Monday- Today was a major hiking day, and the boys were troopers. We did Clingman's Dome and Laurel Falls. These are both very popular for good reason, and therefor also very crowded. The Smokies are the most visited National Park in the country. We also made a stop near the trailhead for Alum Cave falls to let Jake and Josh climb on the rocks in the stream and let John fish the stream. He managed a small rainbow and missed a couple more.
Tuesday - The kids had plans for today to meet cousins for a day of go-carting, so we were on our own. We woke up and discovered our house batteries were down to 10.2 volts and even after charging with the generator, did not come back up. John figured the older of the two batteries was bad, so we made the trek into Pigeon Forge (yuck) to Walmart to pick up a new one. Hopefully, that will take care of it. We are running on just that one for now, and will reintroduce the other on the way home to let the motorhome charger bring it back up. We fished from the creek banks in the campground and each managed one rainbow. We are using rods that are similar to Tenkara. If you are interested, check out: www.tenkarausa.com.
Wednesday - Today was rafting day. We drove to the Pigeon River and took the lower class 1,2,3 trip. It was a very nice ride mostly in Cherokee National Forest. On the way back we got stopped by a bad wreck in I-40 and were stopped for over two hours. The boys did great!
Thursday - We fished in the campground in the morning, and Joan caught a nice rainbow. John missed his. We are still using the crappie rods, which are simply 10 ft. 3 piece rods that collapse into one piece that are 3 1/3 feet long. It is like fishing with an old fashioned bamboo pole, but it is possible to use any fly that you would use with a fly rod. This style of fishing is called "Tenkara." If you want more information, you can get it at: Click Here The kids came over after their outings in the morning including zip lining, and waded in the creek. Later, they fished for awhile, but didn't catch any. We all went out for pizza at Big Daddy's in Gatlinberg, which was quite good.
Friday - We left early and came back to Trackrock the same way we went on Sunday. The traffic was much lighter, making the trip much more enjoyable. We had a great time with the kids and grandkids.
Thursday - We fished in the campground in the morning, and Joan caught a nice rainbow. John missed his. We are still using the crappie rods, which are simply 10 ft. 3 piece rods that collapse into one piece that are 3 1/3 feet long. It is like fishing with an old fashioned bamboo pole, but it is possible to use any fly that you would use with a fly rod. This style of fishing is called "Tenkara." If you want more information, you can get it at: Click Here The kids came over after their outings in the morning including zip lining, and waded in the creek. Later, they fished for awhile, but didn't catch any. We all went out for pizza at Big Daddy's in Gatlinberg, which was quite good.
Friday - We left early and came back to Trackrock the same way we went on Sunday. The traffic was much lighter, making the trip much more enjoyable. We had a great time with the kids and grandkids.
