Skip to main content

2017 Southeast Trip Part 7; Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway

By
The day following traversing US 129 over The Dragon traversed through Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway.


I started the morning early in Alcoa and used TN 35 southbound to reach US 411 which I took to connect to US 321.



There was a fairly substantial fog on US 321 but I took it eastward to Scenic TN 73. 


I took Scenic TN 73 to the Townsend Entrance Road to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Apparently Scenic TN 73 becomes signed on the opposite side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 






I took Townsend Entrance Road to Little River Gorge Road.  The Little River Gorge Road was part of the Little River Railroad grade until the late 1930s and follows a river of the same name.  Little River Gorge Road has numerous waterfalls along the road which are easily observed from the side of the road or a short hike.







Little River Gorge Road crosses over the Little River in an area called "The Sinks." 






The Little River Gorge Road continues eastward on the south bank of the Little River before splitting away at Elkmont Road.  The road becomes Fighting Creek Gap Road which continues east to Newfound Gap Road which is the implied alignment of US 441 through Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  I had a hell of a view of sunrise and even had a run-in with a wild turkey on the roadway.






Newfound Gap Road traverses southbound rising rapidly high into the Great Smoky Mountains.  Newfound Gap Road doesn't have any US 441 shields but almost every map service has it listed on it.  Newfound Gap Road is one of the few roadways I've ever found a 360 degree road loop.















Newfound Gap Road was completed in 1932 but the pass had been known of since 1872.  Indian Gap Road was the previous road used to cross the Great Smoky Mountains which was built in 1839.  The implied alignment of US 441 into Newfound Gap into Tennessee wasn't extended over the Smokys until 1952.



Newfound Gap is at an elevation of 5,048 feet above sea level and marks the State Line of Tennessee and North Carolina.  There is plenty to see from the top in regards to vistas and historical information.













Cherokee is 20 miles southward from Newfound Gap.





The descent to Cherokee is particularly scenic with vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains.








I stopped at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center along Oconaluftee River to check out the Mountain Farm Museum.  Apparently Mountain Farm Museum is a collection of actual farm buildings that were present in Great Smoky Mountains National Park because the park was created.






Since it was early in the day and I had a lot of time of ahead of me I planned on some taking the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The terminus for the Blue Ridge Parkway is at the Newfound Gap Road at a crossing of the Oconaluftee River.



The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469 mile roadway between the Newfound Gap Road in Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Skyline Boulevard in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.  The Blue Ridge Parkway was built from 1935 in sections up until 1987.  The Blue Ridge Parkway is considered an individual National Park unit which was created in 1936.  The Parkway is known for it's high vistas and hiking trails.  I encountered all these vistas and tunnels between Newfound Gap Road and junction with US 19.














The Blue Ridge Parkway isn't exactly known for high speed limits but 45 MPH seemed fair given the huge mountain grades.





My ultimate destination was the Water Rock Knob Trailhead but there was plenty of vistas with worth while views still to stop at.









The Water Rock Knob is the highest visitor center on the Blue Ridge Parkway at 5,820 feet.  I had blown out my Achilles Tendon about a month prior trail running in Sequoia National Park.  I had recovered enough to the point where I thought that I could handle a 1.2 mile climb to the 6,273 foot summit.  I actually did run pretty much the entire trail which was a good sign for my tendon, by the end of the day I got about 5 additional miles in.  The views of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Blue Ridge Mountains were spectacular from the summit trail.















My next destination was in Asheville for lunch at a friend's house so I took the Blue Ridge Parkway to the junction of US 23/74 and turned east.







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 1915-era Teilman Bridge (the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge in California)

By
The Teilman Bridge is a semi-abandoned structure over Fresno Slough west of Burrell siding near the intersection of Elkhorn Avenue and Elkhorn Grade.  This structure is the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge constructed in California and was designed by Ingvart Teilman.  Teilman's Bridge would open in late 1915 when the Elkhorn Grade was the primary road between Fresno and Coalinga.  The structure would be replaced in 1991 but was left standing as it carries pipelines over Fresno Slough.  Part 1; the history of the Teilman Bridge In the early Twentieth Century the most direct highway between Fresno and Coalinga followed the Elkhorn Grade.  The Elkhorn Grade began at Fresno Slough a short distance west of Burrell siding.  From Fresno Slough the Elkhorn Grade followed a generally southwestern course through San Joaquin Valley into the Kettleman Hills towards Coalinga.   The Elkhorn Grade can be seen on the  1914 C.F. Weber map of Fresno Coun...
1 comment
Read more

The Dummy Lights of New York

By
  A relic of the early days of motoring, dummy lights were traffic lights  that  were  placed  in the middle of a street intersection. In those early days, traffic shuffled through busy intersections with the help of a police officer who stood on top of a pedestal. As technology improved and electric traffic signals became commonplace, they were also  originally  positioned on a platform at the center of the intersection. Those traffic signals became known as  " dummy lights "  and were common until  traffic lights were moved  onto wires and poles that crossed above the intersection.  In New York State, only a handful of these dummy lights exist. The dummy lights  are found  in the Hudson Valley towns of Beacon and Croton-on-Hudson, plus there is an ongoing tug of war in Canajoharie in the Mohawk Valley, where their dummy light has been knocked down and replaced a few times. The dummy light in Canajoharie is currently...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prunedale Road (Monterey County)

By
Prunedale Road is a short 2.6-mile-long frontage corridor of US Route 101 in the namesake Monterey County community of Prunedale.  Prior to 1932 US Route 101 bypassed Prunedale in favor of the San Juan Grade to the east.  Prunedale Road along with nearby Moro Road served as an alternative connecting highway between Salinas and San Juan Bautista.  Following the realignment of US Route 101 onto the Prunedale Cutoff the former through route along Prunedale Road would be rendered as a western frontage.   Part 1; the history of Prunedale Road Prunedale Road is located in and is named after the Monterey County community of Prunedale.  Said community was founded near the junction of San Migeul Canyon, Langley Canyon and Echo Valley.  Watsonville settler Charles Langley (namesake of Langley Canyon) was one of the prominent early community settlers.  The Prunedale Post Office would open for the first time in 1894 but would close by 1908.  Early agricu...
Post a Comment
Read more