Tennessee - Last Day in the Mountains

On Friday we spent our last day in the mountains. We started out with a stop at the Tennessse/North Carolina state line, which included some climbing for the kids and our first view of the Appalachian Trail. It was very overcast and chilly at this higher elevation!

















Our next stop was the short but steep hike up to Clingmans Dome. Both kids were pretty done with real hiking by this point but we made it! Ben was fine going back downhill, but Juliet as a noodle, haha. Had to be carried even though we forgot the backpack. And the weather finally caught up with us - no umbrellas and quite a downpour!! The kids actually had fun with this aspect of the hike!







We finished the drive south to Oconoluftee Visitors Center, stopping at a cool working mill on the way. We also saw a huge herd of elk, just hanging out by the side of the road. It was a great way to spend our last day in the national park!