Traveling through Cades Cove - The Scenery & Wildlife

Late one afternoon of our trip to Gatlinburg, The Farmer asked if I wanted to go somewhere and take pictures, like up on top of Clingsmans Dome. I decided I’d rather take a drive through the Cades Cove area. I’d read somewhere it was only about an 11-mile loop, so figured we had plenty of time.

However, it was further away than I was thinking, so it took us somewhere between 30-45 minutes to even get there. We stopped at a station at the beginning of the loop, picked up some information, and got started.

My first inkling this was going to be a longer “project” than expected was when I read during the fall tourist season, traffic could be heavy and it could take 2-4 hours to complete the loop.

Uh-oh. Now whose bright idea was this? Oh yeah… mine…

The scenery was lovely, even though the leaves on the trees hadn't changed colors for the most part.

It didn’t take long to spot some deer.

In fact, we saw numerous deer at various spots throughout the drive.

We also saw wild turkey (picture in previous blog entry), but never saw any bears or foxes that were mentioned as possible wildlife sightings. Too bad, I’d love to see a bear in the wild.

It was a pretty drive, but it was busy, and with people stopping to look at the deer and stuff, it took a long time to travel those 11-miles.

There are also various old buildings, and we stopped and looked through the Cable Mill historic area, located about half-way through the loop. Stay tuned for a description and pictures, hopefully coming soon!