They tell us that, in 1986, the road through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg Tennessee was a narrow, two-lane country road leading through the arts and tourism community of Gatlinburg and into the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. That was before Dolly Parton developed Dollywood as a job creator for people in her home town. Today it looks like this:
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| Pigeon Forge, TN |
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| Gatlinburg, TN |
To me Pigeon Forge is Niagara Falls on steroids. I'll let the pictures tell the story:
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| Even the Titanic was there |
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| Complete with iceberg |
It was all too much for us so we headed straight to the National Park. Such a beautiful spot.
We planned to drive the
Newfound Gap Road through the mountains to Cherokee, NC (in the car, not the Adventure Bus). It was closed due to a landslide.
And we hoped to hike up to
Clingman's Dome, the highest point in Tennessee to enjoy the view. It was closed due to ice and snow on the road in to the trail. But we had a great day never-the-less.
Not too far into the park we encountered this sign. Where on earth is this road going!?
Turns out we go through the tunnel then up around and over the tunnel. Pretty clever.
The first snow we've seen this winter.
The hiking trails were beautiful, with something for all levels of hiking ability.
Part way down this trail we encountered this sign:
NO DOGS! Oh well. So off we went to find a trail dogs could enjoy. This one was perfect. Straight up hill but that didn't bother our lame dog.
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| Will you two please hurry up! |
In the end we had a lovely day exploring parts of the park that were open and that welcomed dogs.
This was our last two-day stop on this winter's adventure. From Pigeon Forge it took us 5 uneventful days to get home. Until we came to the Cobiquid Pass in Nova Scotia:
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| Welcome home |
We will be in Nova Scotia until next October. While here I will be telling you about Nova Scotia and all the adventures you can find here.
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