Day 30: Gatlinburg, TN to Charleston, SC

TStops:

Great Smokey Mountains National Park,TN/NC

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC

The Great Smokey Mountains NP is actually split almost equally across Tennessee and North Carolina and the largest  NP east of the Rockies just over a half million acres.  It is located within a day's drive for 2/3 of the population of America.  It is also the most visited park with 11 million visitors annually.  I'm sure the reason is because of its closeness to so many people, and of course it's beauty.

So why is it called the Smokey Mountains?  It's not because of smog pollution, although there is some of that there now.  It's from the fog that hangs there and appears as large smoke plumes which are a result of plants exhaling chemicals that have high vapor pressure.  The fog and haze gives the mountains a blueish appearance, despite all the green trees.

The 3rd highest peak in the park is called Clingman's Dome.  The 360 degree viewpoint is worth the short, but steep hike. Get there at sunrise or sunset or shortly after for an amazing view. Along the way, you may run into snails on the path.

70 miles of The Appalachian Trail go through the park and AT hikers have said it to be the most beautiful part of the AT trail.  Part of the trail goes next to Clingman's Dome.  Another part goes by Newfound Gap where you cross from one state to the other.  We decided to hike from Indian Gap to Newfound Gap, about a 3.4 mile in and out.  During the process, we crossed from state to state.  Newfound Gap is where FDR declared the Smokies as a National Park.

The road follows a stream most of the way and I recommend stopping at least once and listen and watch it. So relaxing.

At the Oconaluftee Visitors Centers is a great example of a a 19th century farmstead.  It'll make you appreciate the modern coveniences of today, but have you missing the organic food and a closeness to the land.

Here, you can also catch the Blue Ridge Parkway as well.  It is the starting point and goes all the way north to Shenandoah NP in Virginia.  Noted as America's scenic byway, I will disagree here and say that I've  seen much more scenic drives in both New York State and the Western USA, but we did part of the byway and enjoyed it.  

The next part of our journey was completely unplanned, but purely based on wanting to travel coast to coast. Charleston, SC, here we come.

We stopped at a rest stop at some point near Columbia, SC to try to make a quick mac and cheese dish in Moby, but all the while I had a strange vibe with a man staring at us for almost our entire time there.  Why was he there for so long? Did people at rest stops really rest for 30 to 40 min? I know I never have. We usually go to the bathroom and get some travel info and then leave.  I wrote it off, but as we were just about ready with our mac and cheese, some guy came up to the van and started staring inside.  I thought he was casing us looking for weapons or valuables, but I've got a hot pot of macaroni that I'm mixing up with cheese and can't do much.  He proceeds to to ask for help with something and I told him that I'm a little busy at the moment.  He leaves, but I'm already creeped out, so we serve up the mac into bowls and make an immediate run for it down the highway, never looking back.  I mean isn't that how these things get started. A stranger lures you outside of your safe area and then bad things happen.  We have pepper spray with us, and this is the first time I had considered using it.  Note to self...don't stay too long at rest areas. They really ought to call these "short break and get the hell out" areas.

We finally arrived in Charleston where my memory was suddenly jogged about palmetto bugs. That's probably because of all the palmetto trees and SC's state flag.  My wife had never heard of these but basically, they are flying cockroaches.  Just as soon as we found our Wal-Mart for the night and got out of the van, sure enough, there it was....and they aren't scared of people either. They will come after you.