Pigeon ForgeTN North Entrance to Smoky Mountains N.P

 

26Sep-5Oct

Technorati Tags: Smoky Mountains N.P,Pigeon Forge TN

Pigeon Forge TN

26 Sep-5 Oct

We drove with our two 5W from Whittier NC –South entrance Smoky Mountain N.P to Pigeon Forge TN at the North entrance of Smoky Mountains N.P using Hwy 441through the beautiful park, we even managed to park at the State cross line outlook point and take all the beautiful nature in for half an hour before continuing to the information center and the C.G.

The C.G is a small nice place with full hook ups, WiFi and cable TV close to the main drag in Pigeon Forge (20 $ for P.A members).

Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are nice small towns with many restaurants, rides and hotels, but the main thing is being close the North entrance to Smoky Mountain N.P.

Our Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) this year is on 28 Sep, so we headed downtown to get some groceries for the evening traditional dinner, while the girls were preparing it we the boys did all king of work on the toys just not to get in their way.

The next day we drove to Little River Road in the park and hiked 2.5 miles to Laurel falls, it was a nice popular easy hike, it was unusual for us to see as many people on this trek-there is still hope…

After we had our picnic we spent 3 hours wondering through the nice, colourful and interesting Gatlinburg town, it can easy be called a “tourist trap” –but it is a nice one.

You can spend endless time in the Smokie’s and not see it all, so we chose the highlights:

*Hiked 2.5 Miles round trip to Laurel Falls- recommended.

*Scenic drives in Cades Cove and hiked 5 Miles round trip to Abrams Falls, on the way back we saw a bear crossing the road and one on a tree having his dinner- Recommended.

*Saw 2 Musical shows, not the best….

*Took a day off for laundry, getting supplies, washing the toys and reading a book (an important day..)

*Hiked 5 miles round-trip to Grotto Falls, very beautiful, can walk behind the falls-recommended, after the hike we drove to Clingmans Dome the highest point in the park and it was snowing and very cold for the first time this season, the view was fantastic, white top trees could be seen together with green and red colors and the whole atmosphere felt like Xmas, we also saw a mama bear with 2 calves on trees feeding from the berries and getting ready for the winter, as we descended back to Pigeon Forge the temperatures bounced back to normal and all the “magic” disappeared.

*Hiked 8 Miles round trip to Ramsey Cascades-excellent trek all the way next to a river crossing it 3 times on bridges– very recommended.

*Dollywood-we never thought to go to Dollywood but-next to me was a 5W that had a slide problem, his kitchen slide did not go all the way inn, I pulled his kitchen draws out and guess what I found-I big torchlight that was laying between the slide and the wall that prevented the slide to go all the way, it seems that it was left there since the 5W left the factory-any how the 5W owner and his wife were working in Dollywood and gave us a free pass worth 120$ …..It is always good to GIVE it always pays ….

I cannot even start to describe the beauty of each hike and site, so take a look at the slideshow.