Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 02-26-2015, 04:17 PM   #1
Member
 
upzmtn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 79
Trip Report – Cherokee National Forest/Cherohala Skyway, TN

We took an extended weekend trip to celebrate our wedding anniversary the weekend of February 13 – 16th. Our destination was east Tennessee to see and experience portions of the Appalachian Mountains that we had not seen. It is beautiful! We have a daughter in elementary school; so much of our getaway schedule during the fall, winter, and spring months revolves around the school calendar. Therefore, our weekend adventures during this time don’t begin until Friday afternoon after school is out. So it went with this adventure (aka trip).

First stop on our way was Levi Jackson State Park, KY. It is open all year and it is not too far off of interstate 75, so it made a great overnight stop on our way to east TN. It was us and a couple of other campers (nice and peaceful).











Saturday morning, it was on to Tellico Plains, TN to make a stop at the Tellico Grains Bakery to pick up delicious homemade bread and brick oven pizzas. The brick oven pizzas were for our anniversary dinner in the mountains!



Our itinerary for the day was to see the western half of the Cherohala Skyway (TN section), make a visit to Bald River Falls, and stay overnight at Indian Boundary Recreation Area (hint: group/overflow campground is open year round). Temps were very chilly overnight (14 degrees), but we stayed warm and cozy with our propane furnace.















On Sunday, we woke up to a nice bright sunny morning! That morning we drove a little more of the Cherohala Skyway and then took North River Road (FR 217) at Stratton Meadows. It was beautiful and followed North River most of the time. We stopped at waterfalls and hiked back to Donley Cabin to take a look. Our weather for mid-February was pretty and nice - blue skies, sunshine and 32 degrees. A big winter storm was headed our way, so we decided to camp down off of the mountain Sunday night at Cherohala Mountain Trails Campground. We were their only customers and I think they were surprised to see us. It is a nice place and the owners turned on the water so we could have hot showers.

























On Monday, we had to head back home to Kentucky. We knew we were in for quite a trip with the snowstorm on its way. We fortunately did not hit bad weather until the TN/KY state line and did not have the major accumulating snow until around London. The Sportsmobile did great in the snow and we made it home safely.














__________________
Patrick and Angie
2014 Ford SMB EB 50 4x4
2012 Toyota 4Runner 4x4
2017 Subaru Crosstrek
upzmtn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-26-2015, 04:35 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
twogone's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Taylor, Mississippi
Posts: 1,648
Re: Trip Report – Cherokee National Forest/Cherohala Skyway,

So cool!
__________________
'95 SMB E350 Quigley 7.3
https://www.taylorarts.com
... If you have to ask, you'll never understand...
"... torpedo'd, because we don't generally cotton to bullshit around here." -jage
"... do they ooch apart in the night?" -Dia
twogone is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-26-2015, 04:46 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
rallypanam's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Francisco/Nevada City
Posts: 3,769
Re: Trip Report – Cherokee National Forest/Cherohala Skyway,

Nice!
rallypanam is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2015, 12:26 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
SCBrian's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Coastal South Carolina
Posts: 369
Re: Trip Report – Cherokee National Forest/Cherohala Skyway,

I really liked the way the Red was so vibrant in some of the pics. Thanks for sharing.
__________________
2001 E350 V10 Homebrew

My Build Thread
SCBrian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2015, 01:38 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
4x4sporty's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: KY
Posts: 204
Re: Trip Report – Cherokee National Forest/Cherohala Skyway,

I love the first picture. What a great screensaver. I am glad to see you aren't afraid to use that beautiful van. You have inspired me I never do trip reports because it seems like we don't have much to offer compared to some of those amazing sites out west but I see I was wrong. Keep'em coming.
Jim
4x4sporty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2015, 05:18 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
86Scotty's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: TN
Posts: 10,222
Re: Trip Report – Cherokee National Forest/Cherohala Skyway,

Great pics! Looks like you spent a good bit of time right in my backyard at some of my usual camping spots. Weird to see Indian Boundary Lake all dried up in winter. We were there recently and saw the overflow loop for the first time. We go right down the road to the dispersed camping on Citico Creek alot, and on the other side of Bald River Falls along the North River. It is nice and deserted there this time of year. I might just have to take a drive over there this weekend now! Joyce Kilmer area on the east end of the Cherohala (near Robbinsville) is another good spot. Here are a couple of pics from there when we went early this winter.





Thanks for sharing your trip. I'm glad to see that Sportsmobile Fever is spreading in to this area. Get used to people stopping you to talk and ask stuff like, "What the heck is that thing, the A-Team?" Honestly, I got that the other day from someone.

Get in touch next time you come down!

Eric
86Scotty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2015, 07:13 PM   #7
Member
 
upzmtn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 79
Re: Trip Report – Cherokee National Forest/Cherohala Skyway,

Awesome to know you are familiar with the area 86Scotty. We are planning another trip to the area during Springbreak (early April). We will let you know as the time approaches.

4x4Sporty - glad you enjoyed the trip report. Kinda felt the same way about our trip reports here in the east not quite adding up to the West and Big Sky country. You have inspired us to keep it up none the less!
__________________
Patrick and Angie
2014 Ford SMB EB 50 4x4
2012 Toyota 4Runner 4x4
2017 Subaru Crosstrek
upzmtn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2015, 08:05 PM   #8
Senior Member
 
Pschitt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 1,018
Garage
Re: Trip Report – Cherokee National Forest/Cherohala Skyway,

Nice trip report. I enjoy to see some pictures of places I explored in fall 2013.
__________________
Travelling in VivaLaVida (custom 2010 6.0 Ford E-350 Extended with U-Joint 4WD conversion)
Pschitt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2015, 11:02 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 286
Re: Trip Report – Cherokee National Forest/Cherohala Skyway,



Van camping in the "off" season like that is great.
__________________
2006 E350 Diesel, SMB 4x4, RB50- "Hopper"- SOLD
BogusBlake is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-28-2015, 02:20 AM   #10
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 26
Re: Trip Report – Cherokee National Forest/Cherohala Skyway,

Nice Trip Report!
LandyChris is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sportsmobile SIP or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:34 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.