Our Bridge

THURSDAY

For those of you that don't know, Gatlinburg is a very special place for Greg and me. 6 years ago on a bridge that spans a roaring creek Greg first told me he loved me, two years later he proposed to me there, and now 4 years later we brought Toby to that special place. So on Thursday after hiking a .5 mile paved trail near the creek, we drove the 7 miles up the Newfound Gap Road to visit the Chimney Tops Trail that is so special to us.

On our Bridge

The scenery from our bridgeThe bridge itself. Simple but beautiful!

FRIDAY

At 4 on Friday, we made the hour drive to Cades Cove. Cades Cove is a large field set in a valley in between the Smokies. Very picturesque! Once there we drove the 11 mile motor trail in hopes of spotting some of the wildlife which we were despritely hoping to see while on vaction. Cades has one of the highest concentrations of Black Bear and Deer in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The 11 mile trail takes 2-3 hours to do and it was well worth it. See the pictures below.

Cades Cove
Two Bucks: The one on the left was a 10pt and the other an 8pt. I was about 10 feet away from them. They were with 2 other bucks. It was incredible.

Our first bear sighting was of a momma bear and her two cubs. This is a pick of the cub. I have great video of this and if I can get it uploaded, you see just how close they came to us.

Our second bear sighting was of a lone bear out catching a bite to eat. It was awesome to see Bears this close. Evidently had we come a little later we would have seen many more.

A white tailed deer with some different coloring. She was a beaut!

Cades Cove was a wonderful (but long) experience. And well worth the trip!