Well, I sat down this morning and planned my route for a day of leaf viewing. I decided that I could probably get the best leaf viewing in by heading to Franklin, NC, driving to Wayesville, NC then taking I-40 to Tennessee and coming through the Great Smoky Mountains Park via 441 through the middle of the park. I found some really nice color all the way up through Wayesville, where I found some stunning trees. The route to Franklin through the Nantahala Forest was very pretty in spots, but it appeared there were large areas of Tulip Poplar and River Birch that had already peaked. The Hickory and Maples were pretty nice though. As I entered the city limits of Dillsboro I crossed a bridge and noticed a little spillway, so I decided to see what that was all about. I exited the main highway and entered a nice little park with picnic tables right on the river. There was this spillway on the river and it was a pretty nice and quiet spot for a picnic.
I left the little park and traveled up to Waynesville, where I decided to get gas and something to eat. Since this was on a sunday there weren't many places open and I had to get a bite to eat at one of those fast food places. There was a restaurant named Clyde's that I was told was good food, but I didn't really want to stop and do a sit down lunch. I did take a couple of photo's of trees in Waynesville that were pretty stunning. I left Waynesville via Hwy 276 to tie into I-40 and cross over to Tennessee on the north side of the Great Smoky Mountains Park. As I approached the entrance to I-40 a big truck was across the road and several guys were there telling people that they couldn't get on I-40. There had been a rock slide and part of the mountain had fallen across all four lanes of the interstate. Traffic was backed up from Asheville to who knows where. I tried to persuade one of the guys directing traffic to let me go down to see the rock slide, but that didn't really work out. So at this point my plans changed, because the only other way to where I was going was to go to Asheville then go north to Johnson City, TN, and back down to where I was going (about two hours).So I went back toward Waynesville and I noticed a sign that said Cataloochee (which is part of the Great Smoky Mountains Park). I took this road which winds around for about seven miles to the park entrance. From the park entrance the road become a forest service road, unpaven and with gravel in places. For the most part this is one of those roads that you can only go about 5 - 10 mph due to the narrow road and many sharp curves. There were a lot of people on this road including a couple of guys that must not have read the info about traveling this road. One guy was in a corvette and the other was in a mercedez sports coupe with the top down. I'm in a truck and dust is flying all over the place, I know these guys needed a major shower by the time they got out of there. It so happens that there are two entrances into Cataloochee, one is a 27 mile drive, mostly gravel, from Cosby, NC, and the other is an 11 mile route partly paved. Lucky me, I got on the shorter route (it did help to have my maps and GPS though). After traveling through the forest service road I came to a nice overlook with some long range beautiful views. I spoke with a woman that had been to the Cataloochee valley below, in the morning, and she told of seeing elk and a bear with her cub. I ventured down into the valley and ended up at the site of an exhibit called Palmer House. There was a barn and a house with a couple of other buildings. Across the street was a nice little river flowing through the property. I took a picture of the river and the outbuildings. After viewing this site I traveled the approx. 10 miles by forest service road out of the park. The leaves were very colorful and about peak. I decided to return to the cabin via a different route, so I traveled down Hwy 19 through Maggie Valley, where I photographed another stunning tree. This route took me through the Cherokee Indian Reservation. On my way through the reservation, I noticed a couple of old motel signs. Since I like these old remnants of the past I stopped to take pictures. The motels are no longer open and now the Harrah's Casino and Hotel has taken their place. I followed Hwy 19 and as I crossed the Little Tennessee River I decided it was worth stopping for another photo. Traveling on Hwy 19 took me through the Nantalaha Gorge, which is a very pretty place regardless of the time of year. There weren't any kyakers on the river at this time (about 5:20pm). I traveled back to the cabin through Andrews and a back road. All along the way the leaves were very pretty and not yet peak. Altogether my trip was about 219 miles. This was a considerable distance, but I haven't gotten this opportunity too often. It was well worth the trip and the scenery was really great.
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