We went to bed last night to a downpour. We woke up to a downpour. And did it ever pour! It was the kind of rain that overpowered the sound of Little River rushing over rocks and boulders. It rained, and it rained, and it rained. Finally, around 1:00p, it started to let up a bit. So, we considered our options. We could go to the Heritage Center; but the ongoing drizzle and possibly soggy ground was a deterrent. We could stay at home; but we wanted to get out for some fresh air and a change of scenery. We could go for a drive. Perfect, see some sights in the park and stay dry in the process.
At the Cades Cove/Gatlinburg split a short distance inside the Townsend entrance to the park, we turned left to head towards Gatlinburg. We didn’t know if we’d make it all the way there, but we wanted to see what we could uncover on Scenic Highway 73, which runs alongside Little River. Of course, I couldn’t resist a couple of river shots.
After all that rain, there’s no lack of water flowing downriver.
As beautiful as the flow of the water is, it is endangering the trees along the riverbed by exposing their roots and eroding the soil that is supporting them.
Our next stop was at The Sinks, which is better described as a big cascade rather than a waterfall. Regardless of what you call them, the turbulent waters rushing down into the gorge are very dangerous. The currents are strong enough to trap victims underwater and keep them there. I saw some photos of kayakers running the chute; all I can say is that they must be nuts to attempt something so obviously risky. We didn’t see anyone jumping into the water from the nearby cliffs, nor was anyone wading, but it’s apparently not unknown for people to do both despite the warning sign posted in the parking lot. People have drowned here; most recently a 17-year old girl last summer. She was wading when she slipped and fell into the water. Other visitors tried to save her by forming a human chain, but their efforts were to no avail.
A path hidden by the trees rewards us with this view.
Despite the ongoing drizzle, we find a dry spot for a photo op.
Mui has a request for proposals (RFP) out for events he’s organizing in May. When we returned to the car, he had a message on his Blackberry that there were 43 questions from vendors interested in bidding for the job waiting to be answered. We could have continued with our plans for the afternoon and he could have done his work the next morning, but it seemed like a better plan for him to get the job out of the way on a drizzly afternoon.
Thus we set off back to the campground, almost missing a great photo op along the way. Mui’s eagle eye, however, caught a tiny glimpse of a treasure hidden by heavy brush on the far side of the river. When I questioned why he had pulled off the road, all he would tell me was to take my big lens and the tripod, and walk back a few feet. The big lens immediately made me think that he’d seen some wildlife, but it turns out that he’d seen a waterfall. Yes, more flowing water pictures follow :-)
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The picture on the left shows what caught Mui’s eye as we whizzed by at 30 mph.
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At full zoom I can get only two of the cascades that make up Meigs Falls.
visitors can hike to many of the falls in the gsmnp; this one can only be seen from the road.
[though I’m partial to the B&W treatment, I couldn’t decide between the two photos,
so you get to see both.]
After this last stop, we drove back to the campground without dallying further. Despite the light rain, we settled ourselves at the picnic table on the covered deck with cups of hot chocolate and our laptops. While Mui did his work, I processed photos and tried to catch up on my reading — a lost cause, I’m afraid.
All in all, cutting our outing short was the right decision. If the local forecast is to be believed, we have a really great day ahead of us to finish exploring the heritage sites on the Cades Cove Loop.
(By the way, for those interested, gas for the toad in Townsend today was $3.69/gallon.)
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