Hike day one stopping at a picturesque stream
Hike day 2 to an incredible waterfall
Viewtopia in the morning
Viewtopia at sunset
Our morning surprise guest!
The first week of August Carolyn offered to have Grandma camp with Lauren, Quinten, Matt and Jack. These are her oldest four grandchildren. We decided to take her up on the offer and have a few days in the Smokey Mountains. We stayed at a one room cabin called Viewtopia. The pictures above show the beauty of the Smokey Mountains from our nestled cabin. Driving to the cabin required nerves of steel from both the diver and the passenger! Gravel roads with barely enough room for two way traffic and sharp turns going high up made the trip interesting. Mark and I hiked three straight days with me averaging over 17,000 steps each day! The heat was not intense as the mountains are naturally shaded though humidity was evident. We saw lovely waterfalls and streams. Mark wanted to bike the 11 mile Cades Cove loop which proved difficult with the elevation in the last third of the trip. I had to walk the bike on several hills which totally frustrated me. Mark was patient and waked along side me and the bikes. This was the first time I felt I was not a young person. One morning Mark yelled for me to come to the back window with such urgency I ran to the kitchen. He said "look at the porch". I literally jumped back as a full grown black bear was on the other side of the door searching for breakfast. The porch was small and if I had opened the door he would have eaten my hand! The next day I was nearly obsessed looking for him but alas he did not return.
