Today was all about getting back to nature, well as much as you can do in a V8 Hemi Durango. First stop was the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail

The narrow, winding, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail invites you to slow down and enjoy the forest and historic buildings of the area. The 5.5-mile-long, one-way, loop road is a favorite side trip for many people who frequently visit the Smokies. It offers rushing mountain streams, glimpses of old-growth forest, and a number of well-preserved log cabins, gristmills, and other historic buildings.

The drive was equally as monotonous as it was beautiful. It was a single lane carriage and it was absolutely nose to to tail traffic crawling along at no more than 5 mph in places. Admittedly, there were some magnificent drops inches away from the edge of the roads and lots of switchback and hairpin bends and the roads weren’t really designed for huge American cars. Nevertheless i found myself swearing at the person in front on several occasions and urging them to “get a move on”
If you look at the images below you would think we were in the middle of a serene drive in the countryside

The reality however can be seen below

Anyway, despite the amount of traffic on the road and the fact it took a couple of hours instead of 30 minutes it wasn’t to horrendous and there was some beautiful scenery to keep you occupied.

After the motor trail we headed up to Cades Cove loop which was a lovely hour and a half drive away through the Smokeys, We stopped just outside at the Campsite to get a drink and then headed off to do the 11 mile loop through the valley. Trip advisor and various forums had all said that if you want to see bears then Cades Cove on an afternoon is the closest you will get to a guarantee of seeing them grazing in the fields, And we weren’t left disappointed.

With it being Memorial day weekend the traffic was mad and every time a brown bear was spotted in the fields it ground to a halt as people jumped out of the cars to take photographs and park rangers appeared to stop mad Japanese tourists approaching the bears. It did have the feel of a safari park but that just because of how busy it was. Seeing brown bears in the wild is still a big tick off the ever growing bucket list and though I would have loved to see one walking down the roads near our cabin beggars can’t be choosers and this still felt very special.

And now for some videos.
First is some of the drive up to Cades cove and the others are edits of some of the better bits of video that we took of the Brown Bears ( and a wild turkey)