Get out of your car!

My wife and I just got back from a trip out west where we visited Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and several other spots in the northern Rockies.

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

Spectacular views.  Everywhere.  Incredible hiking trails.  Waterfalls and bald eagles and majestic, snow-capped peaks.  We were in awe.  I took a bunch of photographs but they can't begin to reveal the beauty.

But you know what?  We have a lot of spectacular beauty in our back door.  We just don't take advantage of all that is to be found around here.

I love the Smokies.  I love the rolling foothills and the mountain views.  I love the backcountry trails and the high country balds.  Most of all I love the streams and creeks that lace these woods in our backyard.

Winter, spring, summer, and fall...I love it all year. 

And then there is Cades Cove.  Easily one of the most beautiful places on earth.  I can only imagine what it looked like as a bustling community.  Oh to have grown up there, with the mountains in your back door.  Unfortunately, I avoid it because of the crowds.  But more on that later.

When I built my house, I first found a piece of land high on a ridge with property that would not allow anyone to build between me and the view of my mountains.  And then when I placed my house on that lot, I put it at an odd angle to the road just to take advantage of that same view. 

Oh I know that the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited park in the country.  By a pretty significant margin.  Unfortunately, most people never stray from their vehicles.

Take Cades Cove for example.  I find it insanely frustrating when someone thinks they have spotted a critter of some kind.  They just might stop in the middle of the road and hop out of their car to get a closer look.  I call it "Cades-Coveing" and it is frustrating beyond description.  They do it out west too.

Folks, if you get even a bit off the beaten path, there are beautiful places to visit everywhere.

I think half the adults in east Tennessee have visited Bald River Falls above Tellico Plains (and most of those have had their photo taken standing on the bridge with the falls in the background). An intrepid few might have made the steep climb up to the top of the falls. 

Most stop there.  They are REALLY missing out.  If you will just follow the trail that leaves out of the back of the area at the top of the falls, you will find a grand trail and a gorgeous river with multiple waterfalls.

Same thing at Tremont.  Most will take the trail at the end of the gravel road and head up to the Lower Lynn Camp Falls.  But go further and you will see some of the best of the Smokies, from gorgeous wildflowers to evidence of an old settlement (including the carcass of an old car) and then finally to the hidden gem that is Indian Flats Falls.

All it takes is a little effort and the willingness to go where the crowds are not to be found.  And get out of your car.