We camped at Cherokee KOA after a long drive, made longer by our stop at Ninety Six National Historical Site. It was fun leaving the flat coastal areas we had been visiting for three weeks and heading inland to start our next goal of; “Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway”.
Got the stamp at GSMNP Oconaluftee Visitors Center. This is the Eastern entrance to GSMNP just outside of the town of Cherokee, NC.
We stayed in Cherokee because the Blue Ridge Parkway ends (or in our case, starts) in Cherokee as the Southern terminus of the BRP. We had a day to rest before starting the BRP so we drove into GSMNP. The RV did great motoring up to the top of Newfound Gap and the views were wonderful out the big front windshield.
View of clouds on the mountain from our campsite this morning. Reminded me of Smoky Mountain backpacking adventures in younger days.
View from the Oconaluftee Visitors Center.
There was a chicken wandering around loose at the Visitors Center. I stopped worrying about bears.
We made it to the top at Newfound Gap. That’s our Axis RV in the parking lot. The only RV in the parking lot, hmmmm…
Admission to GSMNP is free but there is now a ‘parking fee’ if you are going to stop and park anywhere in the park longer than 15 minutes.
The Appalachian Trail (AT) mostly follows a mountain ridge inside of GSMNP. Here at Newfound Gap the trail crosses the road and picks up again on the edge of the parking lot. Only 1,972 miles to the Northern end of the trail at Mount Katahdin in central Maine.
Views from Newfound Gap
At the bottom of Newfound Gap Road, near Cherokee, the road follows along the Oconaluftee River. The water is so clear!
This area of the woods was full of white flowers blooming
Ending this post with a bunch of beautiful butterflies. There were a bunch of bees too so I didn’t stay long. Someone had spilled something sugary on the pavement-not very natural but the butterflies were cool… (maybe pipevine swallowtails?)
DADart Photography 