Petits Cadeaux: Appalachian Adventures

Bringing your attentions back to the United States (for now), I present to you the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located in the east of Tennessee, hugging the Tennessee/North Carolina state line. This magical place holds lots of personal and sentimental value for me, as I’ve been camping there every summer with my family for as long as I can remember. Spending a week of every summer plunging into icy rivers and rinsing off a thick lather of Dr. Bronner’s (all natural) peppermint shampoo, horseback riding through rolling hills and forests, and playing charades with cousins by a campfire while the crickets sing has truly been a treat. If I ever have children, I plan on taking them up to the mountains so that they can experience the magic too.

Thousands upon thousands of people visit the National Park every year, whether to hike in the park’s nature trails (some of which lead to breathtaking waterfalls), or to camp in one of the park’s ten frontcountry campgrounds, which provide restrooms, cold running water and flush toilets as well as 5-amp electric hookups in some sites. For the adventure seeker, there is also backcountry camping for backpackers.

There are so many beautiful sites to see while visiting the Smoky Mountains! Located within the National Park, Cades Cove is the sole destination of many. An eleven mile one-way road takes tourists back in time to when the area that is now the National Park was first settled, featuring the original log cabins, barns, and churches that were built over a hundred years ago. Cades Cove is also known as a prime spot for wildlife enthusiasts, and is abundant with white-tailed deer, black bears, elk, and a variety of other woodland creatures.

Even in the midst of all the tourists, park rangers, and structures present in the park, there is definitely a sort of ancient, wise, untouchable magic that is present in those mountains. While taking a stroll through the woods, or sitting on a boulder by the rushing Little River surrounded by greenery and wildlife, this magic becomes very real.