Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee

October 30, 2023

It had been a while since we had nice weather for a travel day, so we very much appreciated the sunshine on our way to our destination in the Tennessee Appalachians. It was a long-ish drive, but the scenery was a notch above the Midwestern landscape we have had recently.

We were only in Indiana for about 5 or 10 minutes

As is often the case in the Ohio River valley, we suddenly encountered fog when we approached the bridge spanning the river.

Fog on the bridge to Kentucky

When we lived in this area, we often passed the Florence water tower, and it always made us chuckle a bit. The story goes that it used to say "Florence Mall", but there had been an ordinance against advertising on water towers, and a battle of sorts ensued. So, a compromise was reached...

A beautiful day on the Kentucky interstate

Our campground was located right off the Cherohala Skyway

We got in shortly before sunset

Our campground was situated near Indian Boundary Lake, and the next day we walked the campground loops and the trail that encircled the lake (3.3 miles around the lake).  The trail around the lake was quite nice and we ended up taking it several times during our stay.

Cute general store

Nice beach area

On Wednesday, we headed up the Cherohala Skyway to see the sights and take a couple of hikes. 

Rick taking advantage of the only cell service we had here

Crossing into North Carolina

As we ascended over the mountains, we found that the fall colors were past their peak here

We hiked a trail (2 miles) in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest in North Carolina. The forest contains many trees over 400-years-old, some more than 20 feet in circumference and 100 feet tall. The 3,800-acre forest was set aside in 1936 as a memorial to Joyce Kilmer (the author of the poem “Trees”) who was killed in action in France during World War I. 

A big tulip poplar tree

This one looks like it exploded after being struck by lightning

Lunch was had at an overlook we stumbled upon at the end of a long road up the mountain. The view was gorgeous.

We didn't have much company up here

These leaves couldn't decide whether to be yellow or red

Back on the skyway after lunch

We had hoped to "chase fall" this year--looks like we caught it! 😊

Back near the top of the mountain range, we took the Huckleberry Knob Trail (2 miles total) to one of the several "balds" in the Appalachian Mountains. There is considerable disagreement about the origin of these mountain-top grassy meadows. Some say the Native Americans created them, some say the early settlers cleared the land, and others say they are naturally occurring on some way. 

Not much fall color left up here

Driving back down to lower altitudes--fall color is back!

The rest of our time was spent mostly hanging out near the campground and enjoying the season while it lasted.

Sunset at Indian Boundary Lake

A little bit of sun shining on the distant hills

Happy Halloween!

There is a google group email list which can send you an email when there is a new blog post. Instructions for signing up here: Subscribe OR directly join here: Google Group