Great Smoky Mountain National Park..................

So......we had a slight change of plans due to the weather. After analyzing the weather forecast and Intellicast doppler radar maps, we decided to stay another day here in Sevierville, TN. Since it was not raining in the morning, we decided to take advantage and go to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, only about 15 miles away or so.

Our last visit to this area was a year and a half ago, at the very beginning of this amazing journey of ours. We've logged a lot of miles since then, both literally and figuratively! We did not plan on hiking today due to the weather (and the park service warning of increased bear activity on a lot of the trails), but thought a short ride would be in order. For more information, click here.

busy gateway towns!

the leaves light up when the sun hits them

We stopped at the Noah Bud Ogle Farm, which we weren't able to see on our last visit due to the crowds. Since we snagged a parking space, we got out and checked out the farm. I always love seeing how life may have been back in the day. This farmhouse was just the bare bones though-no furniture or clues as to what the living was like. While the leaves look so pretty, they are very slick when wet. A lovely older gentleman warned us that he wiped out on the leaves (and believe me, he was covered in mud!), so we were especially careful.

Tom at the farmhouse

great fireplace, but that's it...not too cozy in here

another visitor was warning us about the wet leaves he just wiped out on

pretty big farmhouse!

 Not long after the Ogle Farm, we accessed the Roaring Forks Motor Nature Trail, which we have been on before, but in the Spring. It was quite a different ride in the late Fall! Just gorgeous-even though most of the leaves were down. It is a very narrow road, and there are some pullouts along the route. The trails we would have been interested in were also on this road, and the parking areas were full. No matter-we weren't hiking anyway. The Warning Signs were posted at the trailhead, and also posted on the National Park website under Alerts.

its all about the light...ahahha

a nice view

the clouds are moving in rapidly

the road is narrow and winding

and hilly too...can barely see where we are going here at this spot

some areas have lots of beautiful fall color still...

other areas look like November!

babbling streams and waterfalls throughout...hard to photograph though

the sound of the running water is so refreshing too

We only stopped at a couple of places as the weather was starting to deteriorate. I didn't even go into Ely's Mill-even though spinning and weaving were advertised on the sign outside. That is usually a magnet for me...ahahha.

beautiful

lovely

picturesque

the road was surprisingly not too crowded

does that say spinning and weaving?

using all my willpower not to stop here

We were amazed at the amount of visitors to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg areas (and Sevierville where we are staying), the gateways to the Smokies. The roads were crowded! Surprisingly, the area of the park we visited was not too crowded. There are many attractions for every interest, and tons of restaurants and shops in these gateway towns. Everything is decorated for Christmas already too. This is a very popular tourist area at all times of year.

holiday decorations are up everywhere....must be pretty at night

ready for the holidays

lots of holiday decorations!

Sitting out the worst of the weather, we hope....resting up for the next several days of travel. Since the rain has started here as well, we are just hanging out blogging knitting reading and such for the rest of the day. Its cozy :)