Tuesday, Nov 1 It was only 109 miles to Great Smoky Mountains and Elkmont Campground and Tom followed the twisty, narrow Little River Road from Townsend/the "Y" the 15 miles back to Elkmont. We staked our claim on Site C10 at 12:30. It is a beautiful corner site with a bathroom located conveniently close . . . no electricity, no showers, no water – true boondocking! It took a while to get settled in, but by 2:00 I was ready for a quick trip into Gatlinburg – just 7 miles away. We parked at our favorite outdoor store at the very end of town, shopped the store, and then walked the streets. This was the unbusiest (?) that I have ever seen the streets of Gatlinburg, and I assume this is because the last great celebration of fall colors is over. Half of the leaves are off the trees, and the ones that remain are not overly motivated with color. We came back to the campground and Tom started a fire in our Biolite stove. Supper was left-over meatloaf sandwiches on grilled toast. It gets dark early in the deep woods, and we hustled to get Pippa on a final walk of the evening. Wednesday, Nov 2 Today began with fried eggs, sausage and toast. By 10:00 we were off in the truck to drive the Roaring Fork Motor Trail. The turn-off to the trail is in Downtown Gatlinburg, and shortly turns into a one-way 8-mile trip back into Gatlinburg. It is a beautiful drive and has many celebrated hiking trail heads along the way. Again, we noticed that the leaves were past peak, and many of them had fallen. Tom read a statistic in the Smoky Mt. NP newspaper that over 13 trillion leaves fall in the Smoky Mountains. He then casually noted that the national debt is 3X that amount at over 36,000 trillion! Think about that! Off of the motor trail we parked at the other end of Gatlinburg from yesterday. The Gatlinburg mall has a dog store that I love – but Pippa already had everything! We had an item to buy in the drugstore, and then just did a leisurely walk up one side of the street and down the other. As I have mentioned before, it is hard to get anywhere with Pippa in tow – she is like walking a little celebrity as she enthusiastically seeks out anyone that makes eye contact or a move in her direction. We were back at the campsite by 2:30 for a nice afternoon of relaxing. We met the neighbors in a new Airstream Basecamp and had a fire in the Biolite. We had a pound of ground elk meat, and had brought all the fixings to make chili over the campfire in the Dutch Oven. We had not had lunch, and at 5:30 we were ready to eat. After that we did our usual walk around the campground, getting back just as it was getting dark. We both have lots of options for evening entertainment, although I do confess that we are completely tucked in by 8:00! Thursday, Nov 3 Eggs and hash were the prelude to what I call . . . The Grand Tour! Leaving at 9:30 we followed the winding, Little River Road from Elkmont Campground 15 miles to the “Y” and then into Townsend. We stopped for gas and then continued another 10 miles on TN-23 West where we jumped on the Foothills Parkway – the east extension which opened a few years ago. This beautiful road took us up, up, up with several senic overlooks, and then down, down, down, into Wears Valley. We followed TN-321 North and then 441 South through Pigeon Forge. We stopped at The Island/Margaritaville, and enjoyed an hour of shopping and strolling through the charming Marketplace . . . in 70-degree weather! Route 441 took us through the front door of Gatlinburg and out the back door and 7 miles later dropped us back at Elkmont Campground. It was a very grand tour! We loafed around the campground until 5:00, when we drove into Gatlinburg for dinner. We had always wanted to try the Jose Mexican restaurant with it’s authentic south-of-the-border décor. BUST! We sat down and ordered drinks and were served tasteless chips and watery salsa. We ordered our meal and it was served within 8 minutes, giving us a hint of what was ahead! Everything was luke-warm, my steak strips were very tough, and there was absolutely no flavor. We were done, paid the bill, and were out the door within 20 minutes of our arrival . . . NO WAY Jose! We walked a few little shopping areas of Gatlinburg that we had not yet hit, and then returned to our campsite as it was dark. Friday, Nov 4 On an elevation near Elkmont, little known to most people, is a small community of a dozen cabins and cottages that were a hub of summer fun in the early 1900’s known as Daisy Town. They had fallen into disrepair over the years, and mostly forgotten and unknown except to the locals. The past 15 years has seen a slow recovery of the little homesteads, to the extent that the outsides and insides were nicely painted, new windows installed, porches shored up, and interior floors repaired as needed to accommodate a walk-through. We were pleasantly surprised to see that the Park service was hosting a celebration of newly upgraded Daisy Town this morning. Each little bungalow was staffed by volunteers dressed in appropriate period attire, describing details and history associated with the cabin. Although a few were roped off, most were open for a walk-through of the inside. Floorplans were a hodge-podge of rooms with doors leading into other rooms, followed by more doors and more rooms in a continuous circle. Most had a stone fireplace in the front room. One little cabin even boasted a tiny servant cabin out back! After walking both sides of the street, we drove by in the car and I made a little video. We were back at our campsite in time for a brunch of fried corn mush and bacon! This set the tone for early afternoon idleness at the campground . . . followed by showers and clean-up to go into Maryville to meet siblings (Beccie and Richard, and friends Paula and Steve) for dinner. We lingered over dinner and by the time we left at 7:30, it was completely dark. These mountain roads don’t scare my chauffer at all, and we enjoyed our 1-hour trip through the mountain cut and along the river road back to Elkmont. Saturday, Nov 5 Game Day! The Buckeyes vs. Northwestern . . . at noon. We drove into Gatlinburg to check on the civilized world, and returned to the campsite for the kickoff. Tom was in luck that the Sirius Radio in the truck beamed in the BIG10 channel. At first he said it would be such an easy win that he didn’t need to listen --- turned out it was a nail-biter and needed constant attention! Strong winds and rain prevented the Buckeye’s passing game, but they were able to win by two touchdowns in the end. Slight rain showers moved through several times during the day – never lasting more than 15 minutes, and never really reaching under the tree canopy. We had our afternoon campfire and an evening dinner of BBQ ribs and wings, mac ‘n cheese, and sliced cucumber. After dinner we drove into Gatlinburg to see the lights, and returned for bed! Sunday, Nov 6 Pancakes and sausage for breakfast – we weren’t quite sure of the time due to the time change. We drove to Gatlinburg to check in with the world, and then turned around with the intent of driving up to Clingman’s Dome. Right away we could see that everyone else had the same destination in mind, and we turned to drive back to our campground. If ever there was a day to enjoy at Elkmont, this was it – 72 degrees! I waffled back and forth about dinner – go into town, or cook at the campsite. Because we had been at the campsite all day long, we opted for a trip to town. We enjoyed another walk up and down the streets of Gatlinburg and as it got dark (at 5:30!) we walked to Bennet’s BBQ for dinner. Monday, Nov 7 No trip to the Smokey’s would be complete without the traditional drive around Cades Cove loop road. We took the round-about route by getting on the little-known road at the back of Metcalf Bottoms picnic area which dropped us, 4 miles later, in Wears Valley. Route 321 took us into Townsend where Tom sat and got caught up on world news via the internet while I shopped one of my favorite tourist traps. At the “Y” we turned right to head to Cades Cove, but briefly detoured to the GSM Tremont Institute and a bit beyond. Finally, we reached the entrance to Cades Cove, pulled out our snack lunch, and proceeded around. Just in the previous days, the park service had completed a “burn” in large portions of the cove, and it was interesting to view the charred fields. At the back end of the Cove, we jumped on the Forge Creek road hoping to take it to the Parson Branch Road and over the mountain to Chilhowee Lake. Parson Branch was closed . . . a bit early for the winter! We backtracked to finish the loop road, and within 4 miles of the end, we ran into two bear jams! Traffic was stop and go, and it took almost an hour to finish the trip. The last bear was laying down eating walnuts under a tree that was just ¼ mile from the exit, and we could just make out his head and twitching ears! By 3:00 we were back at the camper where we took showers, enjoyed a fire, and had a dinner of Cornish hens and wild rice! It was pitch black at the campsite at 5:45! Tuesday, Nov 8 Today a momentous milestone was going to occur, and we could hardly wait to get on our way! We took our usual trip through Gatlinburg to check e-mails and messages, and then headed back past Sugarlands and up to Newfound Gap. We passed by the Chimney Rocks and the trailhead, and reached Newfound Gap with no signs of heavy traffic and no problem finding a parking spot. We then went on up to Clingman’s Dome for another stunning, clear view. Backtracking down the mountain to Sugarlands, we anticipated that our “momentous milestone” would happen just as we reached Elkmont Campground! Right at the entrance to Elkmont the speedometer on our 2018 GMC Sierra Denali Diesel truck turned 99,999 miles and we stopped for a picture. As we wound our way around the campground Tom took the longer loop, and we pulled into our campsite C10 just as our truck turned the 100,000 mile mark. Mind you – that has all been in just 4 years! We settled Pippa in the camper and then headed to Gatlinburg for lunch at our favorite Pancake Pantry. The line is always out the door with a long wait, but we counted on a lull in tourists on Tuesday, and we waited until noon to get in line. We made all the right moves, and the wait was only 15 minutes, and we had our choice of either breakfast or lunch. Tom got a double order of crepes – raspberry and peach with cream cheese filling. I got a Polynesian ham/turkey/pineapple sandwich on toasted bread, served with a cup of onion soup and homemade chips. Lunch is always served with a crisp cucumber/onion concoction that is one of my favorites. We brought two of the crepes and the cucumber salad home for dinner. This was our last afternoon in the campsite – we would be heading home tomorrow. We enjoyed a last campfire and steaks on the grill. At 6:00 (in total darkness) we packed the outside equipment into the truck, and cleared the campsite in prep for a morning take-off. We layered up a little more tonight, as it was to dip down in the low 40’s tonight.
As usual, this Smoky Mt. Elkmont adventure completes our camping season. Past years we have shared this event with other NOVA members, but this year we were on our own. Even though the leaves were past perfection; the weather, the food, the campground, and just Tom, Pippa, and I made this year very special and memorable.
1 Comment
Michael Miller
11/13/2022 01:41:02 pm
What a wonderful trip that you shared with us. Best to you both until we see you down the road.
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |