Smokey Mountains trip

[Ouch]

I was raised in NC... You've got a good camera eye sir. Boone is an excellent area too.

We spent a week in Boone and the surrounding area several summers ago. Absolutely gorgeous area. The App State campus is awesome. Oddly, had an incredible Italian dinner in Boone. And, I've never seen such a high concentration of lesbians and subarus in my life.

Very cool trip, OP. I'd love to get in the car and just go for a month or so.

[RifleBowPistol]

Nice job on the pictures. Make me wish I was there now, love this part of the country

Right now, it may not be a great of a time, as last week or next week. From what we heard, the day before we left, was it was going to rain, for most of the week. Yes, if it was not raining, I would love to be back there. Sure wished we could have brought some of the rain they are getting back home with us.

On our way home, the closer we got to home, the browner things got. Louisiana was noticeably drier, than the other states we had been in. But when we crossed over into east Texas, it was very obviously drier, much more brown grass on the sides of the roads. It just kept getting worse the farther west and south we went.

We went from mid 70 degree temps in the Smokey Mountains, to 101, by the time we got to Louisiana, then naturally it was hotter in Texas. I sure wish we could have their weather here, year round.

[Ouch]

Weird double post.

[RifleBowPistol]

Any of yall happen to know of good rv camp sites in/near the smokies.
I have a reservation here

https://www.smokymountaincamping.com/

in April but I am always looking for good spots

That is Greenbrier, if you are going to camp in an RV camp ground, that would be a good spot. The Little Pigeon River goes right through that camp ground, then up into the park. That's the river, I wished we could have fished.

That place is just on the outer edge of Gatlinburg, across the road from the NP. There are numerous places with the name Greenbrier on them, right there along the Little Pigeon River.

There are some other RV camp grounds in the area, we were not looking for RV camp grounds, but drove past multiple of them.

[Phillip Fields]

When you're in the park don't forget to visit Cade's Cove. Beautiful 11 mile one way drive.

[RifleBowPistol]

I was raised in NC... You've got a good camera eye sir. Boone is an excellent area too.

I looked up Boone, we were a ways from there, but there is obviously a lot more to see up that direction, from where we were. When we go back, we my start working our way farther north and east, to try and see more of that part of the country.

[Tyrex750]

U have any contact info on the cabin, are where to see prices and aspen availability

[RifleBowPistol]

When you're in the park don't forget to visit Cade's Cove. Beautiful 11 mile one way drive.

I think it was closed, or it was closed to auto traffic. I think it was only open to foot traffic and bicyclist. We read and saw pictures of that area, and wanted to go. But on our trip into the park in the RZR, we found out that trail was closed.

The last time we were there, we went down the Laurel Falls trail. This trip, we went down the Cherokee Orchard Rd., then Clingman's Dome, Alum Cave trail, then we took the RZR down Tremont, there seems to be a place called the Greater Smokey Mountains Institute of Tremont, don't know what that place is. I think we may have seen it on the way down that road, and had no idea what it was. We thought it looked like a house up in the woods. We hiked the trail at the end of Tremont, that's the place where we crossed the Appalachian Trail the second time.

Cade's Cove was on our list, of places to see. Now, that we are home and looking at better maps, than we had when we were there. I am seeing a lot more roads and places to go, than what were shown on the maps we were using.

[RifleBowPistol]

U have any contact info on the cabin, are where to see prices and aspen availability

They go by Cozy Mountain Cabins. You can get on their web site, and it will show you what cabins they have available, and the prices. I think they have something like 20 cabins. If you search cabins in the Smokey Mountains, it will pop up hundreds of them. Most of them look very nice. The two we have stayed in, are pretty nice.

We have stayed in Butts on the Creek and Bearly Naked. They have built a new cabin right next to Butts on the Creek, don't know what it's called. There is another one on the other side of Butts on the Creek, that's more secluded and the creek/stream where that cabin is at, looks very nice for fishing. I know we had fun fishing behind Butts on the Creek.

We did not get hit with any hotel taxes, like you do in Gatlinburg. The few places that had rooms last year around the 4th of July. The cheap rooms were $350 a night, then they had a $75 state hotel tax, then a Gatlinburg hotel tax, that was either $45 or $75. Then a $100 yard usage fee. That was all per night. Most of the rooms in Gatlinburg are more like $450 a night and up, plus the two taxes, and possible yard usage fee. That's what the rates were last year. I think we paid $1000 for three nights in the cabin. It depends on the cabin, as to the rate, probably the time of year.

[Phillip Fields]

Don't forget to drive the Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap with 318 curves in 11 miles: America’s number one motorcycle and sports car road.

You Can Hike To 9 Waterfalls All Within 10 Miles Of This Charming North Carolina Town. Highlands, North Carolina, has a number of wonderful reasons to visit. The streets here are lined with wonderful little shops, great restaurants, cozy places to spend a night, parks, and so much more. You can’t go wrong with a visit to this tiny little locale with a small population estimated to be just under 1,000 residents.

[tpack]

Sounds and looks like you had a great time. We were there 4 years ago and saw what was probably one of the biggest 7x7 Bull Elks I`ve ever seen in NC. Great pictures.

[TN_boy]

Just to clarify

.

[RifleBowPistol]

Don't forget to drive the Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap with 318 curves in 11 miles: America’s number one motorcycle and sports car road.

You Can Hike To 9 Waterfalls All Within 10 Miles Of This Charming North Carolina Town. Highlands, North Carolina, has a number of wonderful reasons to visit. The streets here are lined with wonderful little shops, great restaurants, cozy places to spend a night, parks, and so much more. You can’t go wrong with a visit to this tiny little locale with a small population estimated to be just under 1,000 residents.

I know of the Dragon's Tail, I used to ride bikes for years. I did not realize we were so close to the Dragon's Tail, I thought it was farther north and east. Then a buddy pointed out that it was in the area. So I looked it up, turns out, we were actually very close to the Dragon's Tail. I was not going to get on the Dragon's Tail in my wife's car. My luck somebody would come around a corner, in our lane and either cause us to wreck or hit us. That would really screw up our trip. If it was just me on a bike, I might go, but I would be worried going even by myself. I am not going to push myself very hard on a road like that, more so not knowing the road. But I know others will push it too hard trying to be bad asses, I don't want to wind up in their path. I used to ride out to Leaky area, years ago. I almost got hit head on a couple of times out there. That will scare the crap out of you, when you are going around a curve and there is a car pushing it hard, coming around the corner in your lane.

I would like to ride it, but I am not interested in getting hit head on, more so that far from home.

When we go back, I am going to try and have more info about the area.

[Burnadell]

That's some beautiful country!

[Greenheadless]

Buddy of mine retired and moved from Houston to Maggie Valley. He bought two VRBO’s and that is his retirement income and keeps him busy.

Really cool area for sure. I spend a week there last summer, same time of the year.