A Quiet Sunday Afternoon Ride

Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015.  After lunch today the sun started to come out more as it had been really cloudy like a rain was on its way all morning.  I decided about 2 p.m. to take a ride.  Well, let's back up a bit.  At 8:30 a.m. this morning I had donned my winter riding gear, put my Sunday School book in the saddle bag, threw my leg over the bike, turned the key and hit the starter button.  NADA.  Zilch. Nothing, not even a click.  I happened to glance up and saw the green light glowing on the plug for me heated gloves and then the red light from the accessory power plug.  I had forgotten to turn it off Saturday and the battery was DEAD.  So I quickly hooked up the battery charger, stripped off my riding gear, grabbed a different jacket and jumped into the van using it to ride to church.

Now we can get back to the afternoon.  I was sort of feeling a bit low as today is my eldest son's birthday and I would liked to have been with him to celebrate it but I knew his daughters and friends would take care of that.  So I decided to take a ride.  Not too long as it gets dark earlier now, maybe a couple of hours would get my mood changed.

This is the route I ran as none of it was planned prior to departing, sort of played it by ear and made changes as I went along.  It starts at my house, riding south on Boyds Creek Hwy. for a bit and then taking Shiloh Rd. over to US 321.  This is a neat mountainous back road with lots of personality.  I've ridden it many many times over the past 7 years.  It can be rather wicked as it has sharp turns up hill down hill and sometimes all of these at the same time.

This old house, located on Shiloh Rd., is not too far from where I live.  It's constructed of squared logs and let's you go back to the old days just by looking at it. 

In places a small stream meanders along the roadway and makes interesting patterns as it criss-crosses the land.  On this road there are very few level places as the mountains come almost to the road leaving only small places that you can use to build on or make a garden.

With a dreary looking sky and most of the leaves gone from the trees it definitely gives one the feeling that winter has come.  Low this morning was 30 degrees with high this afternoon of 55.  Nice frosty morning.








This is one of those slow rolling roads with just enough curves and changes to keep you really alert.  No speed racers here.










Next I hit Chapman Hwy., US 441, toward Sevierville where I would make a right turn onto Pleasant Hill Rd.  You can see the sky is a little dismal and makes you think rain is just around the bend.








I ran US 321 from the south edge of Pigeon Forge towards Wears Valley and turned left onto Wears Valley Rd. over to Metcalf Bottoms Picnic area in the Smoky Mtn. National Park.  Metcalf Bottoms is about half way between Townsend, TN and Gatlinburg.

This is a very nice and large valley with lots of small farms or horse ranches along with a lot of tourist stuff.  From US 321 into Metcalf Bottoms about the only tourist stuff are a few RV Parks.







This view is one of several horse stables and pastures.  Amazing how green the grass is since we've had several frosty mornings lately.

Reaching Metcalf Bottoms I crossed the Little Pigeon River.  This view is looking downstream towards Townsend.  A lot of people tube this river in the summer months.  It's ice cold even in August.





This view is looking upstream.  This river flows through the Elkmont Campground.  The boys, when we all were younger, use to tube it when we vacationed in this area.  Last day before leaving for home was to do a long tube trip.  Once we did about 4 miles before we finally got out of the water just before we turned into a block of ice.

Shortly after crossing the river I hit the Pigeon River Road.  This was originally the track bed for the railroad that hauled huge logs from this area back in the 1920s.  Elkmont Campground was then a small town consisting of a sawmill, general store, some houses and railroad tracks going back into the mountains to haul huge logs to the mill.  Often only three logs fit on the flatcar.


The speed limit in the park varies from 25 to 45 mph depending on the area.  Today there were very few vehicles traveling.  Color is gone, tourist are gone.  Next will be the Christmas season in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.  Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede is already decorated for Christmas along with the towns of Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.


Once you couldn't see much as you rode along the road but now with the leaves gone you get to see just how many tree trunks are out in the woods.

There were a lot of fishermen out today trying for those mountain trout.  These two young men were apparently looking for the right location to catch the "big one".                                                
                                                                                                        





First the river is on one side and later it's on the other as you wind around the mountains.  This time of year the water level is rather low unless there's a rain and then it can come up quickly.








Many shapes and forms occur as they cut the land to put the roadway.  Today they would have leveled the area on the left but back when this roadbed was made, the equipment was nowhere near what we have today.

Small waterfalls can be seen at this time of year but during the summer
months the water levels are much higher obscuring the small falls or rapids.

I also like to look at the various rock strata along the highways.  One area on my last ride looked like a mountain of gold.  This is a variegated brown and tan.  You can see the drill marks on the rock face.







Looking into the sun makes the camera go crazy but one of these days they will make a camera that is as good as our eyes and won't cost a trillion dollars.  I love looking at the mountains and the various layers or tiers.






This picture on the right is what most people look for when taking mountain photos.  You get the blue haze in the far mountains that extend into the foreground but still allows you to capture the various folds and layers of the hills and valleys.

I don't care at what angle you look at the mountains, they are still grand structures.  And since they were made through shifting plates deep in the earth, can you just imagine the noise they made getting pushed around and up like they are.






This is actually looking toward Gatlinburg from the Sugarland Visitor Center side of the Laurel Falls trail area.









How about raking all of those leaves into a pile.  The pile would be many feet high and that would come from just a very small area.  Worse than my yard for sure and it has plenty enough for me.

Entering Gatlinburg from the Park.  Empty sidewalks in places indicates the majority of tourists have gone home.  This was a banner October for the Smoky Mountain National Park.  They had more visitors this October than in the past 20 years.  Helps to keep my taxes down too.

A couple of gentleman that happen to be related to me knows this place is one of the best eating establishments in Gatlinburg for breakfast or lunch.  It is the Pancake Pantry.  Cash only.  No plastic accepted.








Downtown shot of Gatlinburg.  It's mainly one long stretch of gift shops, restaurants, candy shops and memorabilia.

Today's ride was a quicky but still very pleasant.  I often do this ride to release some tenseness that builds up for almost any reason.  It is a nice 2 or three hour run depending on traffic and has some great scenery along the way.  Door to door was 57 miles.  Travel time, 2 1/2 hours.  Relaxation, 100%.  Well worth the time.  I hope your day has been a good one and that you have been able to relax and enjoy yourself.  So often we get wrapped up in things and forget to enjoy what life has to offer.  Stay safe, my friend.