Mingo Falls, Cherokee Reservation, North Carolina

Day 1468

     It was a beautiful fall day. Covid was in the air. Time to seek out a waterfall. 

     Mingo Falls, from the Cherokee’s name for Big Bear, cascades 120 feet down the mountain. 

     The falls is on the Cherokee Indian Reservation and located on Mingo Creek before it empties into the Oconaluftee River.

     We took The Pigeon Creek Trail to Mingo Falls. The hike to the waterfall runs alongside a rushing stream. 

     The trail is short, but you must climb 161 steps. At the top of the stairway a short path past rock outcroppings leads to a viewing area at the base of the falls.

     The trail is 0.25 miles long and is moderately difficult, unless you have been sitting around the RV for 9 days, then it is very difficult. I didn’t tell Barbara I was beat, but each time she said she had to rest I said “oh, ok.”

     Tidbit of Information: There are over 250 waterfalls in this part of North Carolina. Mingo Falls is considered one of the most spectacular. To be honest (of which you all know me to be) some of those falls might only be 10-20 feet, and some, like Indian Creek Falls (see Day 1402), I would not classify as a waterfalls, more like a water slide.

     It is quite impressive, though, as I stated before, being in the Smoky Mountains there are hundreds of streams and creeks, including one right behind our RV. 

Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Day 1459

     Today’s blog is about our trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway, in The Great Smoky Mountains, to reach the highest point. That means you are going to learn more than you probably want to about this parkway and mountains.

     The Blue Ridge Parkway was the first national parkway to be conceived, designed, and constructed for a leisure-type driving experience. It connects The Shenandoah National Park in Virginia with The Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.  Running from Skyline Drive, Virginia to Cherokee, North Carolina, it is the longest road planned as a single unit in the United States.

     Begun during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the project was originally called the Appalachian Scenic Highway. Work began on September 11, 1935, near Cumberland Knob in North Carolina. On June 30, 1936, Congress formally authorized the project as the Blue Ridge Parkway.

     The Parkway meanders for 469 miles of which we drove 73 miles today. It runs mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The road is carried across streams, railway ravines and cross roads by 168 bridges, 26 tunnels and six viaducts. Elevation ranges from 649 feet at James River in Virginia to 6,053 feet, the highest point on the parkway, at Richland Balsam in North Carolina, which is here:

     I was able to stand on the tippy top of the mountain.

     The mountains of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina are blanketed with a smoky haze that gives the region an almost magical quality. The Smoky Mountains are home to millions of trees, bushes, and other plants. The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oil, which, in combination with dust particles and water vapor scatter short-wave length rays of light which are predominantly blue in color. The blue light that is scattered from the sky is between you and the mountains causing the mountains to look blue.

     When European settlers arrived in the early 1800s, they took inspiration from the Cherokee language when they named these mountains The Great Smoky Mountains.

     Tidbit of Information: You will notice there is no “e” in Smoky. Now you can call them the Smokey Mountains, as do many of the locals, especially here in North Carolina, but the more prevalent Tennessee spelling is “Smoky” and that was chosen as the official adjective of the park. Perhaps it was a cost saving measure. The elimination of all of those “E’s” over all those years must have saved a small fortune on signage and printing costs. I mean, that could be millions of “E’s” saved over all of the years since the park was dedicated. And when you think about it, it’s not smoke at all. It’s mist, or fog, or ozone and other greenhouse gases being emitted from the foliage. But the Cherokee named the range Shaconage which roughly translates to the place of blue smoke. (Richard Weisser).   

Johnathan Creek, Maggie Valley, North Carolina

Day 1449

     Johnathan Creek is a babbling, frolicking little creek that alternately rushes and meanders along its course through the Great Smoky Mountains. We hiked the part the goes through Maggie Valley, North Carolina. 

It use to be farmland around here.

But time has taken it’s toll:

Some of the older homes are pretty neat.

This modern house was just completed on the creek:

     It has all the modern conveniences you can ask for, including a Jacuzzi and hot tub that looks over the creek.

     Unfortunately, when everything was said and done, they realized they forgot to put in a bathroom. 

No problem, they improvised:

Still Here in North Carolina

Day 1447

     We have been here now since July. The pool was supposed to be finished when we arrived.

     No progress in the last 4 months.

     The campground normally has many activities, but most have been cancelled because of the china virus.

     However, today they did have a New Year celebration.

     I guess they had leftover decorations. There was entertainment.

     Sparsely attended.

     Plus it was chilly.

     He was Ok, but won’t make the circle.