As Promised

While we were in the mountains we hiked over 38 miles of trails. And let me tell you, for us flatlanders it was pretty tough. Most of them were all uphill. But in the end they were all worth it. The views were spectacular.This view is in the park on New Found Gap road. It's a main thoroughfare to Gatlinburg from Cherokee, NC. We usually always stop here along with every other visitor to the park. If you enlarge the pic you can see the road we came in on.This is the first of 3 pics from Gatlinburg. The streets looked bare when we first arrived. One thing we like about this place is once we park the car seldom do we move it. It's definitely a walking town. In this picture though you can see one of the trolleys they operate. So walking is optional.This little shopping area is called "The Village". It houses The Donut Friar which has the best donuts in the world! It's such a nice sitting area for watching people. Plus look at all the New Guinea Impatiens. It was landscaped beautifully.Here's a picture of the fountain at night.(Enlarge for better viewing). Pretty huh?After we settled into our hotel we decided to hike from Gatlinburg to the visitor center. The trail is easy to walk and has beautiful views such as this.The sound of the rolling water was music to our ears. Sometimes you just have to stop and listen. Once we arrived at the visitor center we took another small walk to Cataract falls. (Betsy, I thought of you. I figure you have seen these falls before). This would be the first of 3 different falls for us this trip.Along the walk back I had to take a few pictures of some of the flora. Ferns dotted the path all the way. I loved the way the sun highlighted the white rhododendron. And the mountain laurel was blooming everywhere. Our first day in the mountains was wonderful. Hope you come back to see more.