Friday was a travel day with a plan and, unusually the plan worked. We left early to avoid as much of the heat as possible and to arrive in Pigeon Forge about 2:00 so we had a chance at a restaurant, both seating and parking. Our choice was Five Oaks Farm Kitchen. At 2:00 the side lot was open and we had a very nice meal. Five Oaks is really good. Then with a fill up of gas we drove to the campsite in the Smokies, Elkmont. Nice site and just did a walk around the camp ground. One major plus, our new batteries work the inverter so even with no electric hookups we made coffee and used the microwave.
Saturday morning we did a long hike. Took the Little River Trail past several chimneys where houses on the Millionaire’s Row from the early 1900s. The river was very full for August. We saw only a handful of people. One fisherman walked about 2.5 miles to his spot and we watched him getting set up. The return was up, the operative word, on the Cucumber Gap trail - pretty deep forest but no vistas, and it lead to Jake’s Creek Trail by historic Elkmont. Neat the old village we agian walked past many chimneys, the only remnants of Society Hill. Historic Elkmont is tomorrow.
The sun was in our eyes, when it came up, along the river but this jumble of stones covered in green/yellow moss caught our eyes.