When I think of the Great Smoky Mountains, I think of hiking, of green trees and the crackle of a campfire in the evening. Apparently though, other people don’t. Gatlinburg, gateway to the Great Smokys, situated on the boundary of the national park is one of the most hyper commercial towns I have ever been to. If Vegas, the Melbourne Show and the Circus had lovechild, this would be it. Almost all buildings in town are decorated with some kind of tacky theme, like redneck hotels, circus themed restaurants and titanic museums. There were more multi-level go kart tracks then I could count, fantasy mini-golf, Ripley’s believe it or not, an aquarium, a mysterious mansion, Ripley's Davy Crockett Mini Golf, mirror mazes, candy factories, 5D movie theaters (I’m not even sure how that is possible?) a penguin enclosure with real, live African penguins and the list goes on and on. There were also so many different dinner shows, that I lost count. We decided that this must be where actors come to die.
Unfortunately, our budget didn't stretch to watching Bill Gladwell "The Mentalist" in action, or to Hillbilly golf, so instead we laced up our walking shoes, and hit the trails in the park. Considering how busy Gatlinburg, and the picnic areas inside the park were, once you moved more than 500m up any of the trails, you had the place pretty much to yourself. In two days, we managed a very respectable 36km, up a portion of the Appalachian Trail resulting in sore legs, and a feeling of satisfaction. It was nice to get out and walk a bit after spending so much time in the car, and was also nice to camp in a national park, instead of a Walmart car park for a change.
Unfortunately, our budget didn't stretch to watching Bill Gladwell "The Mentalist" in action, or to Hillbilly golf, so instead we laced up our walking shoes, and hit the trails in the park. Considering how busy Gatlinburg, and the picnic areas inside the park were, once you moved more than 500m up any of the trails, you had the place pretty much to yourself. In two days, we managed a very respectable 36km, up a portion of the Appalachian Trail resulting in sore legs, and a feeling of satisfaction. It was nice to get out and walk a bit after spending so much time in the car, and was also nice to camp in a national park, instead of a Walmart car park for a change.