holidays

We drove through the mountains to the Cataloochee Valley. The last 20 miles was on hairy mountain roads, with sheer drops and hairpin bends, and a lot of the way no tarmac, just mud and gravel. The valley has meadows and forested mountain sides and the remains of some old buildings in various states of disrepair. We parked near a trailhead and saw some wild turkeys in the distance. We picked up a trail map from a wooden box, and walked up a steep trail through the woods. There were lots of butterflies. We realised we weren’t going to manage the whole 6-mile loop without lunch, so turned back and ate our picnic in the car.

After lunch we followed a trail along the side of a stream for a couple of miles. On the way back there was a heavy thunder storm. Back in the car, we drove a circuit back round to the park entrance and had good views of elk and more turkeys. The elk were re-introduced to the valley on 2001 – some have tags and collars fitted.

In the evening we drove to Asheville and had a good dinner at the Biergarden, and then walked around downtown. It seems like a nice place, so we decided to stay another day, and booked into a more central hotel downtown.