Carol and I made another day trip up into the Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee again. We continued on the loop that we did not finish the other day and then made the trip to the top of the mountain. You can drive up to about the 6,000 foot elevation and then you have to hike up a steep path another mile+ to get to an observation platform. From this point you can see all of the Smokey Mountains which boarder both Tennessee and North Carolina. What an awesome view from there as you can see from the pictures above and below.
Half way up the trail to the observation point we observed a mother bear and two cubs eating up in the trees. It was amazing to watch them. How those branches could hold them without braking was interesting. They know exactly where to step. Once in a while a cub would loose it's grip and slide down a foot or two, but they always managed to get their grip again and hold on.
Here are some pictures of an original grinding mill. It is still in operation now on a small scale. It is the most photographed thing in the park.
These are photographs of Grist Mill, different mill from the one above. It appeared that it would work, but was locked up. Just up the road from here we found a 4WD trail that climbed up through the woods. At the top, we found a large lake and further down the road the dam you see in the picture below.
What a great trip this turned out to be. We did not get back to camp until about 9PM that evening.
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