It's hard to believe that we left for the Smoky's almost 2 weeks ago. It was a great vacation and I did learn something very important for future use. If it says it is a running or walking trail that's what it means and if it says it is a hiking trail with a moderate or hard degree of difficulty thats what it means(more on this later).
My 1st day of running consisted of running close to the hotel and i mean real close because the road up to the hotel was a very narrow 1 mi, straight up road that you had to share with very lge. trolley's. After breakfast Mary and I headed to the Mtns.and our 1st hike of the day. Our 1st hike was a total of 4 mi. roundtrip to the top of Laurel Falls on a paved trail. It was paved but it was all uphill to the top and Mary made it to the top and I was very proud of her! Next on to Cades Cove for some more hiking and looking for bears(we did see several also).We came to the Abrams Falls trail next and Mary decided to sit this one out. It said a moderate hike that would tkae 3-4 hrs. round trip. I decided to put my new Brooks Cascade trail shoes on and run it(1st mistake). I started out running at a good pace, the trail was fairly flat and smooth and I crossed a bridge and ran beside a river and the trail started climbing. This is where my problems started because now I really was on a trail with stumps,roots and very lge. rocks to dodge know that if you fell you wou have time to shave 4 times before you hit water or ground, Of course I did take a very hard tumble and scraped my knee up plus I landed on a big rock and must have bruised some ribs in a bad way. After I fell did i use some sense and hike the rest of the way-oh no not me I started out to run the trail and I ran it. I managed to make it to the top and back without any more mishaps but I was beginning to feel the effects of the fall. By the way it was a 5 mi. round trip to the top of the falls and back and well worth it for the great photos i got.
The next two days were filled with doing the usual tourist stuff with a lot of walking and looking. I did find a running trail that went thru the park from Gatlinburg to the Sugarland Ranger station. It was smooth and only a few small hills and a 4 mi. out and back run. I ran it and Mary walked parts of it and we also did an easy hike to Cataract Falls(it was easy until I climbed to the top of the falls). We also took a ride on the Great Smoky Mtn. Railroad. We did this on Saturday and Sunday because I had bigger plans for Monday.
Monday was my big hiking day. I had decided I wanted to do some serios hiking so I se out by myself(Mary was spending the day in the arts district.) My 1st hike was to the Chimney Tops. It was a difficult hike for me but I made it to the top. Next I went to Newfound Gap on the TN. and NC. border and hike a trail that took me to the Appalachain Trail. I hiked some on it then hiked backed to the car. Next I drove to Clingmans Dome and went to the top of it and along the way found some more trails and hike on the Appalachain trail again(cross that off my bucket list-not the whole trail but just hiking on it,) According to my Garmin I hiked a total of 12+ mi. this day but the next morning it felt like I had run 25. My ribs where I fell on them would only hurt really bad at night but they caused me discomfort all day running and hiking.
We left on Tue. for Charleston and the running there was great. Running along the river you get to see Rainbow Row and the battery and you can also see Patriot;s Park. and Ft. Sumter from the road. Running the museum mile you run thru a lot of history and see a replica of the Hunley submarine. Our last leg of our trip was Nashville(one of my very favorite cities). I ran mostly around the hotel here because it was so big. We did go to the Grand Ole Opry(cross another off my bucket list)and had a great time.
This is a long post for me I know but it seems like we did a lot in such a short period of time.I am ready to go back and hike some more trails and see some more sights.
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