Journeying Geographer: Day 47: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Before getting to the good stuff, I have to say that traveling with a smart phone has its advantages. I remember long distance trips in the '80s and '90s, when if you needed to make a call you found a phone booth. If you wanted to find a good restaurant, you looked in the phone book's yellow pages. Discovering that the page you were searching for had been torn out, you then asked one of the locals for advice and directions. After receiving helpful navigation tips such as "you go east toward Jerry's auto shop and then take a left where the old Tastee Freeze used to be," you then fished another can of pork 'n beans out of your food cache and dined on that.

Now, we can simply open an app on our smart phone to find just about anything one could ever need or desire. This morning I used Gas Buddy (one of my favorites on this trip) to find cheap gas. I saved several dollars by getting fuel in Pigeon Forge ($2.89) instead of Gatlinburg (just six miles away, but 30 cents more per gallon). Google Maps and its turn-by-turn voice navigation has been a major stress-reducer (as long as I keep an eye on how much data I've used!). I've either called hotels or simply made a reservation online directly from my phone several times to ensure I had a room for the night. The Find Me Gluten Free app is great for finding restaurants with gluten free menus. I've already mentioned how I use my phone's camera more than I do my other cameras for both photos and videos. I've checked and responded to work emails while stopped at rest areas, liked Facebook posts while strolling around a town, and Skyped with my family while standing in a hotel parking lot. Technology has tremendously changed our lives, and in this case I've found it to be for the better. I don't text or talk while driving, but unfortunately I've seen others doing that almost every day. A person who is texting while driving is 23 times more likely to get in an accident (according to digital warnings on Atlanta freeways). Like anything, technology can be used for good or for ill.

Enough of my technology rave and rant. Today we entered Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the single most-visited national park in the country (nine million visitors per year). Its busiest days are weekends in October. Today was Friday, which turned out to be close enough. The park entrance was gridlocked as two lanes of highway merged into one. After the obligatory stop at the Welcome Center just inside the entrance, traffic moved along just fine at the posted 35 mph speed limit. Today was totally clear and sunny, which actually muted the fall colors. The mountains and forests are still beautiful, but I was spoiled by the dazzling display I witnessed last week on the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

After exiting the national park, we immediately turned north onto the Blue Ridge Parkway today. I still had 25 miles of it to drive, and I wanted my wife and daughter to see some it as well. We actually drove about 90 miles on the parkway, exiting at Asheville so we could head east to Black Mountain. Unfortunately, the colors were far less impressive than last Saturday, but the views were still inspiring. I've now driven the entire 469 miles of the Parkway on my journey (about 65 miles of it twice). We drove 143 miles altogether, bringing my trip total to 6,682 miles.

Little Tennessee River in the morning (right behind our hotel in Pigeon Forge, TN).

Entering Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The view from Newfound Gap, on the Tennessee-North Carolina border. Still some lingering fog in the valleys.

Plenty busy on this gorgeous Friday in October. The parking lot at Newfound Gap was full. Fortunately, we were able to immediately grab a spot as a car pulled out.