On the road, pt.III

Or maybe 'on the trail' would be a more appropriate title. Not too much road on the fourth day of our road trip, but lots of hiking in the Smoky Mountains national park.

There are worse views to wake up to.

Our little red chevy in front of the Buckhorn Inn.

Hiking along the Roaring Fork Motor trail, near one of the original settler's cabins.

My new desktop picture. I could fill a post with just pictures of picturesque little mountain streams surrounded by greenery. (Lucky for you, Mom, I decided to select just the one. You're welcome.)

The settlers had running water in their house - ingenious!

Allright, a little bit of driving was involved, but that is inevitable in America, land of the road, home of the car.




Eating an excellent packed lunch by Grotto falls.


An old black bear in one the local thrift stores. Apparently black bears are quite abundant in the area, but since we didn't get up at the crack of dawn to spot them, we, well, didn't spot them. Not a live one, at least.
I wouldn't be a proper capricorn if I didn't insist on some rock clambering in one of the mountain streams.

Way up in the mountains is a little cemetery. Really eerie, just in the woods like that... especially when you realize that most of the gravestones are so tiny because they belong to infants and toddlers from a time when child mortality was still high.
The sky started to turn dark by the time we reached the cemetery, and the thunder was rolling in, so we turned back and pretty much speedwalked back to the car.
We made it back just in time to see the heavens pour down on Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains.
Fortunately, later that night the skies cleared up again sufficiently for us to see a beautiful mountain sunset.
Night, y'all...