We went to Gatlingburg, TN to celebrate our 29th birthdays on Sept 24-28, 2009. We stayed at a wonderful cabin complete with hot tub, jacuzzi, cable television, a pool table, a newly remodeled kitchen, and an amazing view of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We had a very relaxing weekend cooking in the cabing, drinking wine, doing some hiking. Map of the Park (This is a map of the entire park. All of the trails we were on are on the map but you are going to have to zoom in to see it.) On that Friday we went to the Cosby entrance and hiked down the Gabes Mountain Trail to Hen Wallow Falls (approx 3 mi one way). There is a large campground at the Cosby entrance but it's currently shut down due to the high bear traffic. There were signs posted "WARNING: BEARS" at the start of our trail. But there were several people around and no bears in sight. On our way back, with maybe a half mile or less to go, there is a bear in the middle of the trail just sniffing around. Brian and I turn tail and run like scared little girls. I don't think the bear even saw us or registered that the 2 of us were running for what we think is our lives. We go a long distance back and wait for 2o min (an eternity) before we try the trail again. This bear was keeping me from the comfort and safety of my car! We did not see the bear on our second attempt down the last bit of the trail, but we were certainly hightailing it out of there too.
On Saturday, it rained. No seriously for like 12 straight hours. The roof leaked slightly after about 8 hrs but that stopped when the rain stopped. The power went off for about an hour that evening but luckly we already had dinner. We played Nintendo Wii for several hours (was really glad we brought it), sat in the hot tub in the rain, played pool, watched TV and drank various sorts of wine all day.
On Sunday we drove out to Clingman's Dome (also on the map, just south of Gatlinburg) where we hit the Appalachian Trail (AT) for a few hours. Clingman's Dome is the highest point on the AT, so we started at the top and hiked down for a few hours, and then turned around and hiked back. We looked like rough and tumble mountaineers compared to the folks milling around in flip flops at the viewing platform. We had people asking us about hiking the AT ("Ummm... if you look that way you'll see Maine") like we actually knew something about it. I have no idea how far we went down the trail but we are guessing about 2 miles one way. We saw bear poop and I think a bear house (hollowed out old tree) but no bears until... on the drive out on this tiny road all of a a sudden traffic stops because a small bear is having lunch on the side of the road. It never really looks at the 10 or so cars backed up to look at it. I'm dangling halfway out of my window to get pictures of it feeling so much braver in the safety of the fearsome Saturn. That night we head into Gatlinburg for dinner at the Smoky Mountain Brewery. Good beer and decent pub food. and of course, I had to go get some fudge. :)
All in all it was a wonderful birthday trip!
