Day Five: Great Smokey Mountain National Park

We rolled up camp this morning, thanked EJ, Dreher Island State Park Manager, and left for Gatlinburg, TN. We arrived a little after 3pm at the Sugarlands Visitor Center and proceeded to our new campsite at Elkmont, one of the campgrounds in the park. That particular camp ground was almost completely sold out but we were able to have a site for just this one night. After that we would have to find another vacant site. We set up camp and decided to get some dinner but first, I would need to clean up a little. I worked up quite a sweat setting up camp. Since there are no showers or hot water at any of the camp grounds here, I stripped down and took a quick shower at our site using water we brought from home. We then went into Gatlinburg and ate dinner at No Way Jose'e Mexican Cantina. The food there was Ok. Afterward, we walked around to see some of the shops. After returning to Elkmont Campground, Zach and I went on an evening hike to see the amazing firefly show located in Elkmont. This is a very popular natural display that thousands of people come to see at the park. There is a trolley that will take you from The Sugarlands Visitor Center to see this wonderful site. The road is closed to most traffic but since we were campers at Elkmont, we just show our pass and could drive back to our site. We hiked to the viewing area, which was about 1.5 miles, and witnessed this amazing phenomenon. These fireflies put on this beautiful synchronized light show. I have never seen anything like it. I noticed that while we were hiking to the viewing area, most of the way, we were witnessing this spectacular display along the road. Once we arrived, there were just too many people packed around with flashlights, taking away from the show. Nevertheless, this was a great experience. The walk was the best part (with no people around, you get a much better view.)