American Travel Journal

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Look Rock Tower Trail - Foothills Parkway - Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A paved trail leads from a large parking area on the Foothills Parkway (West) to a concrete observation tower on Look Rock, the highest point (2641') on the western segment of Chilhowee Mountain. The trail climbs about 180 feet in ½ mile for a grade of over 6%. The round trip distance depends on where you park in the large parking area, but it is just over one mile. I made the trek in October 2015.

After leaving the upper end of the parking area, the trail crosses the parkway

While paved, the trail is too steep to be considered wheelchair accessible

Looking back down the trail

Leaves already cover the ground

Approaching the tower

View from the ramp

Another view from the ramp

The crest of Chilhowee Mountain

Clouds obscure the view of Maryville

Great Smoky Mountains

Some trees are still brilliant, while others have already dropped their leaves

More of the Great Smoky Mountains

The Look Rock air quality station is adjacent to the trail

Another brightly colored tree on the way down

There is no fee to enter Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Soco Falls - Qualla Boundary

Soco Falls is composed of two waterfalls plunging into a common pool. It is located about 1.4 miles south (compass west) of the Blue Ridge Parkway on US 19. A very small, blue information sign for the falls notes the falls is ½ mile on the left, but it is very easy to miss. There is no sign at the falls where a small, unmarked gravel parking area is located on the left side of the road. A guardrail and chain link fence have been built to keep vehicles and people from falling into the small gorge below the falls. Following the fence uphill will lead to a short dirt path down to a viewing platform overlooking the falls. A steeper trail, complete with a series of rope handrails leads to the bottom of the falls. Below the viewing platform, the trail can be very slick and extreme caution is advised, but the view is worth the effort. We visited in October 2015.

Top of the trail

Stair handrail

Viewing platform

Falls from the platform

Both creeks from lower on the trail

The trail follows the near creek for a bit

More of the near creek

Both falls from the bottom

Soco Creek below the falls

Soco Falls is the name for both waterfalls

A mesmerizing place

A parting view

There is no fee to view Soco Falls.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee tourism website is http://visitcherokeenc.com/.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Parkway in October MP469 to MP412 - Blue Ridge Parkway

After driving through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Newfound Gap Road, we drove the Blue Ridge Parkway from its southern terminus at US 441 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to US 276 before fading daylight forced us to call it a day. The autumn colors were splendid on our mid-October 2015 drive along the parkway.