A cabin in the Smoky Mountains
Tuesday, October 26
For Lynne’s birthday she opted for a trip to the mountains of North Carolina and booked a cabin near the town of Murphy. We left Cincinnati at 6:30 encountering a little slowdown on the Brent Spence Bridge which was still undergoing maintenance. Smooth sailing in northern Kentucky. At Walton we stopped at a Denny’s for breakfast. Kentucky had a few areas of road construction but nothing that brought us to a halt. We did have a lot of rain as we headed south on I-75.At Corbin we took 25W to Route 90 to see Cumberland Falls. The rain kindly stopped for us and the fall colors as we drove through the Daniel Boone National Forest were gorgeous. On the way to the falls we saw a Google Streetview car with its large rooftop camera. Parking was no problem when we got to Cumberland Falls State Resort Park where we walked to the scenic overlooks of “the Niagara of the South”. Very pretty and we took plenty of photos and videos.Back on I-75 we had a foggy drive up into the mountains. After pigging out at Denny’s we opted for a light lunch at McDonald’s. Funny how fast food places seem to be the only option when searching for smaller portions. We exited on route 68 for the start of a long stretch of winding roads, entering the Nantahala National Forest and taking Runion Road for a shortcut to US 64 and the office of the Appalachian Land Company where we picked up a packet with the key and instructions for our cabin.
Continuing north on 64, we reached Murphy and took Hiwassee Street to Tennessee Street in the heart of town. Heading west we made our way to Hanging Dog Road and after a missing on our first attempt, headed up Cecil Timson Road to Cherokee Oaks Road, the latter a one-lane gravel road. Climbing up higher and higher we made it to Cherokee Ridge Cabin with its nice steep driveway.The cabin was well-appointed with a vaulted ceiling in the front room, gas fireplace, hot tub and game room. Once settled a bit from the long drive we headed back to town for groceries from Ingles and drive-thru from Taco Bell. Not exactly the fanciest dinner but we hoped to make it back to the cabin before dark and succeeded by a cat’s whisker.
Wednesday, October 27
Lazy start to the morning. Jim wasn’t feeling well, apparently the previous night’s burrito having not agreed with him. Eventually we decided to see Shoal Creek Falls based on a recommendation on a local website. We backtracked west on US 64 to North Carolina 894, the continuation of TN 60 we had come in on the day prior. From 894 we took Hiwassee Dam Road across the dam (along the way, businesses had names like “The Dam Store”). There was an overlook at the dam on the upstream side with a 43 ton turbine on display. Continuing past the dam we passed Prospect Road. Our directions had us continuing on our route “for several miles” to Morrow Rd and turning onto Prospect from there and we followed those directions.
Our directions called for a left turn onto Prospect Road followed by rolling the windows down and listening for the falls. We did as instructed and found the falls easily but what passed for a trail was steep and muddy. Jim went down to take pictures but Lynne stayed up top to save her knees. A few yards down the road we found a spot that had a partially obstructed view and called it a win.Prospect Road was a single lane strip of gravel. Rather than turning around to go back to Morrow we pressed forward. The road twisted and zig-zagged through the trees with occasional driveways, some paved with fancy gates, others simple sets of tire tracks. Fortunately after encountering a pickup truck at the falls where there was a pullout, we did not come across any other traffic and exited back at Hiwassee Dam Road near the overlook.After crossing the dam we turned down the road to the powerhouse and boat ramp. A walkway and grassy strip led us to picnic tables and a view of the dam from the river. The water level was low behind the dam and nothing was coming over the spillway other than one small jet of water near the dam’s base.
From the dam we backtracked to Murphy stopping for lunch at the Parson’s Pub. The food was excellent (Corned Beef and Cabbage for Lynne, Fish and Chips for Jim). Plenty of leftovers so we headed back to the cabin to put them in the refrigerator. We then headed to town and took the Andrew Johnson Highway to Tallulah Road. This took us through Robbinsville and past the Cheoah Dam, where the scene of Harrison Ford’s character in The Fugitive was filmed leaping to the river below.A scenic twisting drive along Cheoah Lake took us to Deal’s Gap and the Tail of the Dragon. This stretch of road features 318 curves in its 11 mile length. Jim drove the Odyssey across the tail and back. The road is popular with motorcyclists and sports car drivers so we enjoyed the absurdity of doing the route in a minivan but we one-upped when we saw someone taking an RV through on our return journey.Returning the way we came we decided to detour to see the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Grove which is said to have some extraordinarily large trees. Thanks to lack of signage at an intersection we instead ended up at an overlook of the Santeetlah Dam. With daylight fading we decided to forgo any more sightseeing and proceeded back along our route to Murphy and on to the cabin where a soak in the hot tub made for a relaxing end to a busy day of travel.
Thursday, October 28
We went to Royal Waffle King for breakfast where we waffled whether to head to a waterfall in Georgia or go to Bryson City to try our luck getting train tickets for a fall foliage excursion. We opted for Bryson City and drove up US 19 through the scenic Nantahala National Forest. In Bryson City we promptly made a wrong turn as is our norm but eventually found the train depot.We had no problems securing a couple of tickets in Coach Class on the noon departure of the Tuckasegee River Excursion to Dillsboro. The train was pulled by a pair of diesel locomotives on the way to Dillsboro with the steam locomotive 1702 making up the rear of the train. The route runs largely along the riverside for most of its run. We saw many colorful trees and lots of chickens, pumpkins and tomatoes. Near our destination we passed through the Cowee Tunnel before arriving in Dillsboro.In Dillsboro we had a 1.5 hour layover and ate spaghetti and meatballs for lunch at Kostas Express. Dillsboro was on the cold side, damp and windy so Lynne bought a hat at a craft shop on our way back to the train. Our car was named Sylva after the next town over from Dillsboro. The brakeman would periodically make his way through the car for announcements, anecdotes and opinions. We had the smell of smoke from the locomotive wafting through some of the open windows in our coach as we headed back to Bryson City.
Did some souvenir shopping after leaving the train. Everett Street, the road we had come in on, was blocked off for Halloween festivities and we joined a slow procession of cars making their way to Slope Street to get back to the highway. Stopped at Ingles to pick up some supplies for the drive home and a pizza to bake for dinner. Got back to the cabin and plunked ourselves down in the hot tub before eating.
Friday, October 29
Packing and cleaning the cabin before hitting the road around 7:00. We ran our route down in reverse dropping the key at the land office and heading through a damp and misty landscape back to I-75, stopping for a Burger King breakfast near Sweetwater. I-75 was on again, off again rain through much of Tennessee and southern Kentucky with sunshine as we neared Lexington.The sunshine was replaced by steady ran about an hour from Cincinnati. Traffic became a slow crawl as we neared the I-275 interchange. We took I-275 west to Indiana and on to Ohio, stopping to pick up some Skyline to put a proper end to our trip.
Milestones and highlights:
Cumberland Falls, tamed the Dragon and took an excursion on a steam train.
States and provinces we visited:
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Indiana.
Capital cities we saw:
None.
