and wet. We spent most of the time driving around both in the park and into Pigeon Forge. We stopped at a Tanger Outlet Mall and sampled and purchased some hard cider and Dennis purchased some new hiking boots at the Merrel store.

On Tuesday we visited Clingman's Dome. It was cool and windy but an awesome view. Tuesday evening we went to Dolly's Stampede Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge. We had great seats but it did not turn out well as Dennis had an allergic reaction to the horses in the show. Turned out to be miserable for both of us even though the show was great. Once we got back to the camper he had to stand outside to get fresh air in his lungs before he came to bed. On Wednesday we drove over to Cade's Cove to check out the campground and then drove part of the Cade's Cove loop. We left that part way thru and drove a single lane gravel road over the mountain to Townsend Tennessee.

After 4 days it was time to move on to our next stop, Murphy NC. Dennis' childhood friend Dan recently moved there with his friend Sally and we decided to stop for a visit. It was misting when we left the campground and we took 441 over to the east side of the park. At the higher elevations the mist changed to snow. Once out of the park we turned on highway 74 which took us right to Murphy. It was 95 miles and took about 2.5 hours.

We spent an enjoyable four days with Dan and Sally. One day we visited the Hiwassee Dam and Fields of the Wood. Fields of the Wood is a very interesting place. It is a religious park in Cherokee County NC and is best known for its 300 foot wide representation of the Ten Commandments. The letters are 5 feet high and 4 feet wide. There are other religious features including representation of The Garden Tomb, a baptismal pool and Prayer Mountain, featuring 29 monuments with quotations from the Bible. There is also an “All Nations Cross”.

Another day we drove to Hayesville to visit a outdoor museum of the Cherokee Culture. We saw replicas of several structures as well as information on their culture. In nearby Young Harris we visited the Memory Lane Car Museum. It opened in July of 2020 and is filled with Classic Cars and Motorcycles. We all had a great time looking at the old cars and picking out our favorite.

On our final day in Murphy we visited Brasstown Bald near Hiawassee Georgia. At 4,784 feet it is the highest point in Georgia. We arrived shortly after 1:00 and since it was a very beautiful day there was a line of cars waiting to get in. Once we got in we took the shuttle from the parking lot to the observation tower at the top. From there you can see 4 states, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia and on a clear day all the way to Atlanta. Dennis and I opted to walk the half mile trail down.

Mica spent the four days trying to figure out Dan and Sally's two cats, Lucy and Gracie. Mica is pretty aggressive and the cats did not appreciate that too much. She eventually got close to Lucy but Gracie didn't want anything to do with her.

Where we are parked: Elkmont Campground, Great Smoky Mountain National Park - Gatlinburg, TN - 220 sites, mid Mar-late Nov, All ages, Tents, 35 ft max RV length, 2150 ft elev, water, toilets

Where we are parked: Murphy, NC - we stayed 4 nights