Corridor 9

After emerging from the mountains we had to go to Elkmont campground because Cades Cove had filled up for the weekend. We checked in with the ranger and surveyed our campsite before heading off to Gatlinburg to look around. Upon returning we found someone in our campsite. There was a family of four who had arrived at camp late that evening and was told by the ranger that campsites were open on a first come first served basis. They didn’t know that we had already talked to the ranger earlier that day and paid for the site. Rather than making them break camp, repack their camper, and move to another site we just decided to share the site with them for the evening. We were sleeping in a tent anyway and had plenty of room to setup out of their way. Besides, all we were doing was sleeping there that night and leaving early in the morning while the other campers were planning on staying the weekend.

We loaded up the following morning and headed out to find a place to take a shower. It was so nice getting some of the stink that had built up for 5 days washed off. We bummed around Gatlinburg, Townsend, and a few other places on the drive home simply to get out and stretch for a while. All in all it was a spectacular trip and I will definitely be going again soon.