Day 5 (Delayed)

The plan for today was to drive to the “top” of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and hike to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the park, and then do a couple of additional hikes.

After breakfast, we headed out for our day's adventures. We drove to Clingman's Dome and then hiked up the half mile trail, which ascends 330 feet to the observation tower at the top. It was a pretty steep climb. All the way up, we were surrounded by clouds, and it was becoming pretty apparent that we weren't going to be able to see much of anything from the top, and sure enough, that was the case!!!

We hung around on the observation tower for a little while, in hopes that maybe the strong winds that were blowing would create a clearing, but unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. We walked back down to our car and then drove back down the mountain to a trailhead called Alma Cave. 

As it turns out, Alma Cave is not actually a cave, but a large rock outcropping. We found a parking spot and started out on the hike. It turned out to be a 4.6 mile round trip hike, several sections of which were fairly steep. It wouldn't have been that bad if not for the unbelievable heat and especially the humidity. It felt like you could drink the air!!!

We reached the top and Josh decided to hike up a little further just for kicks. See if you can spot him in the last picture below!!!

I wisely decided to stay right where I was. We then made our way back to the trailhead and were trying to decide what to do next. It was lunchtime, so we decided to drive further down the mountain to the Chimney Tops Picnic Area. We were very fortunate to be driving through the picnic area just as someone was pulling out, and we grabbed their spot. We had a brief lunch and debated whether or not to do the Chimney Tops Trail hike. I opted out, and suggested that we call it a day. Josh reluctantly agreed.

We drove back in to Gatlinburg so that we could get online and call Patty, and then after that, we headed back to our campground. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening getting prepared to move on to our next destination, Toomsuba, MS.

We'll be driving approximately 425 miles tomorrow, but we're both really looking forward to a nice hot shower when we get there, laundry, and electricity for the air conditioner in the trailer!!! Josh is also looking forward to having internet access. The drive tomorrow will take us into two new states, Alabama and Mississippi. We're not expecting to stop for anything along the way, other than gas & bathroom breaks. I'm also not expecting to have much to say about day 6, but you never know!