Pigeon Forge, TN

June 18, 2010

There were clues. The lady in the laundry, "Pigeon Forge is pretty congested." Finding Dollywood listed as things to do. Other than that, I thought we were headed to a sleepy Smoky Mt. park that gives great rates for Excapees members.

We learned the truth fairly quickly! For those who have not experienced Pigeon Forge, Parkway Blvd is the major street that escorts tourists off I-40 through Sevierville (Dolly's hometown), Pigeon Forge (Dollywood and its satellites), Gatlinburg (more tourists) to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (more tourists still). I feel somewhat hypocritical complaining about people who bear the same label as we do. After all, their license plates are mostly from points closer to Tennessee than Texas. But still! All of these people are routed on what appears to be the only throughway to get to such places as Ripley's, Ober Gatlinburg, country singer theaters, outlet malls, too many pancake houses to count, and the Smokeys. The Smokey's offer ziplining, rafting, tubing, climbing, biking, history and total beauty. The commercialism is really overwhelming, but did I mention the beauty?

Fortunately, we are on Highway 321 which offers a back way to the National Park. We took that yesterday through Wears Valley to tour the Cades Cove Loop. This is an 11m drive through the remains of a farming town founded in 1819, but was fairly played out 100 years later. The log cabins, mill, blacksmith shop, and churches offer a glimpse of why it is so nice to live in the 21st century. These folks were indeed hardy, but had a spectacular front seat in the mountains that tourists jockey for today.

Today we drove to Gatlinburg to ride the tram up a mountain then a chair lift further up to the top for a view of Mt. LeConte, Clingman's Dome, and the Newfound Gap that is the only hardtop road through the park. We assumed that the chair lifts were used for ski trails in winter and tried to find them. One of the workers said that the trails had to be closed because there were so many accidents. Current ski trails are not as high up. We enjoyed the views of mountains catching the clouds, giving the area its name. So we headed down for a trip to see the views up close.

We drove the winding road up, through tunnels, over creeks, around bends to arrive at the highest point on the road and the state line between Tennessee and North Carolina. From this overlook park you can hike to the Appalachian Trail, the mother of all mountain hikes. We got a kick out of walking along the crest of a mountain along a path so many have taken. One woman threatened to walk to Maine, entirely doable, but probably not by her, and certainly not by me!

We came home on Parkway, along with most of humanity, tired, but with a plan of attack of tomorrow's drive and hike.