Fall Drive Through the Smoky Mountains

On Saturday, I decided to take a “little” 11ish-hour drive through the fall color in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee.

All the pictures in this post were taken with my new Pixel 3 phone! This trip was equal parts trying out my new phone, catching up on podcasts, getting out of the house after having Mono, and enjoying peak-season fall color.

THE PLAN

My overall plan was to make a big circle–drive through the mountains to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, where I would eat lunch, then drive south through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Murphy, North Carolina. Finally, I’d make my way over to the twisty Cherohala Skyway and westwards towards home.

Both the National Park and the Skyway provide excellent fall-foliage viewing opportunities, though I knew it could be a bit of a long drive. Read on to see how that panned out!

PIGEON FORGE

THE DRIVE

When driving from Chattanooga to Pigeon Forge, I prefer the road less traveled through rural East Tennessee towns like Sweetwater and Maryville instead of taking I-75 through Knoxville and then south down the middle of The Strip. The backroads offer a far more interesting drive and you can completely avoid the frequent bumper-to-bumper traffic on the main road. 

Here’s a short video of the initial part of my drive on 75 while listening to my podcasts. As you can see, there is a little fall color out, but it’s mostly brown.

LUNCH

My lunch goal this trip was the Local Goat, a non-chain farm-to-table pubby-style restaurant near the Titanic Museum.

I chose a burger topped with bacon jam and goat cheese, which I felt was an appropriate choice given the name of the place. Everything here is locally-sourced and handmade, which for this meal meant the patty was hand-formed, the bun baked in-house, and the skinny fries hand cut. The components were really amazing, and I paired it all with a Local Goat American Lager, which rounded out my meal very nicely.

My only complaint is that I expected more out of the bacon jam. I’m pretty sure it was only there to keep the goat cheese stuck to the burger, not to offer any substantial flavor of its own. I loved this burger, but I might try a different one next time I go. They have LOTS of options to choose from!

THE OLD MILL

And while the waiter at the Local Goat offered me dessert, I decided to get some chocolate candies down near the Old Mill area instead. Good gosh golly, it was crowded down there! Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks hitting up the Smoky Mountains during peak fall color season is a good idea.

I crammed myself into a maybe-not-so-legal parking spot, ran in for some handmade chocolates, and boogied my way back out of the masses. One thing I do love about Pigeon Forge–no matter how crowded it is, it’s still not super hard to get in and out. It’s still got a very small-town feel.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK

I took my chocolates and promptly got into a traffic jam between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Eventually, I made it to the Gatlinburg bypass which is a pretty drive in an of itself.

CATARACT FALLS

I stopped for a little bit to walk to Cataract Falls near the Sugarlands Visitor Center. It’s a very short, pretty walk to a small waterfall accessible for any age or ability level. I saw ladies in heels! I mean, *I* wouldn’t…

While I feel almost totally recovered from my bout with Mono, I found that even walking this easy trail was pretty hard on my heart.

At this point, my Google Maps was telling me that the road through the National Park was closed, so I stopped in at the Visitor’s Center to ask if that was true. Apparently, the higher elevations got down to thirteen degrees overnight and the roads were frozen! They had just opened up (YAY) so I continued on my way.

FALL COLOR PLUS SNOW!

The ice in the upper elevations was really cool to look at and made a fun contrast to the night bright YELLOW color of the fall trees on the slopes below. While most of the color I had seen so far was more brown, in the park it was a beautiful yellow color.

This view is from an overlook pretty close to the front/north of the park. You could really see the fall color well, plus the frozen trees above. It was really spectacular! Lots of other folks thought so too–by the time I tried to leave, I was blocked in two different directions! You’ll never be alone enjoying fall in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The rest of the afternoon I spent driving the width of the park along 441 and pulling off to take pictures. I drove, getting closer and closer to those frozen trees as the temperature dropped towards freezing.

This road is really fun to drive. As you get closer to the top, the road spirals around and around. You drive next to streams and rock faces covered in icicles and impromptu waterfalls. It’s really magical any time of year, but it’s especially fun in the fall. And SUPER fun when there’s been an early freeze.

I make it look like I’m all alone out here, but trust me, there were plenty of cars and people! But you can always find solace in a national park. It’s never going to be THAT crowded.

Pretty soon, I was up among the frozen trees, and they were beautiful! It was that kind of freeze that coats every branch. On a cloudless day, it was stunning against the clear blue sky.

Eventually, I came to Newfound Gap, the highest point in the park. You could see where the roads had been icy and there was still a sheet of ice covering a lookout point adjacent to the big parking lot. I found the biggest crowds here–clearly, everyone was eager to see ice in November!

SOUTH PARKLAND AND MINGUS MILL

After crossing into North Carolina and descending in altitude towards the back/south of the park, all the twists and turns mellow out into calm forests and meadows. It’s quieter on this side and there are far fewer people, though sometimes you can spot some elk.

Since I had got out of the car so much at overlooks and pullouts, I hadn’t really walked around since visiting Cataract Falls. So I pulled off to take a look at Mingus Mill, a large building down a short trail a little before the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. It’s pretty cool to look around in and there was a ranger inside the two-story building to answer questions.

CHEROKEE, NC

By the time I made it out of the park and into Cherokee, it was 4 pm and the sun was already setting! Darned Daylight non-savings. Most of the shops were closed, too–I missed out on trying frybread at a roadside tent and had to make a couple of stops before I found someplace to get a warm drink.

I’ve never really explored Cherokee. I heard some traditional drums and passed a few young girls in traditional dress on my failed attempt at buying frybread, but with the sun going down, I felt I needed to get moving.

CHEROHALA SKYWAY

Cherohala Skyway is a very twisty road from Robbinsville, NC to Tellico Plains, TN, crossing through the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests, thus the combined word of “Cherohala.” It really is a beautiful drive, and I’d always heard it was great for fall color.

My trouble is that I was getting there way too late to see any fall color! I hoped that maybe I’d get lucky and catch a nice sunset, and that’s kinda what happened.

Getting coffee in Cherokee and driving to the start of the Skyway took the better part of an hour and by then, it was properly dusk. As I drove along, however, the atmosphere mellowed into a lovely pastel blue and pink.

My pictures here at the end are more than a little deceiving, however. It was MUCH darker when I took these. My Pixel 3 just knows how to really compensate!

As it got darker and I kept climbing out of my car to snatch the last of the light from the horizon, I could hear in the immense quiet the light movement of the frozen trees. This was my favorite magical moment of the day! It was so still yet so alive. And then I got the #&%% back in my car because it was 27 degrees!

After a little longer, the pinks of the setting sun intensified into a vivid orange and finally went down.

After that, I was just on a dark and twisty road. I forgot that the Skyway is a whopping 41 miles long! For comparison, the road through the National Park is just over 30 miles. And when you’re driving along listening to podcasts like Lore, you end up expecting to spot Bigfoot in the dark woods…

TIPS

If you’re really out to spot fall color, it *might* be best to split visits to the National Park and driving the Cherohala Skyway into two different days. There is certainly much more to see in the park, and less crowded spots, even on fall weekends.

Or if you make the drive during longer summer days, it’s a fun day trip from Chattanooga.

If you’re staying in Pigeon Forge, a drive through the park to Tellico Springs via the Cherohala Skyway only takes about three and a half hours, a trip there and back would make a nice day drive.

But I kinda liked the way I did it! Especially with the surprising cold snap over the weekend giving me beautiful frozen trees in addition to some fall color. I can’t say I regret it at all.