Into the Great Wide Open
NP Roadtrip – Days 85 - 92 – Congaree, Lake Oconee, Great Smoky Mountains
We headed out of Charleston ready to explore our next two parks, Congaree and the Great Smoky Mountains. On the way out of town, though, we had the pleasure of driving next to a group of European car fanatics. We saw so many awesome classic cars and fancy new cars, and even gained a follower from the group! The drive to Congaree is fairly quick, a little less than 2 hours. But check your route, the BMW navi failed again and tried to take us on the south side of the park, where no road exists that lead to the visitor center!
Upon arriving, we were a bit annoyed when we pulled in the RV Parking Only lot and it was filled with regular cars. The lot was not regulated one bit and there were several huge RVs that were forced to park precariously on the side of the road leading to the visitor center. As we walked in from the lot, though, we did see a ranger who was headed out to the parking lot to try to direct traffic. In the park’s defense, it was a Saturday and they had a special event going on. My sole purpose in mentioning this, is to try to educate folks on how difficult it is to park even a small travel trailer like ours. If the sign says Bus and RV Parking Only, respect the sign! Our options are limited, in most cases.
Congaree National Park has just one visitor center. Many trails surround that visitor center and there are a few camping options as well, but none for RVs. We ended up just stopping by for an hour and a half, which I think is fairly common at this park. We walked the boardwalk nature trail, which is fantastic, and the only one where dogs are allowed. The trail winds its way through a marshland old growth hardwood forest, and somewhere lurking in there were snakes, birds, and too many insects to count. In fact, the visitor center has a Mosquito Meter (or what I refer to as the “skeeter meter”) that is promptly featured in the breezeway. The day we were there was a Mild level, but it goes all the way up to War Zone. I can’t even imagine what this must be like, because we were only there for an hour and a half and I was already bitten a few times.
After exploring Congaree as best we could, we headed to Lake Oconee, Georgia. One of my dear friends from San Diego moved there and it was sorta kinda on the way to the Great Smoky Mountains. We had originally planned on being there the week earlier, which put us staying in a hotel, because my friend’s house was full of guests for her one year old’s first birthday party. And the closest hotel is not just any dang hotel, it’s the Ritz Carlton. I was so looking forward to staying at the nice hotel, that even though we were delayed a week and could have stayed at her house, we ended up staying at the Ritz anyway. I’m really glad we did, too, because we caught some great live music after dinner at my friend’s and had some spectacular people watching in the lounge area before heading to bed. I slept like a baby, but let me just tell you about the hazards of living in a tiny trailer. I woke up really needing to go to the bathroom and had to lie there, eyes still closed, and think, “how FAR is the walk to the bathroom from where I am sleeping?” Then I remembered that I was enveloped in fancy Egyptian cotton sheets in a luxurious room at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and the bathroom was 10 steps from my bed. Heaven.
Our next park was Great Smoky Mountains, and our goal was to spend 2 days each in 3 distinct areas, thereby giving us a flavor of each so we get the full experience! We nearly went straight through to North Carolina, but made a u-turn in Commerce, Georgia as soon as we saw that the Coleman Outlet was having a tent sale! Sadly, we didn’t find any treasures, but it was fun to look. We arrived in Asheville in the late afternoon to rain and mud at the KOA West Asheville. We didn’t really want to deal with cooking outside and didn’t have any “inside” meals in the pantry ready to go, so we headed out to downtown Asheville to check it out. Asheville is known for their breweries and similarity to Portland, so we were excited to check a few breweries out. The first was Wicked Weed, which coincidentally just sold to Anheuser-Busch about a week after we were there. Despite the rain, we braved the semi-covered back patio so the dogs could join us for dinner. The fries were addictive, the rest of the food was good, but the beers weren’t really our style. We headed over to Bhramari Brewery right around the corner and these beers were up our alley. We met some folks who had traveled extensively in Maine, so they gave us some suggestions for that section of our trip. We LOVE meeting people on the road. The restaurant suggestions, tours, towns, routes, campgrounds, etc. are invaluable. Armed with some awesome information about Maine, we headed back to the campground where we had an extremely fitful night’s sleep with rain pelting our aluminum rooftop (video below). That was rough. I love our trailer, but I wish there was some kind of noise dampening we could do when it rains. Maybe I’ll try earplugs next time!
We packed a sandwich lunch in the morning and headed over to the Southeast part of the park. Cataloochee Drive is pretty incredible, even in the pouring rain. The Cataloochee Valley area was home to many families (about 1250 people called it home), so there are very well preserved homes, barns, a school, and churches that you can go in and explore. It’s very remote, so you won’t run into a lot of others on your adventures. Also, if you are willing to brave a pretty hairy gravel road with lots of elevation changes, there is an absolutely fantastic campground at Cataloochee. Primitive, but so private and quiet. We also loved a lot of the street names on the way out of Cataloochee. Here are just a few to whet your appetite: Tater Patch Way, Hoot n Holler Way, and Pig Pen Hollow Road.
After leaving Cataloochee, we took the Blue Ridge Parkway to Oconaluftee Visitor Center and walked the river trail, as it’s one of only two trails you can do with dogs in the entire park. This is a beautiful visitor center and one that is not to be missed. It’s also the gateway to Blue Ridge Parkway, a National Parkway, which we (and by we I mean G) drove all the way back to Asheville. Honestly, this was sort of a waste, because it’s very time consuming, and the weather and fog was so horrible that you had to drive well below the speed limit, and you couldn’t even see anything. Like, at all. It’s really hard to do, but sometimes you have to get out of your own head to realize some decisions are just bad. Just because we wanted to get our National Park Passport Stamp, and wanted to see another park service site, we took a route that was at least 3 hours longer due to the weather. Oh well. It was a lesson learned, and one I will try to remind myself when faced with that situation again.
After braving Blue Ridge Parkway in the fog, we went to one last brewery in Asheville, Highland Brewing Co. G deserved this reward after all that driving. It’s located in a huge building that used to house a movie studio. Pretty cool! Their beers were awesome, but the owner doesn’t allow growler fills because he doesn’t want people to experience their beer for the first time 5 days after it’s been poured. I get it, but also, I don’t like it. We have limited amounts of space and growlers work really well for us. It’s a little bit of a bummer that this option wasn’t available. As we were leaving, I found out that the owner was at the bar while we were there. I recognized him from the newspaper clippings posted in the lobby. Had G known, I know he would have tried to talk to him and convince him to allow a growler pour. Haha.
We left Highland wanting to try some North Carolina bbq. One of my favorite chefs in Portland is Maya Lovelace of Mae. She is from North Carolina and hosts the best dang Southern pop up dinners about a mile from our house. I stalked her Instagram because I remembered she had been to Asheville on one of her posted vacations. She raved about a place called Buxton Hall BBQ, so that’s where we went. We basically told our awesome waiter what we liked and said “fill our table with good things”. In all, we had hushpuppies, smoked fried chicken, 50/50 bbq hash and NC bbq pork, ribs, and banana pudding pie with homemade nilla wafers. The absolute winner of this meal was the ribs. They were the best damn ribs I’ve ever had. Sorry G. But these were absolutely amazing. They were tender, but had bite. They were salty and sweet, yet still spicy and sour. They were awesome. Go there. Or be square.
Before leaving the Asheville KOA in the morning, we made lox and bagel for breakfast. I don’t know why I haven’t thought of this for a trailer breakfast before. So easy, so filling, and so yummy. The next time, though, I’ll quick pickle the red onions on the top. This takes the bite away, without sacrificing crunch, and a 5 minute vinegar bath will do the trick. We had wanted to get out of camp really early, because we had a doomsday explorer tell us we were going to have trouble securing a first come-first served spot in Cades Cove. However, my phone must have died and the alarm didn’t go off, so we didn’t get out of there until nearly 9:30 am. We hate stressing about finding a campsite. We had such a hard time last summer and don’t ever want to be in that predicament again. We got to Cades Cove and literally had our pick of the litter. It wasn’t empty, but it was nowhere near full, or even half full. We found the perfect spot in loop C. Spaces here are large, have a paved pad, and offer large shade trees.
Right away, we decided to drive the famous Cades Cove Loop so we could scope it out for our next day bike ride. First off, the weather was perfect. Everything is blooming, the leaves on the trees were new and fresh and bright green. There are dogwoods in bloom literally every direction you look. And we got a BIG bonus, we SAW A BEAR!!! Finally, we saw wildlife, in the wild. And we also saw this amazing getup (pic below). I don’t think she was in danger of getting attacked, seeing as how there were about 100 people pulled off to the side of the road, AND the bear was about 100 yards away, but let’s not tell her that. We made it home in time to make chili and cornbread for dinner and chat with a few of our neighbors.
The day has come. Today we are riding our bikes around the much anticipated Cades Cove Loop. It’s 12.2 miles (really 11, but our ride clocked out at 12.2) of ups and downs, beautiful scenery, and some wildlife for good measure. The only thing I didn’t like about Cades Cove Loop, were the cars. During the summer they actually close the road to cars on Wednesdays, but we were there too early for that. It’s very difficult to get your momentum going, then stop because a car has come to a complete stop on an uphill directly in front of you. Not going to lie, this was a hard trail for us. But we made it, we got the patch, and then we got back in the car at the campground to do the loop again. We wanted to try to see some more wildlife and clock our exact mileage. I am so glad we went again, because we saw a momma bear and 2 cubs as well as a woodpecker and plenty of deer. Oh, and butterflies. Tons and tons of butterflies. We also got to see a photographer get escorted out of a field by two park rangers for getting too close to wildlife. I know I’ve said this before, but respect the wild, don’t get close to wildlife people!
We headed back to camp and laid in our hammocks for about an hour, relaxing and resting our legs. We played a little Yahtzee and made stuffed peppers for dinner. Chili and cornbread and taco stuffed peppers are our go to boondocking dinners when the weather is good. We had absolutely fabulous weather while we were staying at Cades Cove, which made us wholly unprepared for the overnight wind and horrific thunder and lightning storm the following morning. Wow! We are very lucky G put away our outdoor furniture and stove away the night before or else they would have been soaked or blown away by morning. You could hear the wind howling, coming from miles away, through the trees, and then rush right over us. Kind of like a freight train coming near in the middle of the night. Then in the morning, you literally could not be outside for a half second without being drenched by the rain. This is, by far, the worst storm we’ve had while camping and we are grateful our little trailer performed like a champ! We hustled out of there as soon as we packed everything up and made our way to Pigeon Forge.
Due to the weather, we skipped making breakfast at the trailer, so we were on the hunt for a place to eat. How do I describe Pigeon Forge? So many words come to mind. So. Many. Haha. There are more pancake houses, old time photos, miniature golf, themed buildings, and roller coasters in 3 square miles than I’ve ever seen anywhere. Ever. I’m not really a breakfast food fan, so we steered clear of the pancake houses. I used Yelp and the only place that looked like we could park a trailer and that had something other than pancakes and eggs was Paula Deen’s. Yes, we went there. The lady has had a rough time of things in the past few years and has received a lot of bad press, but her restaurant is clean and beautiful and the service friendly and quick. I could not find one complaint, except that it wasn’t even remotely trying to be healthy. And it was WAY too much food for two people, even though the waitress swore it wasn’t a lot of food. It’s basically a set price meal where you pick from a list of meats, a few sides, and entrees, and they plop a cinnamon roll on your table with some O.J. before delivering any food. Very strange experience, but the food was decent and beggars can’t be choosers. Also, the Lady herself was going to be in town later that afternoon for 2 days for a book signing. So she actually GOES to her own restaurant. Props for Paula.
A round of applause for the Black Pepper Bacon!
After breakfast, we brought the trailer over to Riveredge RV Park, which is the closest Pigeon Forge campground to the national park. We were boondocking in Cades Cove and were going to boondock in our friend’s driveway the following 2 nights, so full hookups were the only reason we chose to stay in Pigeon Forge. Since the rain was coming down so hard, we opted not to venture into the park and instead made plans to have some fun indoors. I have always wanted to do one of those Escape Rooms, and there happened to be one in Pigeon Forge. By the way, if you are looking for something (anything) to do, you can probably find it in Pigeon Forge! The Escape Game is basically a room that hides all sorts of hidden clues. One clue leads to the next, which leads to the next. Ultimately, your goal is to get to the last clue which gives you the code to exit the room. Sadly, we failed in our first effort. We had 2 clues left before the 60 minute timer ran out. But we had so much fun doing it, so it didn’t matter. We headed over to Margaritaville, in the same complex, to grab a snack and a “lick your wounds” cocktail. They play Buffet videos of him doing crazy things all around the world. One of the videos shows him flying a sea plane from the Keys looking at ship wrecks and reefs. Sound familiar? G looked at me and said, “isn’t it crazy that we look at these things & we’ve actually BEEN there?” And it is just crazy that we are having such a blast on this adventure. Even after all these months, it still doesn’t seem real.
The following day the weather had cleared up enough for us to venture back into the park for the last time. We made a quick stop at the Gatlinburg Starbucks. Word to the wise – go to the one in Pigeon Forge with free parking. The parking lot behind the Gatlinburg Starbucks is $8 a day, which is great, but not if you just need to hop in for a coffee. $7.00 for 2 drinks turned into a $15 bill really quick!
We then made a stop at the Sugarlands Visitor Center. I’m not sure if it was because it was a Friday, but that place was a zoo. There was a line 10 people deep in the gift shop. It is a beautiful visitor center though, and very convenient to explore the north-central part of the park. We then headed to Clingman’s Dome and hiked up to the observation tower. It’s only a mile roundtrip, but goes at a fairly steady elevation up. The view at the top is worth the trek, though. Clingman’s Dome is the largest mountain in the Smokies and in Tennessee, for that matter. The observation tower offers a 360 degree view of the surrounding areas and it is absolutely stunning. AND, you get to pretend that you hiked the Appalachian Trail, because the last few meters of the Clingman’s Dome trail is actually ON the Appalachian Trail. So basically, we HIKED the Appalachian Trail. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
After a car picnic lunch, we drove over to the Roaring Forks Motor Trail. I was a little bit disappointed (again) in the Chimani app for the individual national parks. I thought I would be able to access the motor trail numbered descriptions of what we were looking at, but they don’t have them on there. That doesn’t mean we didn’t thoroughly enjoy the trail though. The trees are mesmerizing, but the fire devastation was very apparent as well. It was comforting to see all the new growth and trees that barely survived. Honestly, the worst devastation we saw (besides the large swaths of forest in the park) was the road leading out of Roaring Forks Motor Trail. Every single house and one hotel was gone on one side of the road. Every. Single. One. All because 2 stupid kids were flicking lit matches on the Chimney Tops trail, still closed after 6 months. It was an immensely sobering and sad sight.
We went back to the trailer to rest for an hour, but felt the itch to repair our reputation from our sad defeat at the Escape Game from the day before. A quick call to the office confirmed we would be able to play a game in less than an hour, so we headed right over. And we escaped! All hail to the victors! Drunk with that “winning” energy, we played tourist (not explorers) for the rest of the night and checked out the 7D game next door (fun), did some wine tasting (fyi – Tennessee wine is not my thing), and went to the Old Mill Restaurant for dinner (awesome). I definitely don’t need to go back to Pigeon Forge, but it was most definitely something that was a treat to see. And that, my friends, was our Great Smoky Mountain adventure.
