Leaf peeping & quilt shops in the rain

Posted By on November 17, 2009

If you’ve never been to the Great Smoky Mountains for a fall leaf peeping trip, you have to go!! Of course, there are many beautiful places in the US to view the fall colors, but eastern Tennessee has to rank as one of the all time greats.

You must plan your trip to reach the mountains during peak color and sometimes that is a challenge. This year, peak color and rain hit at the same time, at least for our trip. We drove 800 miles before we began to see any color in leaves and the sun only peeked our occasionally during that timeframe, so we knew we were in for a rain event.

The rain did provide time enough to visit quite a few quilt shops though; I would have to say The Cherry Pit in Sevierville, TN was my favorite. I came back energized to develop a BOM (which is almost complete).

We drove into Gatlinburg and turned left onto a side road and ran across a sign for a motor tour, so we took the trail. It was a loop of a little over two miles that went through a heavily wooded area and back to Gatlinburg. Just before we turned to go back we found a second motor trail which indicated it was a six mile trip with many steep and winding turns…so we took it! What an adventure!!

roaringforkmapbig

To view the map more closely CLICK HERE.

When you travel in the mountains the road winds around the edge of the mountain, but this motor trail went more within the mountain. It was a narrowly paved one-way road within a canopy of trees. You were totally enveloped with the beautiful colors. This one road is worth the 1,000 mile (one way) trip to see the trees.

We didnt’ realize it at the time but we were on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Please click this link to read about the area and to see the photos from the trail. We crossed over beautiful streams, experienced the rustle of the leaves in the breeze, stopped for photos at old cabins along the trail, and the colors just can’t be explained!

Because of the rain and the fog, I didn’t get as many photos as I would have liked, but there were enough for my husband Phillip to make the movie below. Enjoy the beautiful colors and our leaf peeping tour!

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Comments

2 Responses to “Leaf peeping & quilt shops in the rain”

  1. Margaret says:
    November 24, 2009 at 7:26 am

    My favorite place for leaf peeping is Vermont, but I have to say, the Smoky Mts. are equal in beauty. I really love the ambience of New England in the fall.

    When you return, I suggest the motor tour we took. It really was breathtaking, even in the rain. In fact, we think it was more tranquil, due to the rain, because many tourists just didn’t get out in the weather. Oh, there were a few with raincoats and tripods, but it was as if you were the only ones in the mountain.

  2. Marguerita says:
    November 23, 2009 at 8:56 pm

    I just returned from a trip that had a bit of the Blue Ridge Mountain Highway (I am probably not getting the name right) in it. We visited the New England states thinking we’d be in time for the leaves turning and then went to TN. Growing up in New England, I never thought anywhere else could be a beautiful, so I was STUNNED at the Smoky Mountains. We can’t wait to go again, staying longer and ranging further :)

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