It was a beautiful fall day when we headed for Montreat for a short visit with Sam and Nancy Hope. The colors were glorious when we arrived. We had a great walk with Nancy down by Lake Susan where we saw the swans and the Mandarin duck. Had dinner and Hawaii pictures and in the morning we were up early and caught the stunning color of the sunrise on a cloudy day. This picture really misses the peak. Then off to Tennessee and my sister, brother-in-law and Gretchen....in the clouds.
When we arrived at Judy and John's it was to a fallen tree across the top of the driveway. Fortunately, John had run to the store so it didn't land on their rental car! Judy had called him and he bought a chain saw and the two John's and Gretchen went to work. The tree had poison ivy growing up the trunk so gloves and care were in order! As is was cloudy and the park had been packed, we had a leisurely happy hour on the porch and an evening of talk and catching up.
Saturday was still cloudy but we headed to the Tremont Road and a hike up the trail to the Indian Flats waterfall (the big one falling into the large pool). It follows the Middle Prong Little River up the hill and it was roaring! Went by the Lynn Camp Prong Falls along the way (the one on the flat rocks). Sunday we were going to head up to Clingman's Dome but it was bumper to bumper traffic so we went back to the Sugarlands Visitor Center and did the nature trail there and the Catarac Falls trip. There was one of the old abandoned homes along the way. And the SUN WAS SHINING!! On the drive back, John was looking for "sparkly" water pictures and saw a blue heron sitting on a rock. Another great day!
Monday morning we were out the door at 6:30 so we could be at Cades Cove before they opened the gate at Sunrise. Turns out we should have left earlier...we were car number 65! Cades Cove is a one way road that winds through the valley where there are restored houses, churches and barns from the original settlers here. It's also a wonderful place for wildlife. We did see 45 deer and 68 turkeys, but no bear this trip (except Gretchen who saw 2 at the Laurel Falls walk). These bucks with their great racks were very nice! The Abrams Falls trailhead is about half way through Cades Cove so we returned there and walked to the falls (the one with all the color around it!) It too was roaring compared to what we saw in June when we were here with all the Wolcott clan. Also, much cooler along that shady trail. We headed home for happy hour and Gretchen, John Wolcott and I finished our second puzzle (a tradition to do jig saw puzzles while here) watched a little football before heading to bed. Tuesday morning we packed up and headed home. Gretchen also left and stopped at the Laurel Falls walk and got lucky with the bears! It was rainy and foggy on the Blue Ridge but we did get some great pictures. We had a safe and uneventful trip home despite the continuous rain. Thanks to the Wolcotts and Gretchen for yet another super trip to the Smokies!
