3rd day on the Blue Ridge Parkway - Arrival in the Smoky Mountains

Today we visited the last section of the magnificent panoramic road. We bought some supplies for the road and off we went. Milepost 469 was the final destination for today.

Once again, we came across beautiful lookout points along the way. Unfortunately, we didn't find one suitable for a picnic, so we ended up spreading out in a picnic area that didn't offer a view of the beautiful mountain landscape. Just like everywhere else in the USA, the public toilets here were in impeccable condition.

With renewed energy, we continued towards the Smoky Mountains and reached the Graveyard Fields at Milepost 418. It was a valley with various hiking trails. We chose a trail called Upper Falls, which led us to a waterfall through the nearby stream. We completed the trail in about 1.5 hours. Despite the parking lot being crowded earlier, the visitors were spread out nicely throughout the valley. The weather was beautiful, and we were able to see many trout in the stream.

We continued by car, getting closer to the end of this beautiful panoramic road. However, before that, we reached the highest point on the entire route at Milepost 431. We were now at an altitude of over 1,800 meters. It didn't feel that high, maybe because we had been at similar altitudes for the past 2 days. Once again, our eyes couldn't get enough of the breathtaking view. At the same time, a touch of sadness emerged knowing that the journey was coming to an end.

We started descending noticeably until we reached Milepost 469. With heavy hearts, we finally left the Blue Ridge Parkway. Luckily, we were still paying attention to the road ahead, otherwise we would have collided with a wild animal slowly strolling across the road.

It took about 45 minutes to our accommodation. We passed through Cherokee, where it seemed like some kind of Native American sports event was taking place. The road was congested, and everyone was trying to catch a glimpse of the playing field.

We continued through Bryson City. From there, it was only about 20 minutes to our cabin. It was already dusk. The road started to ascend again while the number of houses decreased. Here, in the middle of the mountains, the asphalt road turned into a gravel road that was quite steep and narrow. So it took a while until we finally reached our destination.

We quickly parked the car and took a first look at the massive multi-story cabin. Impressive, such a construction here in the mountains. Since we wanted to go shopping that evening, we quickly unpacked our stuff from the car. We headed back to Bryson, where, on our 3rd attempt, we finally found a supermarket that had a expensive, but large selection of groceries. We stocked up on the essentials, including firewood and food for grilling, and returned to the cabin. Well, at least we tried to. It was pitch dark now, barely any lights were visible, and it was almost impossible to turn around. Everything looked the same in the darkness. Damn. A little despair set in. While Steffi tried to think clearly and find the cabin using the directions we had, Stefan simply wanted to drive on without a clear plan. So the minutes passed by as we kept driving around our destination. That's one way to spend the evening. Eventually, Steffi prevailed, and we took a closer look at the directions, and what can we say, there was an error that we didn't notice.

Finally, we arrived. The rest of the evening was spent grilling and dozing off on the couch while watching football...

Tired greetings,

Steffi and Stefan