Smokies

The first part of this week it was a bit rainy and cold.  I set up camp in Townsend in the rain, luckily it doesn't take too long!  On Monday I headed to Hardwood Cove Nature trail because that is supposed to be one of the best wildflower hikes around.  Just before turning into the parking lot, I came across a traffic jam - The picture isn't great as it was taken from inside my car, but you can see the reason for the jam!   After the Nature trail, I hiked the  Little River Trail/Cucumber Gap/Jakes Creek trail and it ended up drizzling a good bit of the time.  It also rained fairly hard off and on - that made for an interesting hike.  I still enjoyed the hike.  Another day, I hiked to Abrams Fall's in Cades Cove.  This is one of my favorite hikes in the park.  On the way to the falls, I saw the wildflower, Bleeding Heart, for the first time in the wild - it's quite a bit different from the cultivated Bleeding Heart that you may see at a nursery. 

The weather started clearing up as the week went by.  Today, the temperature was almost 80!  Yesterday I realized that I have this great camp site just beside the river and had not even sat outside because I've been so busy (or it was too cold and rainy).  I've yet to learn to slow down and relax - that is until this afternoon.  I did a 5 mile hike at Porter's creek this morning and was back to my campsite by 2:00.  The rest of the afternoon I sat by the river just relaxing and reading!!  You can see the river out the back window from my RV (you might need to click on the picture to enlarge it).   Below are a few pictures of some wildflowers --

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To get here earlier this week, I ended up taking the long way from Moccasin Creek State Park to Townsend, TN because I was not sure about driving through the Smokies.  I've done it in my car many times, but never in a 27 ft Motorhome towing a Honda CRV.  For the most part, I've become comfortable driving the motorhome while towing, but I wasn't sure about my mountain driving skills, so I found an easier way to the campground.  My favorite campground in the park is Elkmont, but I didn't stay there this trip.  I am thinking I will come back in June to see the fireflies (see this link synchronous fireflies) and stay at that campground.  Which means I will have to drive the motorhome down the hilly, curvy and narrow Little River road!! So if your in the park in early June, watch out for Blue Lazy Daze.