After our weekend vacation

Saturday 22 March 2014

We drove from Deer Run RV Resort to Friendsville, TN, about mid-morning for a “weekend vacation” and to stay with Carl and Donna. While vacationing on Saturday, Janet and I hiked, with our friends Carl and Donna, about 2 1/4 miles on the Tremont Trail in the Smokey Mountains. [See Hiking the Tremont Trail, TN in the “Gallery.”] The forecast for the day was 40% rain; but, as the hours advanced, the day became more beautiful–blue sky, moderate temperatures, and a light breeze. The dense tree growth along the trail was quite naked, since the Spring-time leaves haven’t yet begun to emerge; but, the lack of foliage does allow great views of the babbling stream paralleling the trail and of the massive boulders creating natural dams and boiling rapids as the stream makes its way down the mountain side.

About 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 miles up the trail we came upon  a group of about a dozen weekend hikers (adults and adolescents) trying to build a litter to carry one of the adult women, who had either sprained or fractured her ankle and was in great pain. The other adults (one was a nurse) indicated that they were going to transport the injured woman to the trail head. So, we continued our hiking up the mountain side.

We arrived at a wooden, foot bridge (our “turn around” location), where we stopped, rested for a few minutes, and began hiking back down the trail. We came upon the same group of hikers with the injured lady. Miraculously, Janet’s cell phone had a signal; so, Carl called 911 to request an ambulance and a 4WD vehicle to transport the injured lady down the trail to the trail head. The 911 operator advised that the Park Rangers and EMT had been notified and would arrive soon. The group decided to remain where they were and to wait for help to arrive. The first Park Ranger was just pulling to the trail head when we arrived there, about 45 minutes later. and a second Ranger arrived a few minutes later as we were driving away.

After arriving back at our vehicle, we drove only a couple of miles to a picnic area for lunch. Donna had made delicious sandwiches to order for each of us. As we ate, a cloud dropped a few raindrops around, but it was just a light, passing shower. We were able to finish lunch, including a cookie for desert! without getting wet…well, a few drops on each of us is all. Having finished eating, we loaded the leftovers and picnic basket back  into the car for a driving tour of Cade Cove, an area that has been maintained in the manner of the 1800’s (except for the paved road).

As we drove along the Cade Cove roadway, we saw many wild deer grazing in cleared pastureland and standing in wooded areas. [Janet,too, posted a few pics of the tour on her blog, Forks in the RV Road] At one point, we stopped to tour an old single-room church and adjoining graveyard. I found it interesting (and saddening) to note just how young some the deceased were based upon the markings of the grave markers.

Farther down the roadway, we stopped at a farm that has been restored to original condition; it was truly amazing to see the ingenuity and the skills possessed by those early settlers. I marveled at the construction required to divert part of a stream to provide water power to a mill for grinding flour and grits–very simple, yet requiring an understanding of several “engineering” disciplines. Those early settlers were very independent and had to be farmer, doctor, nurse, engineer, mechanic, fashion designer, seamstress, accountant–in short, they were knowledgeable in most of the activities that are required to run a village…except they were running their household, farming, and doing so without electricity, automotive vehicles, or, even, cell phones and the Internet!