The weather went a little bad on us today. We took off for Clingman’s Dome – the highest point in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park; to be precise, the highest peak in the entire Appalachian Mountains – but because rain was in the forecast the visibility was almost nil. When we actually got to the parking lot to hike the half mile up to the top of the Dome, we couldn’t see the other end of the parking lot… much less any mountains around us. Rats.

So, we went back down most of the way to Indian Gap. KC, Bob and Norma got out and hiked the remaining 1.7 miles down the Appalachian Trail to Newfound Gap; I, being the gimp, drove the car down to the Newfound Gap parking lot and waited for them. KC took the camera and has some excellent pictures. I began reading “The Last Jihad” by Joel Silverstein. They definitely got the better deal, but I knew I couldn’t do that hike.

After they got to the car, we all headed down to a “Quiet Walk“. The park is dotted with Quiet Walks and we just picked one. I went with the hikers this time and was glad I did. We ended up walking along a nice babbling brook – it was just beautiful. And we timed it just right; as we got to the car, it began to rain.

Next we went to the visitor center. I had remembered there was a waterfall close to the Sugarlands Visitor Center – the closest visitor center to Gatlinburg. No one else seemed to remember this, though. Luckily, my memory was correct – Cataract Falls was a mere 0.7 miles away from the parking lot. It was still raining, so we pulled out our rain gear (did I mention that Bob and Norma are/were scout leaders – “Be Prepared!”) and set out for Cataract Falls. These, too, were just beautiful. I know I’m using that word a lot, but there simply aren’t adequate words in my vocabulary to describe these scenes.

After getting back to the car, we headed in to Gatlinburg – we needed gas!! We filled up the car and then headed over to one of the many artisan’s places in Gatlinburg. We just kind of tooled around at these places until we decided it was time to get back to the cabin. Once there, we had another nice dinner – burgers on the grill with chips and veggies – and settled in to a quiet evening of a jigsaw puzzle that KC bought in the Sugarlands Visitor Center. Another great day!