Leaving Crossville, TN.

Today we leave Crossville and head over just outside of Nashville, TN. We will be staying at Seven Points Campground which is a COE campground on J. Percy Priest Lake.

Abby watching me.

I think she wants to know what is taking so long to get going.

Crossville, TN.

We've been in Crossville since July 7. We checked out the old downtown area and can not say much about that. Today we went to Cumberland Mountain State Park to check it out. The park is a 1,548-acre park situated on the sandstone tableland of the Cumberland Plateau. The park opened in 1940 and was built by the CCC.

Waynesville, NC, countryside

Today we took a little drive around the countryside and took these photos. This is so much different then what we are use to.

Creekwood Farm Rv Park Fourth of July cookout

The weather is still great, cool in the evenings and warm during the day. On Friday the park started to get full for the holiday weekend. Yesterday the park hosted a cookout and live entertainment for free for everyone. We all had a great time with plenty of food to eat. We have only three more days here and then onto TN. It looks like it will be a lot hotter in TN.

Park is almost full.

Cookout, not everyone is here yet.

All the kids had fun with the bubble machine on.

Cataloochee Valley

Today we took a ride to Cataloocha Valley to hopefully see some Elk. The entrance road to Cataloocha Valley is a winding, gravel that has some steep drop offs with no guard rails. The is narrow, so drivers may be required to stop and or back up their vehicles to let oncoming vehicles to pass. Horse trailer traffic may be encountered
on the road.
 In 2001, elk were released in Cataloocha Valley as part of an experimental to reintroduce elk to the park. The herds can be seen regularly in the fields of the valley in the morning or early evening.
That's not the case in our situation. All we saw were a couple of bear.
A variety of historic buildings have been preserved in the valley.
The Cataloocha Valley is nestled among some of the most rugged mountains in the southeastern United States. Surround by 6000 ft. peaks, this isolated  valley was one of the largest most prosperous settlements in the Great  Smoky Mountains National Park. Some 1200 people lived in this mountain valley in 1910. 

Road going into Cataloocha Valley

Narrow bridge along road

Picture from a pull off

Bridge over creek to house

Caldwell house

Inside of house

View out of window

View from front porch

Driving in the valley

Believe it or not this is a bear

Beautiful valley

Soco Falls

Soco Falls is a beautiful, double waterfall on the edge of the Cherokee Indian Reservation, located between the towns of Maggie Valley and Cherokee. You can see it from a platform a short walk from US Highway 19. I took these from that platform. The path going down to the falls was roped off. The walk down to the platform was vey uneven with some washed out spots.

Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center

Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center is just a few miles east of Waynesville, NC. These are just a few shots of the Lake. This is an ideal location for: conferences, meetings and retreats, vacations, et. It has a nice four mile walking path around part of the Lake.