Today for my final day in Great Smokey Mountains National Park I went searching for waterfalls. I found a couple. There were more in the area of the Juney Whank falls but after hiking a quarter mile up hill and then back down I was hot and tired of carrying all my camera gear so decided to let the others go.
Base of Juney Whank Falls
Juney Whank Falls
But after a rest I headed up to Mingo Falls which is technically outside the park and on Cherokee lands but still beautiful in spite of a very long steep set of stairs to get there. I only wish some people would teach their children to be quiet and listen to the beautiful sounds of nature. Mingo Falls is said to be one of the highest in Southern Appalachia.
Mingo Falls
After a final stop at the Oconaluftee visitor’s center to pick up some music to put into a slide show I went back to my room for a little rest. Then I headed to the Qualla Arts Center to view some Native American crafts. I liked the baskets but they were too big to take home. I had to skip the Cherokee museum this time as I have been told it takes all day to do it justice and I didn’t want to pay $12.00 to just breeze through.
After consulting Trip Advisor I had concluded that the only good restaurants in this area were in the casino so I decided to head over there and check it out. Oh, my, this place makes Seven Feathers look like amateur hour. I sat down thinking to make a donation to the tribe and immediately won $75.00. I yo-yoed for a while but ended the day with $40 more in my pocket than I started with and a nice meal to boot.
Just to round out my trip I decided to go back up to Mingus Mill this evening and try to get the picture I had to give up on when we were there the other day. Not only did I have the place to myself, I had the added bonus of better light on the mill and a slow enough shutter speed to get some nice flow in the flume.
Mingus Mill
And that, my friends, is the end of my Great Smokey Mountains Adventure. I saw most of the park accessible by road and got to know much of it’s history. I thought this might be enough to scratch my itch to see the Smokies but I don’t know, I may have to come back again to see it in the fall.
Check back around the end of August when I will be reporting my next adventure which will be in France.