hikes,  historic,  outdoors,  travel

Cades Cove: Great Smoky Mountains

April 15, 2022 /

I think this was my favorite nature outing of our spring break. It mixed history, views and wildlife and I plan to come back next trip since you never know what animals you may encounter. Cades Cove is a 11 mile one way loop in the Smoky Mountains near the entrance in Townsend, TN. There are historic buildings you can visit, many side stops where you can pause your car and take pictures of the scenery and depending on which part of the day you visit more or less wildlife to observe.

We went on a rainy and windy afternoon since I knew we would spend most of our time in the car. I was also hoping that would mean less traffic (which was correct) and it turned out to be a great afternoon. The loop starts at horse stables and we spend a few minutes admiring the horses run and prance about. I think the weather filled them with energy.

We then made a stop by a log cabin and there were many deer in the fields. This was at the coldest part of our outing and it was downright chilly so I was so happy for our layers: sweatshirts and windbreakers.

We walked up to the cabin, the boys enjoyed going up in the loft and then retraced our steps to the car. We were hoping to see elk or bears in Cades Cove but I think it was too late or too early in the day. We did see a bear cub on the way to Cades Cove, he was a way off the road and really looked like a blurry fuzzy blurb!

We visited this old Methodist church and cemetery and showed our children how life span for infants was much shorter 150 years ago. We have always found it interesting to see when people lived and died and the really old tomb markers are really fascinating.

The wind was really strong and we were worried a couple of times about branches breaking off trees but thankfully there were no mishaps.

Wild turkeys were abundant! I think this is a perfect time of the year to see them: they were everywhere: a lot more females than males.

The cable grist mill was built in the 1860s. The mill redirects a stream to a wooden water wheel. This is the only original mill that has survived (there were 6 to 7 in Cades Cove at a time).

I think this would have been a great spot for a picnic. I will say that your experience in the Great Smokys can be greatly influenced by weather and time of the year as far as busyness. I would not want to come in the middle of summer  and at peak times when it is overly crowded. While it was spring break, we chose days and areas that we thought would be less crowded. Cades Cove might not be as fun if you are inching along.

Doesn’t all the green grass make you think of spring though? Our yard is still brown so this was a favorite of mine.

I will end with saying that Amy’s Creative Pursuits blog posts about her trip to the Smokys last year was a great resource for me to choose what we wanted to do. Just search her blog for the Great Smoky Mountains.

A bientôt!

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