From Asheville we plunged into the developed wilderness of the Great Smokey Mountains. A quick stop for a few Hogzillas, and we were ready for anything the Smokeys threw at is, which were mostly tourists.

The scenic drive provided spectacular views and lots of loops and bends. The mountains themselves were beautiful, even the ground scorched by wildfires looked majestic. The drivers were less so. Gatlinburg, a town out of a bloated, southern Epcot, was not entirely depressing. How can you be depressed when from a street corner you can see a Chili's, Papa Johns, and Dick's Last Resort.

The first days hikes were not the most strenuous but were fine. We walked along a creek!

That night we stayed on a local campsite and were introduced to Southern Hospitality. We stayed next to Kenny and his wife, both from North Carolina about 2 hours out of Asheville. Kenny had been fishing all day and gave us his catch for us to fry (4 fish). He taught us how to properly fry fish, gave us the flour, gave us tips about the area, warned us about New Orleans, and later gave us marinated vegetables for the next day. We gave him a beer. And many thanks.

The next day we headed to a waterfall and then to a longer, 6 mile hike (the complete hike would have been 10 miles but we got hungry 😭😭😭). We learned what happens when 20 people jump in a pool, and made a quick stop for some fudge. We made our way then to a cabin for the night and had some river showers. The next morning we made a quick stop for breakfast (biscuits, grits, sausage gravy, eggs, sausage, butter) before heading on to New Orleans.