Great Smoky Mountains and the Troubleshooting Begins (by Sunshine)

Yay - no snow!

Walden loved watching leaves float down the river.

Despite a rainy forecast, we couldn’t resist spending a few days in the mountains from March 10-13. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is still in the winter season but there are two camping areas partially open. We decided to stay at Cades Cove on the north side. We were all excited to spend our first night in the Burro (finally)! Having always been tent campers, we knew things had changed when Walden jumped out of the car, ran to the tent pad in the campsite, and shouted, “Look what I found – a sandbox!” So, we pulled out the little shovel and bucket and let him build sand castles. The rain cleared shortly before we arrived and we watched the tent campers hanging their bedding to dry while we took off hiking. 

Walden loved exploring among the rocks next to a beautiful stream lined with rhododendrons. He poked leaves into the water with a stick and climbed around fallen logs. Jim and I smiled at one another knowing this is what we wanted for him - opportunities to explore diverse natural places. In case we didn’t get another dry spell, we took an evening hike to the Spruce Flats waterfall after supper. It got dark by the end of the trail (still need to figure out where the extra headlamp is stashed) and our legs were aching (we are not in Wisconsin anymore).

                     

Enjoying our outdoor dining room.

Our second day was really rainy but we persisted and drove through Cades Cove. We took turns exploring in the rain while Walden slept off a mild fever. He was run down so we spent the afternoon driving through the park and taking short hikes near the Sugarlands Visitor Center.

The third day was beautiful and sunny. We hiked to Abrams Falls while Walden sang "I’ve Been Working on the Railroad" over and over and over. Our legs were feeling stronger, especially Jim’s that carry Walden’s weight in the backpack. We wonder if we are doing Walden a disservice by not encouraging him to hike more but also know we need to care for our souls by doing longer hikes that wouldn’t be possible without the backpack.

Walden's favorite way to hike.

Walden really wanted to cross without holding the rail or my hand. 

In the afternoon, we drove over Newfound Gap to the North Carolina side of the park to camp at Smokemont Campground. It has beautiful sites along a river and was nearly deserted so very quiet.

We started our usual routine of preparing the Burro for sleeping, cooking, etc. and discovered that all is not well in Burroville. The list of unfortunate discoveries actually started when we were in Knoxville. It had been too cold to run the propane before we left Wisconsin so we got it going while at Aunt Margie’s. It was then that Jim shared the news that the refrigerator was not working – with propane or electricity. Something happened in route that jostled it. We had limited time to troubleshoot and decided to use it as an extra cooler with ice until we have more time to work on it. At Smokemont, Jim discovered that part of the shelving we installed in the closet gave way and everything was shifting. This will need to be fixed and items stored elsewhere for a while. Then I discovered that the window above Walden’s bed had leaked and we had gotten so much rain that his bed and mattress became soaked sponges. Luckily we were able to dry things out enough for sleeping but we will have to find the leaks and add more caulk to the window we thought we’d caulked enough already. All of these discoveries were being made while I was in the process of cooking the extra food that had thawed in the cooler because it was supposed to be in the broken freezer. Jim was tending to a miserable Walden who was crying because his stomach hurt so much because he hasn’t pooped in two days.

Rain, rain, and more rain.

I’m proud of us though. With all that going on we stayed positive, worked as a team, and ended the evening with a really nice family walk (well, Walden rode in the stroller) along the river in the campground. We knew things would happen, it’s just part of the adventure.

See more photos from the Smoky Mountains here!