Certified Rollers

My summer is short. That’s not a complaint. It’s a statement of fact and it’s the nature of the beast in my line of work. It’s kind of like being in elementary school again. When you would try to cramp as much fun as humanly possible into the 8 or 10 weeks you had off. I guess I’m a bit of a Peter Pan, Lost Boy because I’m the same way now.

Amanda and I try to pack our time off with as much as we can, which is a delicate balance between an awesome time and over doing it. I’ll explain.

We recently spent two weeks back home in New England and when I say New England, I mean it. We hit all 6 states over 14 days. Fortunately, we’re a good team and we worked in some rest between all the travel and had one of our more enjoyable trips home in recent memory. We felt like we did everything we wanted to but we weren’t boarding the plane back to Atlanta totally gassed.

As soon as we got back to Georgia, I was ready with our next adventure – two days at the US National Whitewater Center to make up for missing Tuck Fest this year.

With our vacation and one last weekend trip in the rear view I wanted to cap off the short summer with one more adventure. A summer send off that would refresh my mind, body, and soul for what will be a busy next few months.

The idea came to me during a run, as these things often do. Last year, Reynolds and I did a big day in Camden Hills and I’ve done a few big days in the Whites with Ferenc. What would be the southern version of that?

Hmm…Great Smoky Mountain National Park is only three hours away.

Since the first time Amanda and I visited the Smokies a few years ago, I’ve wanted to bike the Cades Cove Loop. It’s an 11 mile road that circles a valley within the park. The Smokies is very heavily traveled by car but on Wednesdays and Saturdays they close the Cades Cove Loop to cars until 10 a.m. Perfect.

I settled on an overnight solo mission. I’d drive up Tuesday, run or hike something, camp, then ride the loop in the morning and be back home in time for dinner on Wednesday.

I gathered up a few supplies but the plan was to be a light and fast as possible. Also I really didn’t want to get eaten by bears.

I loaded up Amanda’s Jeep and hit the road early Tuesday morning, arriving at Newfound Gap, the border between Tennessee and North Carolina in the late morning. From there, I made my way northbound on the Appalachian Trail to Charlie’s Bunion.

I worked my way up the trail, alternating between running and hiking. It was cool to see all the different groups of people that I passed on the way up. A couple that was section hiking the AT in the park, a couple that was hiking to Mt. LeConte, a mom and daughter celebrating mom’s 55 birthday, a grandmother and her granddaughter, school group, families with small kids. You name it. They were out there.

The trail itself was pretty straight forward. It was a little rocky but not too technical. It gained most of its elevation in the first couple of miles then leveled off for a bit before descending down to the bunion. It passed through a couple of really different types of landscape too. First it was rocky and rooted. Then it was deep woods, pine mostly. At a couple of different points the trail runs right on the spine of a mountain ridge. Look left and it’s steep drops, look right and it’s more of the same.

While it’s not perilous, or at least it wasn’t, I guess it would be pretty sketchy in the rain or when icy. It was so cool to be running on the spine of a mountain like that. Whenever there was a break in the trees you’d get these incredible views of the park.

I reached the bunion after about 50 minutes of running/hiking with some photo opt stops in between. I got pretty lucky in that the clouds that were covering much of the higher elevations when I arrived gave way for some epic views. It still wasn’t 100 percent clear but given the conditions at the start I couldn’t have been happier.

Charlie’s Bunion sounds like a gross name for a rock feature but it’s a pretty apt description. This rocky knob juts out from the ridge that is flanked by deep valleys on either side. It’s very much like a calloused bunion jutting out from someone’s foot. Gross, but kind of nailed it.

I grabbed a few photos, chatted with some of the other people there then made my way back to Newfound Gap to move on the the next part of the adventure.

From Newfound, I headed north into Tennessee to the Sugarlands Visitor center and then on to Pigeon Forge. That place is like Redneck Vegas but it has a Publix so lunch and dinner, check.

The last time Amanda and I went to the Smokies we found a nice little exit road that led from Metcalf Bottoms to Weirs Valley, a small hamlet on the other side of the park’s sprawling mountains. I figured that would be my best bet to get a little closer to Cades Cove while avoiding some of the traffic. While I was double checking the route, I noticed another road that led into the park even closer to the cove in Townsend, Tennessee and the best part, swimming hole. Yes, please.

I made the pleasant drive from Pigeon Forge to Townsend in about 40 minutes and stopped at the Townsend Wye to swim in the Little River. After hanging out for a bit, I continued on to the Cades Cove Campground to settle in for the night. Since I was traveling light, I didn’t have much so it was a quick and easy camp set up. I decided to forgo a fire, because it was still like 90 degrees, and made my way to the picnic area where I ate dinner and read my book while relaxing by the river.

Despite toying with the idea of a night hike, I decided to call it early and try to get some sleep before setting off to ride the loop in the morning.

I woke up just before dawn, not to the chorus of birds and crickets but to the people setting up all the rental bikes for the day. I got the campsite right behind the little campground store. Not terrible but not the ideal spot if you are looking for a wilderness experience. Still, it was better than the cloud of Vape smoke that I ran through when I got back to Newfound Gap. Nature!

The pre-dawn wake up was for the best as I was able to mobilize quickly. I packed up the majority of my gear, threw on my bike kit and pulled my Cannondale Slate out of the Jeep. I set off around 6:30, right about sunrise and planned on doing two laps.

Only one thought came into my head when I hit the loop. Worth it. It was incredible. Hands down the coolest place I have ever ridden my bike. I must have stopped 10 times in the first couple of miles to take in the views. It was awe inspiring.

Clouds hung over the the green, tree covered mountains like waves crashing on the shore. A low misty fog hung over the lower parts of the valley, painting everything with a blue haze. I guess that’s why they call them the Smokies and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Every corner I turned or hill I crested unveiled a more impressive view than the last. I saw deer, elk, horses, and turkeys roaming the open fields. It really was like going back in time.

It was impressive to see how many other people got out early to ride the loop but by the time I reached the back half it felt like I had the whole park to myself. No cars, no plastic water bottles, no vape smoke. Beautiful.

After completing the loop once, I knew I had to keep going. I grabbed some food from the car and hit out for lap two. This one was a little more crowed. By 7:30 all of the rental bikes had been taken and the parking lots were virtually full.

I had to weave in and out of a few more people but everyone was riding at their version of a leisurely pace which made for pleasant exchanges whenever you passed someone. I saw what I’m guessing was a high school team running the loop, which looked awesome. I wanted to grab my shoes and see if I could join but thought better of it.

By the time I reached the end of the loop for the second time I knew I had to do at least one more so I could investigate Hyatt road.

The loop as two short cuts. One that makes it 4 miles and one that makes it 8. The 8-mile short cut is called Hyatt road, a long straight gravel path that cuts right through the center of the valley.

No joke this might be my favorite road. Flanked by barbed wire fence, it is the most picturesque road I have been on, maybe ever. I was so excited I rode to the end of it and back and then decided to just do the whole loop for a third time. I rode 4 or 5 extra miles on the juice that one section of road gave me. I think I could have stayed there riding up and down it all day.

When I finished the third loop I contemplated checking out the 4-mile cut through to get the full experience but at that point I’d been riding for three hours and we know how that goes for me. The road was also set to open to cars at 10 and even though the speed limit is 20 and people are pulling off and getting out to explore the cabins and whatnot, I really didn’t feel like getting hit by someone trying to take a photo of an elk while driving.

At the end of the ride I’d covered 37 miles, one of my longest rides ever. It sure didn’t seem like it was that long. I felt like I could have kept riding all day out there.

I took in one last view of the valley and headed back to camp to pack up. Once I loaded up the car, I stopped at the camp store and grabbed an “I biked the loop” sticker and got one of those crushed pennies with my change. They had a t-shirt that said “Meals on Wheels” with a cyclist being chased by a bear. I really should have bought it but I told myself it was too silly.

Cades Cove has no shower facilities so I had to stop at the swimming hole on my way out for a quick dip. It was gloriously refreshing and way less crowded in the morning – note for next time. I made a quick detour into Townsend to fill up the gas tank before making the trek home and found a great little coffee shop – The Artistic Bean – then made my way home fueled by a mountain-side Americano.

This year didn’t get off to the start that I had envisioned. It’s been difficult feeling like I’m just going through the motions on my morning 45-minute runs. I’m itching to get back to doing more, so a two-day trip like this was really big for my mental state. I’m thankful and grateful that I was able to run/hike the eight-mile out-and-back for Charlie’s Bunion and that I was able to ride for three hours the next day.

This trip was a great reminder of how much better it is to focus on what you can do and what you are doing versus what you can’t do or are unable to do in that moment. That’s been a powerful little realization even though it seems silly and obvious. Focus on the now.

Now, I’m back to the day-to-day grind. Hopefully, soon I’ll be able to run more than 45 minutes but I’ll take what I can get. I’ve got a few other microadventures planned for the rest of “summer” when I do get some downtime but between now and then I’ll be trying to enjoy every time that I am able to get out the door.