Hiking the Smokies with Coco and Chanel on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail

Coco and Chanel needed a good walk and we still had not done the Roaring Fork Smoky Mountain Motor Nature Trail Loop yet, so we put the girls in the truck and off we went for a little hiking on our last day here at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We were very fortunate to find one parking place in the parking lot.  Scott got the girls in their harnesses and off we went.  I think the dogs were in doggie heaven sniffing all the smells of the forest.

Coco and Chanel on their walk.

Sniffing the parking lot...

...the gravel...

...hollowed out tress...

...and Coco had to inspect it, too...

...plants...anything and everything nature had to offer.

They checked out EVERYTHING they could on our trail up to Rainbow Falls. We didn't do the entire 2.7 miles walk to the falls, but we walked about a mile up and enjoyed the Roaring Fork River in all it's glory.  We did our best to bring the girls down to the waters edge but it was a bit too steep and Scott slipped and hurt his back on a rock, so we decided to just stick to the high ground.  We saw a red tailed chipmunk scamper across the path and down a little ravine by a tree and I think that was the extent of our animal viewing for today.  Aren't these photos of the river amazing?!

Cascading Waterfalls

Serene Settings

Looking down on a small waterfall.

Another small waterfall

Tiered water pathways

This is about as close and Coco and Chanel dared to get to the water.

So pristine

Small little streams and little ponds

A Sanctuary!

I was especially interesting in the foliage, plants, flowers and trees in the park and other things that most people ignore.  Just breathing in the fresh smell and spending time with Scott and the girls.

A quiet forest floor with the sun gleaming through the tree tops.

Changing maple leaves

Misty green ferns and forest floor growth

Coco and Chanels' favorite hallowed out tree covered in moss.

A very teeny snail's conch shell

Burned Tree Stumps

Purple Mountain Laurel flowers

...and green plants starting to grow.

Lots of moss everywhere.

And fungi mushrooms on the ground...

...and Shelf Fungus growing out of burned trees.

Dainty yellow flowers

We walked past a grove of trees that were at least 100 years old - all had been burned by a fire in decades past and new growth was filling in the forest floor. It was beautiful to see how mother nature takes care of herself and makes new growth of our charred death.  I will certainly miss this special place.

We also saw another old cabin that belonged to the Noah "Bud" Ogle family.

After our hike, we went back into Gatlinburg.  It was a MESS of traffic.  Most likely everyone and their dog, cat, horse and pig here for the eclipse. I could have walked 5-6 blocks in the time I sat idle waiting to inch forward into town.  I'm sure glad we did Gatlinburg a few days ago!

I drove over to Sugarlands Visitor Center one last time to stamp by Passport book one last time. Even that was so crowded that you couldn't find a parking place! I had to drive around twice and even the RV area parking was completely occupied with cars!

I forgot to mention yesterday we gave Coco and Chanel a well-needed bath. Scott ran the towels over to laundry to get them washed with the rest of the clothes and the dogs waited patiently for him to return.  They are so loyal to him.  Then, last night we drove them over to PetSmart in Sevierville to get their nails ground down.

Chanel is a wet mess!

 

So, we've decided on how to proceed to Union, Missouri. We were going to get up at 3 am and start driving in the morning, but I think we're going to get up at midnight and go instead. We signed up for a program called Harvest Hosts; a service that tell you of host locations to park near tourist sites such a wineries, shops, museums, etc.  We were trying to get to Paducah, Kentucky so I could visit the National Quilt Museum (the creme-de-la creme of quilt museums in America) and visit Hancock's of Paducah Quilt Shop.  We called and tried to find our what we could do and talked to someone who said the location of where we could stay is not full (at least for now...there's only 1 RV there).  So, we will be hooking up the truck and shutting down at in about a 1/2 hour and get ready to back out of here at midnight instead.  Wish us luck! This eclipse is sure causing havoc for our trip since were now in the center of totality until we get to Missouri.

Photo by Fred Espenak

Wish us luck that we succeed!!