Day 26 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Tuesday May 27th, day 26 of our 2025 summer adventure. Our group of 3 rigs grew to 4 when we arrived at Creekside RV Park. Our group grew by 1 more rig today, when Tim & Debbie Carroll arrived!

This morning involved a walk (for Lisa and I), laundry (for Lisa and Sheryl) and a trip to a quilt shop for Gaby, Sheryl and I, in downtown Sevierville. 

On the way to the shop from our street parking space, we passed an "Ole Smoky Moonshine", good thing it was 10 in the morning and it was not open yet! LOL

Gaby is the quilter, not Sheryl and I. But it was a nice shop with very helpful staff. There were "no picture taking" signs, but I snuck a picture of a panel that I liked. I took pictures of my friend in front of the store. Please notice, that she only has a small bag!

Our big trip today was driving Cades Cove scenic loop. This valley is surrounded by mountains, providing picturesque landscapes and opportunities for capturing beautiful photographs!

 

The 11-mile, one-way loop allows visitors to drive through the valley, with pull-offs and parking areas for exploring and taking photos. We saw too much wildlife for me to get out and walk around too much! I'll stay close to the car! 

Cades Cove Loop Road is one of the best destinations for wildlife viewing in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and many people hope to see a black bear during their visit! After all, these adorable animals are the iconic symbol of the Smokies and are fascinating to see in their natural habitat! We were lucky and saw a black bear early in our drive!

While there are about 1500 black bears in the Smoky Mountains, they do prefer to stay away from people in the mountainous terrain. However, you got lucky during our drive in Cades Cove and spotted another black bear! Tim even got out to capture a picture! Black bears are the staple figure of wildlife in the Smoky Mountains and people come from all over the world to try and take a glimpse of one of these majestic creatures. 

However, not many people know a lot about them besides that they are fuzzy and cute and hibernate in the winter. We picked the perfect time to take our drive. In the late afternoon hours between 3PM - 7PM, is a good time to see bears out collecting some food for their dinner! Just remember that bears are wild animals that are dangerous and unpredictable, so always keep a minimum distance of 50 yards!

Bears were not the only wildlife we saw. This turkey was just hanging out in the field! The Smoky Mountains are home to the eastern wild turkey, which is one of six subspecies of wild turkey that live in North America, and this subspecies has the strongest gobbles and longest beard of any of the other subspecies!

We even captured a picture of these elusive creatures! We stopped at the Cades Cove Visitors center.

We also saw a good sized deer in the woods. We saw it thanks to the woman on the road with a HUGE camera lens pointed into the woods! We got his back side!

The Cable Mill has become a symbol for the Cades Cove area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. John P. Cable built his water-powered gristmill and sawmill around 1870. It was one of several in Cades Cove that served about 670 residents. Mills played an important role in people’s lives, and families often looked forward to “mill days". 

A dam on Mill Creek directs water through a canal to the wooden flume that channels water onto the top of the mill wheel. This activates the mechanism for grinding corn with a mill stone. The same wheel powered a heavy reciprocating blade that cut logs. Such technologies made life easier for Cove residents. Many families had small “tub” mills that could grind enough for a family. However, mills like the one belonging to the Cables were larger and faster, if one was willing to give the miller a share of the grain. Mills also removed many back-breaking steps required for traditional log cabin-building.

Adjacent to the mill is the Gregg-Cable house built in 1879. This is the first and only remaining all-frame house in Cades Cove. All-frame houses were once popular in the cove but were removed after the park was created due to their more modern appearance. The Gregg-Cable house is believed to have been constructed using some of the earliest timber cut on the Cable Mill. 

A store was operated on the first floor by the Gregg family and later residents, Becky Cable and her brother, Dan Cable. Many of the products necessary for daily life could be purchased there without going to the larger markets of Maryville or Knoxville. Becky and Dan only ran the store for a few years before they sold the contents and turned it into a boarding house. 

Dan and his wife, Martha, were both ill, and they along with their four children lived with and were supported by Becky. After Dan and Martha died, Becky raised their children, which is why she was known to many as “Aunt Becky".

Back on the road, we ran into a "bear jam." Which is what the Rangers call it, when people see a bear and stop in the center of the one-way road! Some people took unique ways to see the wildlife! Black bears are huge! Well, they aren’t that big compared to their cousin, the grizzly bear, but they are still pretty big. A typical black bear is 3 feet tall and 6 feet long. Males weigh 250 pounds on average while females are much smaller at around 100 pounds. However, bears of over 600 pounds have been documented within the Great Smoky Mountains.

Black bears, like humans, are omnivores. Eighty-five percent of their diet consists of berries and nuts. The other part of their diet consists of insects and other animals, which is where bears get their protein from. We were lucky, or blessed again, as we saw another bear very close to the road. 

So close, there was a Ranger stationed there to ensure people did not get to close! She was about 50 feet from the road, but the tall grass kept her camouflaged! Mama bears are notorious for being protective of their young. What people do not know is that a bear can have between 1 and 6 cubs per litter. But most bears have only 2 or 3 cubs per litter.

Keep your eyes on the trees. Black bears love to climb. There are several food items that can be found up there. We did this and we were rewarded! In a tall tree, just beyond the bear close to the road were 3 cubs climbing! We soon figured out that the bear in the field was the mother of these little climbers! Seeing these three cubs was the icing on the cake of our tour on the scenic Cades Cove Loop.

On our way home, we stopped at the Townsend Wye. The Townsend Wye is the area where Lamar Alexander Parkway intersects with Little River Road. It is not only an important directional marker in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but also a point of interest for swimming, picnicking, and hiking in the warmer months. 

Most locals and visitors know the Townsend Wye as a popular swimming hole. It features several access points to reach the Little River with large pools big enough for swimming. 

We did not swim, not nearly warm enough for that ... but, we did put out feet in the water! Can you tell which feet below to the Florida girls?

We enjoyed dinner on our own in the campground and the rain kept our visiting down to a minimum. But tomorrow is another day for more Two Lane Adventures!