Mountain Music

May 7-10, 2022

Long time, no see! Time to take you all the way back to May of 2022 to talk about our long weekend at Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Kind of like time traveling!

First up, though: the blog soundtrack!

After Atlanta, James and I made our way to the Great Smoky Mountains for some camping. It was the first time in this national park for both of us and we were definitely looking forward to spending some time in nature, unplugged, off of work and away from cities. We stayed at a campsite near Cherokee, NC. I think it was my first time seeing runoffs on the highway for trucks going too fast down the mountain and needing an area to slow down. We didn’t need them, thankfully, because James is a really good driver. :)

On day 1 we saw some elk, pitched our tent, hiked, and chased some waterfalls. The first water fall that we went to, Mingo Falls, was not where we thought it would be—and apparently we were not the first people that happened to. A sign on the side of the road said “No access to Mingo Falls, your GPS is wrong.” We eventually found it after following a few signs. The falls were gorgeous and did not disappoint. Worth the minor detour, condescending sign, and swaths of people.

We made some meals over our propane burner— our camping must-have! Thanks to our friends Erin and Eric for showing us theirs when we camped together a few years ago and thanks to my Uncle Wade and Aunt Jessie for the Christmas gift last year. It’s our favorite thing. We tried a backpacking meal from a company called Outdoor Herbivore, a recommendation by James’s Uncle Tom, and it was phenomenal. Definitely support this business if you’re going camping and want some easy meals! Just pour hot water into the bag, seal it, and let it sit. We’ve tried a few other brands and this is by far our fave. Plus, it’s all vegetarian and vegan. 🤗 After that, we built a fire and made s’mores because that’s what camping is for!

James with our new favorite camping meal

I only got mad trying to build the fire a couple of times!

Cooking breakfast over the bottle top stove

On day 2 we did some hiking along the Appalachian Trail and went to the observation deck. There wasn’t much visibility at the observation deck because the mountains are… you know… smoky. But we got a relatively sunny day so it was good to see! There were lots of AT hikers taking a break there and drying out their equipment. I’m still blown away every time I think about people hiking that entire trail.

View from the observation deck was a bit… smoky…

One really special moment was when we FaceTimed my family from the top of the mountains. They were all getting together at my brother’s house with my grandma so she could meet her great-grandson Bennett. I was sad to miss it but so grateful for the memories and photos. I’m so happy that they had this time together before she passed away in July. It was such a special moment. One of the pictures of my grandma holding my nephew is now the home screen background on my phone.

4 generations: My grandma, dad, brother, and nephew

Day 3 was filled with more hiking, more mountain views, more cooking food over a fire and camping stove, and a trip to the town of Maggie Valley! We had to stop and take a pic with the sign because obviously. We found another beautiful waterfall called Soco Falls that was kind of a random stop we decided to take when we saw a sign on the side of the road. It ended up being my favorite falls of the trip thus far (but to be fair we hadn’t made it to Niagara Falls yet). One picture that I took of James is now the lock screen background on my phone. Big weekend for phone backgrounds! It was definitely a memorable experience and a great first visit to the Great Smoky Mountains!

Maggie Valley was very quaint. We didn’t do much there apart from take a picture in front of the sign.

Maggie ButlerJanuary 22, 2023

Blog / Travel Journal

Mountain Music