Smokey Mountain Rain

Smokey Mountain rain keeps on fallin’
I keep on callin’ her name
Smokey Mountain rain I’ll keep on searchin’
I can’t go on hurtin’ this way
She’s somewhere in the Smokey Mountain rain- Ronnie Milsap

The Smoky Mountains get about 85″ of rain every year, so I guess we should not have been surprised that it started to rain as soon as we drove into the mountain range. There is only 1 road across the mountains, Newfound Gap Road, so we started outside of Gatlinburg and drove 31 miles to Smokemont Campground just outside of Cherokee, NC.

The Cherokee Indians arrived in the Smoky Mountains about A.D. 1000. They were a branch of the Iroquois who moved south from New England. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians lived in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, believed to be the sacred ancestral home of the Cherokee Nation.

Gold was discovered on Cherokee lands in 1828. Then Andrew Jackson’s 1830 Removal Act called for the relocation of all native peoples east of the Mississippi River to Oklahoma. Almost 14,000 Cherokees began the trek westward in October of 1838. More than 4,000 died from cold, hunger, and disease during the six-month journey that came to be known as the “Trail of Tears.”

As soon as we parked the van at our campsite, we went on a little hike to play in the rain!

The next morning we drove to Deep Creek just outside of Bryson and hiked a few miles up to 3 popular waterfalls: Juney Whank Falls, Indian Creek Falls, and Tom Branch Falls. This area was also popular for family tubing.

When we checked in to the park, the ranger mentioned they were seeing Elk around the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. No Elk in sight but we did find a nice bike path leading from the visitor’s center to Cherokee.

Along the path there are plaques talking about Cherokee legends. One of the legends is called ‘ Going to Water’. The Cherokees believed that water could cleanse the spirit and wash away disease and problems. Early each morning, the Cherokee would wade waist deep into the river and use their hands to splash water over their head and say:

Wash away any thoughts or feelings that may hinder me from being closer to my God.

Take away any thoughts or feelings that may hinder me from being closer to all my brothers and sisters on the earth, and the animals of the earth.

After reading about the legend, Douglas had to take a dip…

BTW, the Smokies are named for the blue mist that always seems to hover around the peaks and valleys. The Cherokee called them shaconage, (shah-con-ah-jey) or “place of the blue smoke”.

Don’t let Smokey mountain smoke get in your eyes
If you do I’m tellin’ you
You’ll wan’t to live there the rest of your life
If Smokey mountain smoke gets in your eyes . – Osborne Brothers

We were supposed to stay another night at Smokemont but instead decided to head up the BlueRidge Parkway to Boone, NC, spotting a cute pink Tinker Bell hotel on our way thru the Cherokee Reservation.

Just outside of Boone, we camped at a quirky family run campground called Flintrock Family Campground. We got a site on the creek and their general store even had a pool table!

What’s in Boone, NC? The Art of Living Retreat Center which has the # 1 Ayurvedic spa in the US! Since it is still technically my B-Day week, I had two amazing treatments: an Abhyanga massage which is a massage with hot sesame oil and Shirodhara massage which involves a steady stream of warm sesame oil being poured over your third eye- middle of your forehead. This treatment calms and relaxes you and has a cleansing effect on the mind and nerves. It was an amazing experience plus I got to visit with my friend Kim who is Director of this spa.