It's a great natural falls without too many crowds, and it's fun to climb around on the rocks. Mark climbed all the way to the bottom while Denisa went to the top viewpoint to get a picture for the scale of the waterfall's size.
The main reason there are few people visiting here is the climb down to the falls is a little perilous. There are nylon ropes tied around tree trunks to provide some help on the slippery muddy slopes leading to the bottom. Personally, we like obstacles like this that keep most people away.
We made a stop in the town of Cherokee, which seems to be largely run by the Cherokees. Many of the names of the roads were words that we could not pronounce. We also thought it was interesting that the unique Cherokee alphabet was also used on most of the signs around town.
Downtown is another sign of the Cherokee tribe--the first casino we have seen in many states. We are used to casinos in Oklahoma and New Mexico where they must vie for customers with cheap food or free play for new players. But with no competition this casino offers $33 buffets and no new player incentives. It's also the first casino we've seen with no complementary soft drinks. Without a free coke and no free play, we didn't stay long. We are assuming that some of the profit from the casino was used to build one of the fanciest school campuses we have ever seen, just outside of the town of Cherokee.
On the road out of town is also the sign that you are on the Cherokee Indian Reservation. Notice the Cherokee language is listed first on this sign.
Just a few miles past that sign is another popular waterfall. We had to climb 160 steps and make a short hike to get a view of Mingo Falls. It's one of the tallest falls we have seen. With the lack of rain in the area, it's not nearly as stunning as the pictures we have seen of this waterfall where the cascading water completely covers the rock face.
The town of Cherokee is an entry point to two special national landmarks. It is the southern entrance for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so we drove there next. We won't be doing hiking here now, as our next campground will be closer to the northern section of the park that seems to have better trails. But today we did get to tour the Mountain Farm Museum behind the Oconaluftee Visitor Center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Visitors get to experience what life in the Smoky Mountains might have looked like with buildings actually built in the 1800's. Denisa likes the wood rail fences that were used in this part of the country where trees were so readily available.
There was a blacksmith shop, a well house, a corn crib, and all the various storage buildings needed to store food through the winter. We thought it was interesting that the clay bricks used to build some of those buildings have now been used as a bee's nest.
But our favorite part of the old homestead was the barn, with its horse stalls underneath and tall hay loft above. It's amazing that these old structures are still standing!
The other major attraction that Cherokee, North Carolina, is known for is the southern entry point to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The parkway is 469 miles long, and Cherokee is the end point at mile marker 469. We have already driven pieces of the Blue Ridge Parkway from other entry points, but today we got to see the section of the parkway from 469 all the way northward to mile marker 444. From an elevation around 2,000 feet in Cherokee, we quickly climbed to this viewpoint at 4,140 feet.
In the afternoon light we see that blue hazy look of the mountains of the well-named Blue Ridge Parkway. We learned at the visitor's center today that this smoky appearance is caused from the vapor released from all those trees. An organic chemical called terpenes make the smoke-like haze that gives the Smoky Mountains their name.
We drove to the Waterrock Knob Visitor Center on the Parkway, where we can see the parkway as it winds downhill from this point. It was 87 degrees in Cherokee, but when the parkway climbed to 4925 feet we noticed the temperature had gone down to a much more comfortable 75 degrees.
We like these sign posts that describe the mountains we are seeing before our eyes. We recognize these names as the tallest mountains in the Smokies that we will be visiting next week when we move further north.
This day we will just have to look at those mountain peaks from afar. We have wandered into another of His wonders today!
But our main stop of the day is the hike to the top of Waterrock Knob. The hike starts at the parking lot and heads straight up the very steep trail.
We made it to the top for the best views of the day, and the Smokies don't look too bad either.
This day's loop introduced us to the diversity of this area. We saw the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, life in Cherokee, and two waterfalls. These mountains of North Carolina are very interesting!
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