The weather wasn’t the best but we took the Newfound Gap road that goes across the park stopping at the Sugarland Visitor Center first. We began climbing in altitude right away. The yellow birch trees were still bare and gave a different look of the forest. The views were really cloudy. Just about halfway along the road is the turn off for Clingman’s Dome at Newfound Gap. To make it to the dome overlook we climbed a steep ½ mile trail ending in a spiral ramp to the lookout tower at 6,643 feet. The clouds gave way to some isolated views of the mountains and valleys. Even with the clouds it was worth the effort.
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| The Lookout Tower in the Fog |
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| I'm looking down at Chris and Norm as they begin the climb up to the lookout tower. |
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| A painting Class Catching the View |
At the southern end of the highway we came to the Mingus Mill. It is still a working mill grinding corn daily as it did for the folks living in the Smokeys 200 years ago. They can also grind wheat. It produces the flour on an ingenious water run turbine. It is a very simple mechanism that was easy to build. It was much faster than other types of mills used in the valleys of the Great Smokeys. People would need to bring enough grain to be milled to last the family 5 or 6 days. That was as long as the flour would last before going bad. Families had something made of corn meal three times a day, every day, like it or not. Wheat flour was a special commodity since not many had luck growing it. They used the barter system with the mill operator getting 1/8 of the grain brought in.
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| Mingus Mill Still in Use Today |
The Visitor Center was interesting with more on the families and their way of life. They had recordings of some of the old folks telling tales of events in their lives. Great! I only had time to listen to two of the recordings, one about an experience with a “dentist” and the other was a “moonshine” story. The old guy was relating a story of himself as a young boy of thirteen finally being allowed to take part in the moonshine business. He was chosen to stand guard because the men had heard that the revenuers were in the area. He was to fire three shots if he saw anyone. The men went back into the mountains to do their handy work. Well, he drank too much moonshine, his reward for standing guard, and fired three shots at turkeys that flew by. The men did some fast scurrying around and moved the whole set up. I’m sure he wasn’t the favorite nephew at that point. He was chuckling as he told the tale. Outside was a farm with a house and the outbuildings; the corn crib, spring house, smoke house and barn. On weekends they have costumed interpreters to impart information about the buildings and the families that lived here. We saw a woodchuck near the barn. He was a big guy. When I was in the area with Doris in the mid 1990’s, a hurricane came through when we were staying in Dillard GA just south of the park. We had planned to drive through the Smokeys to see the autumn color but trees were down all over the highway and the road was closed for over a week. All we could see was Cades Cove. The scenery today was mostly in the clouds but still pretty. The blue haze that is seen in the mountains here is caused by water vapor which is emitted by the thick foliage of hardwood, pine and fir forests which cover the mountains and valleys in the park. Just about every inch is covered with some kind of plant. Now of course pollution is also present.
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| They have a lot of trouble with graffiti. |
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| Farm House in the Smokeys |
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| Woodchuck |
We went into Cherokee on the Cherokee Reservation for lunch. The fry bread tacos were delicious. The signs in town were in Cherokee as well as English. They are banking on tourism also. Many of the Eastern Cherokee in this area were not forced to take the “Trail of Tears” trek to Oklahoma as thousands of others had to do.
For the trip home we decided on making it a loop by going south along the park boundary and then heading north back to the campground. We had heard of the Tail of the Dragon Road on Hwy 129. It’s 11 miles with 318 curves! Motor cyclists come from all over the world to take the curves. They even have an illegal race every year with times and everything. Norm took the curves in the Rave 4 at a fast pace until Chris screamed uncle and he slowed down. No barf bags please! At the end of the road Norm bought a tee shirt that has a picture of a dragon and says “I survived the Tail of the Dragon 129.” Car clubs and motor cycle clubs have the road lined up on every weekend from early May through October. Along the road, photographers were set up taking pictures as the motorcyclists took the curves. It was a three hour drive back to Cades Cove but pretty scenery all the way.
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| Norm Proudly Wearing His Shirt |
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