It was just starting to rain as we finished transferring everything and got into the car to leave. We drove to Oneida, and stopped to have supper there before driving to Knoxville for the night. It was a long, winding drive, but very pretty. There was some rain at first but it let up after a while - and then we saw a rainbow! Just a small patch of one, but then I spotted a second section parallel to it. A double rainbow! Even just seeing that small bit of it was impressive, and we ended up following it almost all the way to Knoxville. The sky was dark on one side, with sun coming from the other side to light up the clouds ahead of us.
Today the plan was to get up early and drive the rest of the way to Great Smoky Mountains National Park before the crowds got there. We got up relatively early, but once we got on the road we were confounded by traffic. Not only was it rush-hour traffic, but there was a lane closed on the highway we needed to take! It took an excruciatingly long time to get out of Knoxville.
We drove through Townsend and on into the park. It was a beautiful drive, following a rushing stream on its winding course through the rocks. The rosebay rhododendrons were in full bloom, visible along the stream and further back under the trees. Their leaves are such a dark green, and the trees above were dark as well, so it was like looking at lights out there in the woods.
There wasn't too much traffic yet when we got to Cades Cove. A "cove" in these mountains means a relatively flat valley in between mountains or ridges. There is a lot of history here, from the people who settled this area, and many of the buildings and stories remain. There's a one-way road that loops all the way around the valley and back out - it's a regular driving tour, with an interpretive booklet available for a dollar. We stopped at the information station and got a booklet and a park newspaper before heading out on the drive.
It wasn't too busy when we were first driving into the park, but now it didn't take long to get crowded. This is one of the most popular drives in the park, and traffic gets backed up fast. But we also had to keep stopping to take pictures of the scenery!
Notice anything unusual about this old Methodist church? It's got two entrances - one for men, one for women. The funny thing is, the people who built this church didn't actually follow the tradition of men and women staying separate in church - but they got the plans for the building from another church that did!
There was a brown thrasher in the cemetary behind the church. This mockingbird relative was not at all shy!
When we walked back to the church we heard music coming from inside! Some new seasonals were getting a tour, and one of their leaders had been talked into playing a hymn on the piano.
See those orange spots in the foreground? It's butterfly weed!
There was also Queen Anne's Lace blooming.
About halfway around the loop, we came to the Cable Mill Historic Area & Visitor Center. There is an old grist mill in its original location, and a bunch of other historic buildings that were brought from other places in the park. We stopped in the visitor center, which was mostly a store, and browsed for a while - I bought two CDs.
We didn't know it at the time, but this is the mill "flume" - a wooden channel built to divert a steady stream of water to the mill wheel. It makes sense to not have to build the mill right on a stream where it might get damaged in a flood.
It's also a good way to make money. The bottom of the flume was absolutely covered with pennies and other change.
This is a cantilever barn - that big overhang is basically a big garage, to shelter animals and store farm equipment.
We left the trail at this point to walk down to the stream - Mill Creek. Appropriate name.
It was so shady and cool down there! The sun was really getting hot at this point.
Rhododendrons overhead.
Looking back up toward the mill flume... see that little stream coming down?
Here's where that stream is coming from! There was a gate in the flume, locked at a height to allow only a certain amount of water to flow through, and diverting the rest of it off to the side to rejoin the creek.
The flume reaches the mill...
There were several old millstones along the walkway.
Here is the water, turning the wheel... which turns another wheel and another wheel if you could see through walls.
They have a small grindstone set up to grind grain for visitors to see (and buy.) Running on the same water power since 1870. This also used to be a sawmill - just directing the power to a different mechanism.
I took this picture by sticking the camera through a hole near the floor. The mysterious inner workings of a mill...
This is inside one of the other buildings, a historic house. I liked the juxtoposition of the old fireplace with the newer stove. The stovepipe connected over to the chimney.
This is the corn crib. Those big gaps between the logs allow the corn to dry so that it can be stored a long time.
As we were walking to the restroom one last time, my dad noticed some wild turkeys in the field just beyond! They were staying in the shade - for good reason. It had gotten very hot by this time - the car was an oven!
After we finished driving around the Cades Cove Loop, we pulled into the picnic area, but every single spot was taken! We headed back toward the main road, and almost immediately spotted a shady turnout. We pulled out the lawn chairs and the cooler and had a picnic. After I ate I made my way down to the creek below, in order to get some better pictures of rhododendrons. (This is actually where I took the photo shown at the beginning, since I hadn't taken any along the drive I was describing.)
A different jungle - close-up of moss on a log. It looks like a very soft shag carpet.
We drove out along the Little River Road to the Sugarlands Visitor Center. This was the most beautiful part of our route so far, and I was disappointed that we kept missing the scenic turnouts! It was following every little twist and turn of the stream - as roads must when going through the mountains - and we kept spotting interesting rock formations in the river.
Sugarlands was a very nice visitor center - and busy! We watched the film and checked out the exhibits, and generally enjoyed cooling off, before we headed back outside to take a short hike - a nature walk to Cataract Falls.
The falls was very pretty - not huge, but picturesque. Sadly, there were a lot of people climbing right past the "please do not climb" signs - but I missed it myself when I first headed that way. It was too small, and not really set along the pathway they were climbing up.
Here's a nice one of Mom and Dad, who I almost caught by surprise as I stepped back across the rocks from the waterfall - but they spotted my raised camera.
I know I've already had a lot of rhododendron pictures, but this one was so pink!
This is Sweet Shrub, which was blooming at Big South Fork when I took that first wildflower walk in May! Dad and I actually stopped mainly to take pictures of that cute green grasshopper.
After walking around in the heat again, we were ready to head back. I kept trying to get Dad to stop for the scenic turnouts on the river road, but we kept going past them too quickly. Still, it was a beautiful drive. We were glad to get back to the motel and crash for the night.
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