Adventure in the Smokies

The last week in October, I headed to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with photo friends, Marshall and Clay. Our first stop was Cade's Cove, one of the first pioneer settlements in Tennessee, with log cabins built in the early 1800's. Three churches still stand in the cove and we visited the Methodist church and explored the area around it.
The next day it poured rain all day long which wasn't conducive to a photo shoot, but made the creek along Tremont Road full of water for the next day's shoot.
Later that day, we headed to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Smokies and in Tennessee. An early snow storm had hit the East and Clingman's Dome was covered in white! We arrived just before sunset and experienced a gorgeous winter wonderland.
Our last day we traveled to the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail just outside of Gatlinburg. While there are cabins to see here, the real view is the creek cascading alongside the road over and around huge moss-covered boulders. At some points along the trail, the creek is easily reached from the road, but at other points, it is a steep hike to the creek. This is such a beautiful creek, it is not to be missed by anyone visiting the Smokies.
The photo at the top of the page is Roaring Fork Creek.