RV Road-trip to the Smoky Mountains Day 3 - Roaring Fork Nature Drive & Hiking our first trails.
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Up early, quick breakfast and we were out.We were excited to get the exploration started after counting down the days for months. Again taking the advise of the Park Ranger we headed to Roaring Fork Nature Drive which included beautiful sights, several historic homesteads to explore and a relatively easy trail along the North Pigeon River. It took us a few extra minutes to find the start of the drive (signage surprisingly is not that great) but once we did it was amazing.River and cliff views started almost immediately and continued throughout the drive.
We took the advise of the ranger and did not enter the trails at the first trailhead as he said this would be more strenuous than the second entrance.What he didn’t tell is was this second entrance was actually closed , something we learned at the end of the trail as again there was no signage telling us we couldn’t use it . Oh well, no harm done. Not sure why it was closed as we had no issues or problems hiking it. It was rocky and rooted but other than that no problems.
When we merged to the 2nd trail we were met with such beautiful waterfalls throughout the trail. We hiked out for about 1 hour out and then turned around as we knew we had much more to explore.So glad we did as while heading back to the truck we saw a baby bear in the woods.I am sure momma was somewhere close by but we could not see here anywhere so we decided it was best to move along.It would be the only bear we would see all week so I am so glad I saw it when we did.
Leaving the trails we came upon the most gorgeous overlook and decided to have our lunch at this spot.When getting out of the truck I was shocked at the temperature change.It was about 15 degrees colder and very windy so we bundled up, lowered the truck bed and picnicked atop the Smoky Mountains.
After out picnic we headed further up and down the mountain exploring more homesteads and pulling over to photograph more waterfalls. About 2 miles from the end we came upon what ended up being the most beautiful falls just on the side of the road. Of course we had to pull over and take lots of photos and selfies.
Before we knew it we had completed Roaring Fork and had been out for almost seven hours so time to head back to the RV where we made dinner over the fire (BBQ chicken, potato and veggies) relaxed for little bit and headed to bed.Another day of exploration was waiting for us.
