More From A Sierra Club Calendar Day In Cades Cove

Like I posted in my Day Blog, I went on a day hike in the Smokies with the Harvey Broome Group on Saturday in Cades Cove. Some of the hikes were over ground I had covered on a previous Sierra Club hike on New Year's Eve, but some were new.

Early morning.

The Missing Link.

Arrived at the park...

First meeting place...

...to Cades Cove.

Cades Cove "livestock."

Deer!

The road had some water.

We hiked near the John Oliver Cabin, partly on the Rich Mountain Trail, to an old homesite and then to an old car, which has been crushed by a tree. The return trip took us past the cabin and across a field with a great vista.

John Oliver Cabin...

...inside.

Deja vu...again!

An old rock wall...

...cool tree...

...X marks the way to...

...the old chimney.

Knowledge!

That tree wasn't here when I parked it!

Old style photo.

Nice vista.

Cool car at the trailhead.

After that was back-up the trail to Gregory's Cave. Something interesting here was the surveillance equipment here had been removed...but not the gating as you still can only go as far as the cave entrance.

Old amphitheater site.

Gregory Cave...

...inside...

...another look at two...

...rock formations.

Headed out...

...& up.

Then we stopped at the Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church for lunch. We ate in a field next to daffodils, planted by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) over 80 years ago. The flowers spell their unit name...Company 5427. After lunch, we walked the field to some more old ruins that Margaret had found. One interesting thing near the church was some of the areas around it was closed to bear activity. We speculated that there might be a bear den nearby.

Past the Cades Cove Methodist Church to...

...Missionary Baptist...

...view inside.

Old CCC circle...

...& the field of daffodils that spell Company 5427.

One of the daffodils.

View in the field...

...some old ruins.

It was a nice day.

That sign I mentioned.

Our next destination was to one of the highlights of my last trip to Cades Cove, the Pearl Harbor Tree. Unlike the last time, there were no flags adorning the site, but the metal plaque on the chain was still there. Oh, this time I thought to look on the other side which says Pearl Harbor.

The view from where we parked...

...heading to...

...the Pearl Harbor Tree.

The tree plaque.

It was a day of vistas.

This was a first-time visit for a number of the people in our group and that was also the case where we headed next, hiking to the Elijah Oliver Cabin. This was my third trip to the cabin with the last time being February of 2016. Like most of the day, we ended up off-trail for a bit where we found more old artifacts from the inhabitants of Cades Cove, including what I termed the Smokies Stonehenge. This is always an interesting cabin, because it's larger than most, with its own kitchen. It also has three outbuildings.

Headed to the cabin...

...went off-trail...

...& found the Smokies Stonehenge.

Back to the trail.

...to the barn...

...inside.

Old corn crib...

...inside...

...small barn...

...the cabin...

...the main living room...

...out a window...

...kitchen...

...inside spring house...

...the area where it looks like there are demonstrations.

The loop road & vista.

Then we took another break at Cable Mill, where a Ranger told us about an off the beaten path cemetery, so that is where we headed next. To get to Graveyard Hill, you first pass the Ike Lequire Cemetery. The second one is about half-time past it in some woods. After returning we finished the day at the Cades Cove Visitor Center, which also has a snack bar.

Cable Mill.

Helpful Ranger giving us our next destination.

More vistas...

...Dan Lawson Place...

...Tipton Cabin...

...where we headed out...

...first to Ike Lequire Cemetery...

...& one of its old tombstones.

...then headed on...

...but we fund this guy...

...& then Graveyard Hill...

...an old stone...

...& a newer one...

...headed back.

Cades Cove Visitor Center.

Another look at the "Missing Link."

Overall, it was a great group (but that is a given with the HBG), we even had a biologist from Denmark on the hike. I even got to assist the Hike Leader with the outing, I guess you can call me a junior hike leader.