Hendersonville, NC - Dear friends and reminiscing in their beautiful retirement homes

We love this beautiful hilly, mountainous area and enjoyed sharing funny stories and photos from almost 40 yrs ago in Baumholder, Germany where our friendships began. Reminiscing with special people in beautiful homes is such a joy!

Greenville, SC - visiting with dear friends, BMW - Spartanburg tour and Golf

 

Short afternoon walk and then leaving The Great Smoky Mountains for Greenville, SC tomorrow!

 

It’s been a great trip so far

 I can’t let kim have all the fun

So far we’ve enjoyed fishing in Hiawasee GA, lots of great drives through incredible mountains, some really great hikes and a visit with my oldest friend and his partner. Great Smoky Mountains national park is spectacular. I want to expand a little on our bear sightings in Cade’s Cove. There were several bears grazing in the meadows. One ranger said that one of the bears that we saw was a sow and the Cubs were with her but we couldn’t see them because the grass was too high. There were a lot of people and the rangers try to be around when bears are sighted to control the people. People will do really dumb stuff and these mama bears are nothing to fool around with. A short way further on the drive there was a mama bear with three cubs. She walked across the road just a couple of cars ahead of us. The three little bears were so great to see. They were running around and playing, one climbed a little way up a tree. She kept going further into the woods and they were out of sight. In order for a female bear to have three cubs she needs to be really well fed in the fall. Bears will self abort if the mama does not have enough fat to support them. Three cubs that came out of the den with mama just this last spring. This was one of the coolest wildlife sightings of my life. It was so cool to see them and we were so close incredible!!

Clingmans Dome, elevation 6644 Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina

Also, Cades Cove Loop, an area of early settlement before the creation of the National Park. Enjoyed seeing a mother bear with three Cubs, Elks, deer, toad and rat snake today!

 

Cataloochie Valley hike - remote and less crowded portion of the Great Smoky Mountains

 Enjoyed driving thru Maggie Valley and up to the Cataloochie Valley. Very historic as it was the site of the largest settlement in the area before the Park came into being.....A few buildings remain now. Moderate 7 mile hike with lots of water crossings and old growth, huge poplars and hemlocks and many more! Oh yes, an elk too.

Trout dinner, casino, Mountain Farm Museum - Cherokee, NC

 Fun day! They stocked trout in the pond next to the campground, nice people gave us fish, we won at blackjack at the Harrahs Casino, enjoyed a good trout meal and met some wonderful folks today. Hiking tomorrow!

Enjoying the Great Smoky Mountains.