Avoiding Driving the Same Route Twice – The Southern States as an Expansive Area: Highway or Interstate

We were having difficulties to find proper information about the South of the US right before we went there. The area seems to be of little interest to German travel agencies, they are focused on California and Florida. The southern part of Florida is rather small, issues like that don’t exist to the same extend. In particular in the southern states of the East, choosing the right route is important. This determines how fast or slow you move forward and as a consequence what you get to see. Taking short field trips to certain sights usually does not make much sense and will only cost you money and energy. The rule is: avoid driving the same route twice whenever possible.

Atlanta, The Great Smoky Mountains, Nashville and Memphis: From Georgia to North Carolina and Tennessee

Atlanta is the perfect starting point for a tour. Anyone coming from far away will most likely arrive at Atlanta Airport, the largest airport in the United States with many connections to any destination worldwide. (see Flying via Atlanta)

Georgia’s capital is located conveniently in the center of the South. A tour from here may start in any direction. South of Atlanta at the Atlantic Coast, Florida’s capital Jacksonville can be reached easily. In the North (heading to South Carolina) Savannah and Charleston are within reach. On the direct road, the interstate, all these cities are within a five hour distance to Atlanta. We drove from Charleston to Atlanta (I-20, I-95), it took exactly 5 hours. Depending on where you want to go next, you can choose between these options. On the way to Charleston, there is the little town of Augusta for a stop, on the way to Savannah it’s Macon. Charleston is the right choice if you want to move further north (North Carolina), Jacksonville if you want to move further south to Florida.
We chose a different route. Our second stop after Atlanta was Nashville; on the way to Nashville we stopped to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (see Great Smoky Mountains)

Our route lead us to the eastern entrance of the park, the village right next to the entrance in called Cherokee, hotels are available here. It’s a 260 km drive (3 hours) (I 85, Hgw 23, Hgw 441). There is one interesting stop on this route: the North Georgia Premium Outlets, and outlet mall 75 km north of Atlanta. Anyways, the outlet center is a bit further northwest and not reachable directly from the Interstate. Instead of the interstate 85, you better take highway 19. This little detour requires an extra 20 minutes even though it’s only an additional 15 km. If you are interested in outlet shopping, you should definitely do that. You don’t need to go a long way round it’s just a minor detour. Outlet centers are usually located outside larger cities; in this case it’s conveniently located on the way.

Asheville is located west of the Great Smoky Mountains. The largest privately owned southern plantation can be visited here. If you have some time left, go there. We didn’t and I regret it. I cannot say more about it, anything else can be found in the article on the Great Smoky Mountains.

Next stop after the Great Smoky Mountains is Nashville. There are two very different tour options here: the northern route is the shortest way (via I 40, 410 km, 4 ½ hours) and the southern route via Chattanooga (Hgw 74, I-24, 450 km, 5 hours). If you want to see the little town Chattanooga, the southern route is the right one. Whiskey fans will find the southern route more interesting. Lynchburg, Tennessee is the home of Jack Daniels and its distillery can be visited. The closest interstate to Lynchburg is I-50, anyways it’s a 50 km drive from the interstate. For the southern road, you need an entire day in order to have time for Chattanooga and the Jack Daniels distillery. We left the Great Smoky Mountains on midday and decided to take the direct route without stop. On the northern route, right before Nashville, there is a little town called Lebanon and a smaller outlet mall. If you have some time left in the evening, you can go here. That’s what we did. Traffic wasn’t heavy and we had some time to kill. So we stopped here for a short break. The Lebanon outlet itself is rather small; I would not drive here only for the outlet.

Die fastest route from Nashville to Memphis is I-40 which connects both cities (3 hours, 340 km). At the western side of Nashville, there is the Belle Meade Plantation (reachable via highway 70s). Going to Belle Meade first and to the interstate after that will only take you a few minutes longer. A stop in Belle Meade is always something interesting, it’s only a minor detour and you lose about 10 minutes. For the rest of the route, I recommend the interstate. I don’t have any more suggestions for stops on the route. We only did Belle Meade Plantation and Memphis.

More Information on this Tour can be Found in Part 2 and Part 3:

Driving in the South Part 2: A Tour From Memphis to Vicksburg, New Orleans and Pensacola

Driving in the South Part 3: From Florida’s Capital Tallahassee on the Georgia Coast to the Carolinas and Charleston

A Tour in the Panhandle/Northern Florida can be found here.

Der Beitrag Driving in the South Part 1: A Tour From Atlanta to the Great Smoky Mountains, Nashville and Memphis erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Where It Is and How It’s Called

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in Tennessee and North Carolina, the closest town is Knoxville, Tn. You can best reach the Great Smoky Mountains from the two cities Atlanta and Charlotte. From Atlanta, it’s a 3-hour-drive (260 km, Interstate 85, Highway 23 and 441). There are two smaller villages close to the park: Cherokee (at the park’s main entrance) and Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg (west of the park). Both have many hotel options available. Highway 441 goes through the park from Cherokee to Gatlinburg.

Great Smoky Mountains is the official name, but the forest is most commonly called Smokies. The name comes from the fact that the view is in general bad: because of high humidity, large parts of the mountain are covered in smoky clouds.

Booking a Hotel in Cherokee: Harrrah’s Cherokee Casino

We stayed in Cherokee, east of the park. Cherokee is a little village, basically a transit place to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Quality Inn Hotel was, as expected, good and cheap. We were totally surprised to see a casino right on the opposite side of the road. Not a small casino, but a huge hotel called Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, a hotel with restaurants, buffets and of course gambling: a huge complex right in the middle of nowhere. According to Wikipedia, the hotel has 1108 rooms. It’s the only place in Cherokee that serves alcohol. I was expecting to find a hotel that size in Las Vegas but not in Cherokee, a little village with a bit over 2000 residents.

Clingman’s Dome

The Smokies is one of the very few national parks in the US that is free (that means you don’t have to pay admission fee). The forest is very important for environmental protection and even became UNESCO world heritage in the 1980s. For this, the very old parts of the forest (that have existed even before the European settlers came) are particularly important. Highest peak of the forest is Clingman’s Dome (2015 m). You can walk there on a paved, solid path. It’s only a few hundred meters from the parking space but it’s quite a climb and not totally easy. You don’t need to be a professional climber for that it’s only a steeply rising walking lane. There is an observation tower at the peak that can be reached on a long, winding bridge. The bridge made me a bit dizzy but I’m uncomfortable with heights anyways. You can indeed reach the tower easily by just walking there.

Chimney Top Trail and Newfound Gap

We also walked along Chimney Top Trail. We wanted to do a short hike that is doable in regular running shoes and anyways leaves the regular, paved roads. We did not walk until the very end, the Chimney Top. On this hike, you get to see a forest, nature and a little creek. Signs are everywhere, the hiking path is easy to find. The visitor center has free maps that describe exactly where all the hikes lead, how long and how difficult these hikes are. That is always very helpful. We always try to find easy hikes with no climbing. We also reasonaly long because we usually don’t have time to hike 10 or 12 miles per day.

Newfound Gap is right next to highway 441 and is good spot to stop for the view. Gap refers to a low point between the mountains that connects one mountain to the other. The ecosystem changes a lot here, even temperature and weather can change within short distance.

Cades Cove

Cades Cove is an area in the far northeast of the park (in the Tennessee part, 57 miles from Cherokee). Cades Cove was the center of early settlement: a well isolated, green valley with meadows and grass. The valley still has some leftovers from the early settlers: a Methodist church, a Baptist church, an old wooden house, a mill and a little creek. The best way to see the valley and all the remaining buildings is to drive the Cades Cove Loop Road. It’s an 11-miles-one-way-loop-road (20 km). You drive very slowly and can stop whenever you see something interesting. You can also rent a bicycle and do the loop on the bike.

Cades Cove is the main attraction of the Smokies and attracts most visitors. It’s always busy. You drive the loop in a bit of a chain. That mean you just follow the car in front of you. If you are on the loop, there is no way to turn around and go back, you can only do the entire loop. The valley is very beautiful the early settlers have indeed chosen a very nice place to stay. The visitor center is half way on the loop, next to the mill.

We made a mistake and took the loop twice. The GPS gave us some wrong information. The GPS lead us to an exit that was indeed a 20 mile unpaved road. When we saw that, we were already on the loop and had to finish it a second time. You definitely need to plan enough time for that loop, you cannot drive fast at all. You need at least 2 hours (better 3, to have time to stop).

The official park website says the GPS is wrong in the park. We did not know that and made that mistake. Some advice: get a map from the visitor center and use that map instead.

There are many more hikes, paths and camping shacks in the park.

Some Advice and General Information

We liked the park. At the beginning, you get to see a huge are of forest. It looks a bit like the Black Forest. Yet, in the US things are always bigger. Same counts for the Smokies.
We liked the combination we did: a viewpoint, hiking in the forest and seeing the valley of an early settlement. I would also recommend doing something like that. The national park has many faces. Besides Clingman’s Dome, there are many more viewpoints like Rich Mountain Road which has a great view of the Cades Cove Valley or Abraham’s Creek. Newfound Gap is easy to reach, right at highway 441. Cades Cove is not the only valley; a second valley is called Cataloochee Valley. There are two waterfalls called Deep Creek and the Damm in Fontana. There are many hiking paths here, you should pick the one you do according to time, motivation, and fitness level. It’s definitely recommendable to leave your car and do at least some walking.

In the Smokies, I asked myself quite some times: where is the forest line? There is still heavy coniferous forest in Clingman’s Dome on 2000 meters. I always thought, the forest stops somewhere at around 2000 meters? I don’t know much about that, maybe someone can answer that.

I think, without a car, it’s very difficult to do the Smokies. We drove along 441 in one day (including a tunnel right through a mountain) and did some viewpoints, hiking and Newfound Gap. The following day, we did Cades Cove and its loop and left the park on the west (heading to Nashville). Going back and forth makes little sense because of the sheer size of the park. It’s better to make a plan about how these routes fit together.

Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton is from here. People here are obviously proud of here. Dolly Parton ads and gifts are everywhere, also pics and CDs. Pigeon Forge has a Dolly Parton amusement area, which we did not visit. The movie Serena (2014) with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper plays in the Great Smoky Mountains but was shot somewhere else.

Asheville: Biltmore Estate

Biltmore estate in Asheville is one hour from Cherokee. It’s America’s largest private home, a huge Renaissance-styled mansion from the late 19th century. I really wanted to go there but because of the jetlag, we were all extremely tired in the evening and did not do it. I still regret that! Now, I would definitely drive that one hour to Asheville to see the Biltmore Estate.

Der Beitrag The Great Smoky Mountains: a Forest covering an Extensive Area of More than 200,000 Hectares erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.