If you missed the beginning of this fall trip, you can catch it in the Fall 2019 on the VA page.

1. Fryingpan Mtn Lookout Tower

As we continued our way down the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) from Asheville, NC, to our first stop at the Fryingpan Mountain Lookout Tower (1.5 mile total). The trail was a rocky fire road to the base of the tower. Then we started our climb up the many metal steps to the door that opens to the tower area. The winds were blowing hard and being that high up actually got me a little nervous (70-ft tall to be exact, per this page that describes more about the tower). 

From the top deck, yes – the views were wonderful but I was hugging the interior part of the railings because the edge was just too close for my comfort. The cab (interior) blocked the wind and I had to step in to calm my nerves.

We took a few pictures where I felt like anything bad were to happen would happen if the railing gave way! After admiring the view for a few more moments, we made our way shakily down the stairs. We may not have seen the landmarks pointed out by the above link as I was terrified and couldn’t wait to get back on the ground. 

2. Graveyard Fields loop trail

We were driving by the Graveyard Fields loop trail and noticed a crowd. They also stopped here because it had the most colorful leaves we have seen so far on the BRP.

There were some falls we snapped some photos at and then we looped through the trees (not as colorful when you’re actually under the tree top views).  This took us about 1.7 miles total and there was a bathroom next to the parking lot.

3. Devil’s Courthouse Overlook, Haywood-Jackson Overlook/Richland Balsam nature trail

The other stop we made was at Devil’s Courthouse Overlook for some more pictures. We didn’t go on the hike but it looked cool as we saw some folks on the rock (as seen in the picture below). We marked it for the future.

We then parked at Haywood-Jackson Overlook and headed up the Richland Balsam nature trail (1.5 mile total). This trail was recommended online because this mountain trail had the highest peak of BRP at 6,410 ft (summit sign was a little disappointing without a view).  I personally would not recommend this trail as it was heavily shaded by thick trees (aka spruce and fir) and there wasn’t so much of a view up there. I must have missed this detail/comments from others about no summit view and would have skipped the trail altogether. 

There was supposed to be a self-guided tour of the different plant life throughout the trail but I recall seeing any paper guides at the beginning of the trail. We saw a surveyor at the top and another couple as we descended the trail. I didn’t “feel” I was at the highest peak as there weren’t really nice lookouts at the top, so you can skip this and stop by the highest point on the BRP sign (6,053 ft) instead. 

4. Waterrock Knob Visitor Center (VC)

Onward we go before stopping by this VC to grab a stamp before hiking the Waterrock Knob (just a short, but steep 0.5 mile ascent). We enjoyed our lunch at the top and enjoyed the sun/view. There were a few others nearby doing the same, as it was a popular destination indeed.

5. Waterfalls!

Next, we decided to check out some falls in this region by passing through Cherokee Indian Reservation.

1) Soco Falls – it wasn’t exactly off the main road but we had to drive through some reservation and finally parked on the side of the road. The trail down was a little sketchy with roots and ropes to help you down and up if you choose to get to the bottom of the falls. We opted to just enjoy the view from the top and went to the next fall.

2) Mingo Falls – we ended up on an inside road that was pretty much 1-lane and luckily we didn’t encounter any oncoming traffic. Sometimes GPS routes us via the fastest route but it may not be the “safest”. There was a small parking lot and lots of steps (e.g. 161 per a website) to an awesome view of the falls.

As mentioned on NPS website, the hike is only 0.4 mile in length but definitely rate it as moderate. I would recommend this hike to see the 120 ft tall waterfall if you’re passing through the area!

6. Oconaluftee VC marks the “end of BRP” and start of Great Smoky Mtns NP

There is no fee to enter the Great Smoky Mtns NP, perhaps that is why they are one of the highly visited national parks. I continued my journey of collecting stamps at the various visitor centers – see where to collect them via the official NPS app (I believe this just came out recently in April 2021 in response to the pandemic) or website.

We stopped by this VC and were surprised to see free-range chicken roaming the patio outside of the VC. Lots of folks were just waiting on the patio for the sunset and a chance to glimpse the elks that come out across the fields. I picked up a tee for myself and as we left the VC, we noticed many cars pulled over on the side of the road. We got to see 2 elks hanging out by the edge of the woods. There was also a ranger sharing some info about elks and let us handle an elk antler – very cool. (I was thinking back to pre-covid days, where the crowd wasn’t as big of a concern and waiting to enter the VCs because of the limited occupancy they follow, I hope we can get back to that state soon).

7. Clingmans Dome

This place is a must-see (closed to vehicles during Dec-Mar months) because it’s a 7-mile drive to the parking area, which can be a challenge but not impossible. You may have to park further down the side of the streets if no spots are available. We had timed it perfectly to see the sunset as we walked up half a mile to reach the top of the dome (aka observation tower), where you can see the park in 360-degree panoramic views!

This also marks the highest point of the Great Smoky Mountains NP at 6,684ft – check out more info. We practically jogged back down the road which is not really recommended as it is fairly steep, but it was easier not to brace for the decline and roll with the speed.

It was getting dark as we drove by the Newfound Gap (which is described as the lowest drivable pass of the park). Nothing really to look at except this plague.

8. Gatlinburg

We drove into town to check in our airbnb apt for the next 2 nights. The main street was overwhelming with tourists and bright lights, so many tourist traps!

Luckily we were staying further away from the main street and it took us 10 minutes to get there. We grabbed a casual dinner at “5 Guys”, largely because there were waits for other restaurants, which were not at all appetizing. Plus, you can’t go wrong with a burger chain restaurant.

Total Miles hiked: 8 miles

Total Hrs drove: roughly 4 hours between stops

1. Alum Cave Bluff

We woke up early to tackle the “Alum Cave Bluff” inside Great Smoky Mtns, which was about 4.5 miles in total. Early birds do get the worm if you start early; better parking, less people and generally colder in the mornings. But we just layer and peel on/off those layers as we warm up. It was a steady incline up the trail so don’t skip leg workout days!

One of the unique features we encountered first was going through the Arch Rock via rock stairs/handrails.

We then stopped at Inspiration Point as the sun started to rise and layered off.

Finally, we reached our destination of the Alum Cave via wooden stairs. It was quite peaceful for a brief moment until a large group came by.

Throughout the trail, we heard other folks continue their journey up to Mount LeConte summit (6,593 ft), which is another 5 mile north (making it a total of 11 miles). Perhaps we will return in the future to tackle this summit and make a stop at the LeConte lodge. We didn’t plan on going all the way to the top, but we did tackle another trail as our lunch spot.

2. Chimney Tops Trail

We thought we would squeeze in a shorter trail (2 miles one-way) afterwards since we started early that morning. We drove to the Chimney Tops trailhead and passed 3 bridges on the trail. There were a LOT of stairs so we made it steadily and slowly up the trail. We relied on our hiking poles as younger folks were passing us. We made it to the overlook for lunch, and noted 0.25 mile at the end of the trail to the Chimney Tops was closed (too dangerous for rock scrambling).

Inevitably we had to descend the same way down and it was rough on knees (even with poles). For sure, our feet were aching when we returned to the car and swung by the Sugarlands VC for my stamp. It was way crowded and busy in the parking lot. We also were a little disappointed in not sighting any black bears during this trip.

3. Roaring Fork Motor Drive

Back in Gatlinburg, we decided to check out the “Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail”, which is a 5.5 mile one-way, loop drive where you drive your car and can stop at different trailheads. It was a little stressful for us because it was back to back cars. Not as enjoyable as I envisioned and we were too tired to attempt any of the waterfall trails. The two popular trails are the Rainbow (5.4 miles round trip) and Grotto (3 miles round trip, but closed for the season).

4. Gatlinburg (moonshine tasting)

There wasn’t anything else I wanted to visit in Gatlinburg and we didn’t want to sit in the airbnb. So we had an early dinner at Smoky Mtn Trout House. We had a butterflied trout and another with parmesan crust with onion/mushrooms. I’m not a fan of fish dishes with bones but it was different from the fish we usually order at seafood restaurants. 

We decided to stroll through the main street and ended up trying some moonshine samples at Sugarlands Distilling Company’s Sugarlands Shine (SS) because there was! It was $5/person to try up to 12 samples, but you can skip a flavor if you don’t want to try it. Some interesting ones were the pb & jelly, and dk choco coffee cream. The other flavors (50th anniversary corn whiskey, hazelnut rum, dynamite cinnamon, american peach, southern sweet pie, old fashioned lemonade, blackberry, butter pecan cream liqueur, and orange cream liqueur) weren’t bad and definitely had a good time. We liked the “Appalachian apple pie” so much we bought one for a discount home to share with our friends.

Further down the street, there was another moonshine place (Ole Smoky Moonshine) but it was a lot more calm and not as enticing. We still walked through the store but didn’t buy anything else. We continued walking our way through the decorated streets around town before packing up for the departure tomorrow.

Total Miles hiked: 8 miles

It was unfortunately raining as we left Gatlinburg and headed west so we skipped 2 state parks (Falls Creek, Rock Island) that we originally planned to see. I always search along the route if there’s anything worth stopping by to see, typically an overlook or waterfalls. FYI: Dollywood is just outside of Gatlinburg if you are interested in visiting Dolly Parton’s theme park. We had enough of the touristy scene and couldn’t wait to visit the next place.

We decided to stop by Chattanooga as the weather cleared up a little and stopped for lunch at Sunset Rock. Since it was in the shades, there were puddles all over the overlook and not an enjoyable lunch with the constant wind. I was reminiscing about the time I visited with my family at the Lookout Mountain, which has the following attractions: Ruby Falls, Rock City (see 7 states views) and the Incline Railway (one of world’s steepest passenger railways). 

We continued another hour or two to the isolated town of Lynchburg to visit the Jack Daniels’ Distillery. Luckily we were able to move our tasting tour, Angel’s Share Distillery Tour, 2 hours up from 3:15pm so we could get into Nashville before it got too dark.

They took us on a walking tour where we learned how they make whiskey and enjoyed a tasting of 5 single barrel samples with a rock glass as a souvenir. 

We hit a little rush hour traffic getting into Nashville and stopped at a Hattie B’s hot chicken location for a “mild” chicken sandwich with crinkle cut and spicy mac/cheese.

We also stopped by for two slices of NY style pizza at “5 points pizza” as recommended by a friend.

We decided to check into our Airbnb (guest house) for the next two nights, just outside of downtown, in someone’s backyard with an alley access. Since it was a very quiet neighborhood, we would hear the neighbor’s dog barking and the train running through Nashville.

Since we only popped over to Kentucky for a few hours, I will include the Mammoth Cave NP adventure with the TN page. If we return to KY for more adventures then I’ll create a page later. We started our morning with some sweets at “5 daughters bakery” for cronuts (croissant + donut), not too impressed by this combo.

We also grabbed some more food at “16th bakery” (breakfast sandwich on warm biscuit, brookie (brownie + cookie, tastes like a brownie!) and a pumpkin cookie for the road.

1. Mammoth Cave NP (Kentucky)

We drove north 1.5 hours to Mammoth Cave NP “world’s longest cave” with 400+ miles underground! Did you know it’s another free park to visit?

There are many different cave tours you can take, read the descriptions carefully and plan your time accordingly. We checked in for the extended historic tour (2.5 hr) at 1030a, $18/person.

Ranger Aaron was entertaining and gave us background at each stop. As we stood in the darkness of the caves for over an hour, it started to give me nausea. We spent an extra 15 minutes checking out the tuberculosis (TB) huts where they used to treat patients with TB but the air quality was worse and they stopped experimenting after 5 months.

Then we squeezed through some narrow and low areas, before being amazed at some tall structures and climbing up a few flights of stairs to the top. We exited where we entered and it felt so good to see sunlight/breath fresh air after 2.5hrs.

2. Downtown Nashville

We drove back down to Nashville and checked out the Parthenon (although we plan to visit Greece one day for the real thing). We also stopped by the Farmer’s Market and Bicentennial Mall downtown.

We were still full from our bakery box this morning, we walked around Broadway st to hear live country music (Honky Tonk) and see all sorts of folks visiting from bachelorette parties to sightseeing.

We even drove by the AT&T tower and Nissan Stadium a few times. Football stadiums usually reside near major cities we have visited.

We enjoyed a bbq dinner at Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint (a location in downtown Nashville) and tried the Big Brother Sampler (4 ribs, 6 oz brisket mac/cheese and cornbread hocake – yummy)!

We packed up and left our lil airbnb guest house the next morning bright and early. We squeezed in a nice warm breakfast at “Biscuit Love”, which I would definitely recommend checking out. The “East Nasty” was a chicken thigh biscuit sandwich with sausage gravy – amazing! He had a sausage, egg, cheese biscuit. We also tried a dish of “bonuts” (biscuit + donut) with lemon mascarpone and blueberry compote, this tasted like heaven and I would get it again if I ever find it on the east coast! 

We stopped by Ozone Falls in TN to stretch our legs during this long day of driving from TN to VA.

It was a 0.6 mile total hike to a 110 ft fall, since there were no rain storms recently, the fall was just a trickle. You can see me on the far left corner of the picture below where I dared stand by the base!

There was also a time zone change as we crossed from CST to EST, so we lost an hour and had to skip visiting the Cumberland Gap, KY (check out the video on the NPS site). Another NP that doesn’t have fees!

We made it to Roanoke, VA, which you can read more about in my Fall 2019 section on the VA page!