Zoltan and I went to the Great Smoky Mountains in the end of May, to take some time off before I transit to a new company. We chose it because of several reasons: we have never been to the southern states but heard South and North Carolina have nice views, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of top most visited national parks in the States, I had a long vacation so it was a good time to go to a faraway place.

Day 1 - Arriving in Atlanta

We took a flight in the evening, slept in the plane, and arrived in Atlanta in the early morning. The first thing we did in Atlanta was to have a classic Southern breakfast. We were excited that the restaurant was owned by local Black people, though, we later realized that this is very common in Atlanta.

We then visited the Atlanta History Center to learn about the histories. The Swan House in the center was a nice addition. It vividly exhibited the upper class life after the Civil War. Apart from that, we also visited The Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama painting, CNN, and Georgia Institute of Technology.

We finished the first day in Georgia in a hostel close to downtown Atlanta. We were so exhausted when we got to the hostel, as the previous night’s sleep was short and rough, that we had a quick shower and went to bed immediately.

Day 2 - Driving to the smoky mountains

We checked out the hostel early in the morning, and had breakfast in a Waffle House. This chained store had so many branches in Atlanta that we had to try it once. It turned out to be average pancakes. After breakfast, we went to the Midtown for a walk before heading to the national park. The Midtown is probably the richest residential area. It had beautiful houses and clean streets, and was clearly separated from the external world, which was featured by broken windows, deserted restaurants, and trashes everywhere.

Then we went on the 3-hour drive to the smoky mountains. The drive was surrounded by green leafy trees.

Day 3, 4 - Oconaluftee

We arrived at the Oconaluftee visitor center eventually, and took an evening walk around the Mountain Farm Museum.

Since it was still bright, we went down the Oconaluftee River Trail. We walked and walked and met a deer in the creek, a herd of deers actually. That scene was touching for some reason.

We reserved three campsites close to the three visitor centers in the park. The first two nights was in the Smokemont campground, next to the Oconaluftee visitor center.

Next day was a day consisting of small hikes.

Morning hike in the Mingo Falls.

Then a longer hike in Newfound gap, which is part of the Appalachian trail. We met another deer in the trail, next to a primitive campsite.

Day 5, 6 - Sugarlands

We moved on to the Sugarlands district, and continued doing more hikes there.

The first attraction there we visited was the Clingmans Dome, which was the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains. The sign says that hikers doing the Appalachian trail often stop by here to enjoy the views.

Coming down from the dome, we entered the trail head to the Andrew’s Bald.

Before the nightfall, we explored the Elkmont Historic District. It was quite a disappointment TBH. The only thing left from the past was stone fireplaces that were not much different from the existing ones. The Appalachian Clubhouse were residential houses remade to exhibit the original looks of the vacation village. We thought it might be a better experience to make them usable rentable to tourists.

That night, we slept in the Elkmont Campground.

The next day was a full day hike in Alum Cave Trail all the way to the Mount LeConte. This is one of best trails I have hiked. In the beginning part, we were walking along a creek. Then came the forests. In the midway, there was a steep segment with stairs. A “grandpa” on the way described it as a “stairway to heaven”. Finally, we arrived at the top of Mount LeConte, where there was a working lodge. A guy asked us to take of photo of him in front of the LeConte Lodge dining room, which has the actual date on it, so he could prove that he did this hike every year on his birthday.

We did a horseback riding in the evening. We were the last group and the group was only the guide and us.

Day 7, 8 - Cades Cove

Our final stay in the national park was the Cades Cove, which was also the busiest district in the park. It is a 10-mile loop with multiple view points. We went there at the right time and were lucky to see mother bears leading two or three cubs several times. Because of that, driving was painfully slow.

We biked the loop with rental bikes the next day, and stopped in churches, local ancient houses, and Abrams Falls.

It was so hot during that two days that we had all the ice cream for the whole year.

Day 9, 10 - Deep Creek

Leaving the national park, we went on the way to the Fontana Dam. Because of road constructions, we had to go around the mountains to get there. The damn was gigantic and grand. There were very few tourists and the visitor center seemed to have been closed for a while.

After another long drive, we arrived at the last campsite Deep Creek Campground. We learned playing tetherball from a little kid. We had our first watermelon this year.

The next day we went for tubing, a new water activity we were eager to try, especially during the hot days in Cades Cove. There is a fast-running creek across the Great Smoky Mountains. It goes from the mountains and passes the campground. We rented tubes from the store, and first tried the creek segment next to the campground. The creek was much faster than it looked like, and the water was still cold despite the high temperature in the air. It was all natural but as much fun as water rafting in the Disney water park. In the end of the route, there was a cable across the creek and we used it to get back to the land.

After several rounds, we moved up to the national park route. We started somewhere above the Tome Branch Falls, passed many houses, and reached the campground. It was an adventurous journey, as the officially approved route ended in the parking lot of the national park, but we kept going beyond that line and was not sure if we would be able to reach our destination.

In the end of the tubing, it started to rain. It was a Sunday, so most families left the campground. We went back and moved our tent to a pavilion to avoid the rain. Camping is always more fun in windless sunny days.

Before the end of the day, we had the chance to check out the nearby city, which has a nice train museum.

Day 11 - Go home

On the way back to Atlanta, it started raining dogs and cats. We were lucky to have a mostly sunny trip. As we had time before the flight, we visited the Coke Cola headquarter and tried hundreds of coke variations.