Nashville to the Great Smoky Mountains

We knew we were headed across Tennessee to the Great Smoky Mountains, so we decided to head south in our hire car towards Chattanooga. There are several state parks in this area with waterfalls which we thought would be flowing after the rains here, so that’s the region we headed to.

First up, Dunbar Cave State Park, Clarksville. Although not a waterfall, it was a fascinating place with several miles of hiking trails. The cave is 8 miles (13kms) deep and until 2010, was open for tours. Archaeologists have dated artifacts and cave etchings found inside to between 1,000BC and 800 AD. It was a ceremonial space for Native Americans, mined for saltpeter for gunpowder during the Mexican American war, and after the Civil War, a two-story hotel was constructed. During the early 20th century it housed dances and concerts and in 1933 a swimming pool, bathhouse and tennis courts were built. By 1948 it was the venue for large music concerts by Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, but soon after in 1950, the hotel burned down and wasn’t rebuilt. The pool was closed in 1967 and the cave was purchased in 1973 and dedicated as a Natural State Park.

This is what remains of the cave that once saw so much activity.

The hike through the park was very pretty. Especially because we got to see an elk that was as interested to watch us, as we were to watch him.

As we’d come to expect here, the all foliage was a vibrant green.

Our hike finished with a walk around the lake and then it was on to Paris Landing State Park and a surprising find. Not only did we see our first woodpecker, we discovered they take in injured raptors that can’t be released. We often hear woodpeckers tapping at the trees but have not seen one ’til now.

Being a Saturday, were also lucky to catch the the Raptor feeding and park ranger’s talk about their current inhabitants.

We’d already visited the Parthenon in Nashville, so why not visit the Eiffel Tower in? Where would you expect to find it? Paris, of course! It’s 66 feet tall and was created as a university project. The Paris Chamber of Commerce installed it as a tourist attraction in 1991 after they celebrated “Paris USA”.

The town of Paris was quite lovely, with a large town square, ornate government buildings and a different take on their murals. Each one depicts an historical event that took place in the county.

Created to recognise entertainment in the region, it depicts several different activities and also local identities.

This is called “Journey Through Time” and depicts the importance of the railroad from the 1800s to “today.” According to the explanation, many local identities are also pictured here.

The note on this one just says 200 people and places.

Call me macabre but this one intrigued me. It’s not the sort of mural we usually see. It depicts a duel between Will Edmunds and Kenny Porter, the Governor’s son, on June 4, 1888. Edmunds was killed. Later the same day, Porter’s brother, Dudley was also killed in a duel by Alex White, after an argument about the earlier duel. In 1889, Kenny married Nell Edmunds, Will’s sister. Go figure!

Entitled “The Ring” This shows a jeweler making a ring for John Dewit Atkins and his fiancé Ella Gilbert, who wed in 1890. They are in the background, with some of the buildings in the town square.

The Eiffel Tower reproduction is a centrepiece of the town. However, it was now past 4pm and dark black clouds were settling in overhead so it was time to head back to Joey.

We had a thunderstorm overnight but when Sunday morning arrived, it was a clear, warm day so off we headed for part two of our sojourn without Joey.

I started the day with a very photogenic squirrel having breakfast.

They’re just so cute!

Today, we’d planned our waterfall route, The first stop, Old Stone Fort.

The fort, misnamed by explorers, is a prehistoric structure, dated from between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago and it’s not clear why it was constructed. The surrounding area is quite beautiful and well worth the hike.

For the rivers and waterfalls, and also the small things, like this fungus

The purple edges were almost glowing.

This one, that resembled the rings of a tree.

And these flowers which were quite tiny but in abundance on the trees and covering the ground, like confetti after the rain.

The first falls we passed were Blue Hole Falls, there was a lot of water rushing down but they weren’t high falls. This, was called Big falls and there certainly was huge volumes of water flowing over.

As we continued on, we passed the ruins of the Stone Fort Paper Company.

We ended our hike here, now on to Greeter Falls and the Blue Hole Trail.

Another beautiful hike through green forests, rock ledges, and water falls.

These falls too, were flowing at a great rate.

One of the things we love about our travels is that we haven’t been here before, so we have no idea what to expect. Every corner we turn or hill we climb reveals a new outlook. In this case, steep and very slippery steps followed by a slippery spiral staircase.

The first cascade was a teaser for this higher, more voluminous waterfall.

While it’s great to appreciate the impressive trees and waterfalls etc. I also love find those little, hidden gems along the trails, like these fungi.

While hiking along the trail, we met another couple and I notices she was taking photos of a group of fungus too. I pointed out the ones I’d photographed and we struck up a conversation, as we’re prone to do. They were interested to hear about our trip so far and our future plans and we were interested to pick their brain about other places to visit that they’d recommend. We must have stood on the trail and chatted for 20 minutes or more before we agreed we should continue our hike. So, when we arrived at the swing bridge we took each others pictures.

This trail was little more precarious, and making sure we were very sure footed. One slip and we’d be very, very wet.

There were a few cars in the carp park but we hadn’t come across anybody else, until we came to this end of the trail. There were a bunch of very tired and muddy teenagers with digging tools, ropes and other implements that I would not have wanted to carry along the trail. They were Eagle Scouts apparently, doing 5 weeks of weekend restoration work on the trail and the swing bridge to make it safer for hikers.

These guys were manhandling a very large rock along this slippery and very uneven slope to shore up the steps onto the swing bridge. Rather them than me!

Generally, I’m a big fan of a ring or loop hike. There’s always something new to see, no retracing your path. But, I also see the advantage of turning around at the end and walking back the way you came, which was the case here. Often we’ll see things we missed on the way out or get a better view. And often, I take just as many photos on the way back!

By the time we got back to Joey it was after 4pm and time to head on back. we’d meandered out along a scenic drive, taking advantage of the car and it’s frugal use of petrol, but now we had a two hour trip back to Joey.

We had the car until after lunch on Monday so planned a morning of activities. The mechanic was chasing up our part and he was confident he’d have us running again by lunch time.

We’d seen a large warehouse on our trips along the road the mechanic was on, called Lane Motor Museum, so we thought, lets give it a go for an hour. It opened in 2003 with the mission “to collect, preserve, document, and interpret an eclectic and technically interesting collection of cars or other transportation-related objects.” This was a passion project for Jeff Lane which began as a hobby, (don’t they all) and grew to a collection of over 500 vehicles. And he’s still collecting! Needless to say, our hour turned into all morning.

Every vehicle and each story attached to the vehicle was unique and fascinating and we couldn’t help being wowed!

As you can see, this was not your run-of-the-mill car museum.

Most of these vehicles were in running order, including this one which was demonstrated working.

The vehicles in the collection also spanned many decades, from the late 1800s to this one from 1984, and others more recent.

For almost every vehicle, we found the information fascinating and worth reading.

There were also weird gadgets, like this ThermaDor Car Cooler, or car air-conditioner.

Something we noticed was how many three-wheeled vehicles were on display, considering they never seemed to make a lasting impression. Even as recently as this 2020 model.

And then there are experimental ideas like this one.

Scams were also represented, like this endeavour by Glen Gordon Davis.

Can you imagine driving down the street in this little beauty?

This little car would suit anyone needing to get into a tight space, or who has difficulty parking.

If in doubt, just pick it up and move it.

You can see why found ourselves wandering around the museum for hours.

And i thought electric cars were a recent invention.

Skiing anyone?

The warehouse was packed with these vehicles, so much so that there were even some in the outside parking shed.

We spent a good 3 – 4 hours here and it was well worth the $10 each to get in.

We’d hoped to be on our way after lunch but it seems the part we needed was harder to source than anyone imagined. By the time we’d returned our rental car and got back to the mechanic however, he finally had some good news. They’d found not one, but two parts, so we now have a spare in case we need to replace the other one. We’d be headed off by lunch time Tuesday and on our way to the Great Smoky Mountains.

After touring through Carlsbad Caverns, we’ve bypassed any other caves because really, nothing could live up to their size or grandeur. However, we did decide make an exception to detour past The Lost Sea Cave. Located in Sweetwater, Tennessee, local information claims it is the world’s largest underground lake and is part of an larger system of caves called Craighead Caverns. However, the Guinness Book records it as America’s largest underground lake. It also has the very rare anthodite (cave flower) formations, and fossils from the giant Pleisocene jaguar have also been located in the cave.

This is the cave entrance tunnel and in itself, leads you to think you’re embarking on a great adventure. So, down we all trundled, into the dim cave light and were, well, underwhelmed. We couldn’t help comparing it to Carlsbad.

However, the history was quite interesting. During the Civil War, it was mined for saltpeter, necessary to manufacture gunpowder and there is graffiti etched on the wall which is scientifically dated and proved to be authentic from this period.

The cave was discovered in 1905 by a 13 year old boy named Ben Sands who crawled through a tiny space to reveal a large room filled with water.

These were the anthodite (cave flower) formations, quite small and not very many. They did appear crystaline and the greenish colour was not due to the light.

This was our first glimpse of the underground lake. Similarly to other caves with pools of water, it was crystal clear and still.

As we descended, we walked from the path to a tunnel, of sorts, with raised iron sides, to keep the water out.

This picture gives an accurate representation of the the light and how we viewed it. Then…

Another wow moment! This was not what we expected. And there were fish!

The water was so clear that the fish looked suspended above the bottom. We all climbed into a boat, like long raft with sides and sat along the middle facing outwards.

More fish! Wow! And then our guide explained that in the 1960s, the rainbow trout were introduced into the water. It’s so pristine that there is nothing for them to eat so each guided boat ride, the guides throw fish feed to them. This would be why they all come swimming up to the boats. Once the food is gone they disappear off.

The boats have small electric motors that are basically silent, so it’s quite eerie as you float around because it doesn’t look like you’re in the water, but you’re floating. We did a lap of the lake while hearing about the history and learning some facts about the water. The cavern is 800 feet x 220 feet but the full extent of its size still isn’t determined, despite modern diving expeditions with exploration and sonar equipment. Over 13 acres of water have been mapped to date, with no sign of the caverns underwater end.

We floated around the edge of the lake for about 10 – 15 minutes, then disembarked and made our way back up to the exit.

The tour lasted about 45 minutes and the cave trail was 3/4 mile long. Was it worth it for the cave? No, but the history was interesting and the lake was amazing and well worth the visit.

But, now it was time to get a wriggle on to the Smoky Mountains.