We spent the last few days at Little Arrow Outdoor Resort in Townsend, TN. It is a very nice Resort with RV parking, cabins, and tiny homes. It was a little tight getting into our spot with our newly acquired 45′ motorhome, but once in, we discovered that we love this park for its amenities and location to Cades Cove.

While touring the cove the past few days, we’ve seen bears, coyotes, white-tailed deer, and wild turkeys. One bear came up onto the Abrams Falls Trailhead, just about 25 feet in front of me. We were a little nervous, wondering if the bear planned to walk along the trail towards us or not. Fortunately, it decided to cross the trail and climb up the hill—a great relief.

The Abrams Falls hike was great. The trail is well-maintained, and the falls are beautiful. It is a 5-1/2 mile out-and-back hike in the shade. We went early in the morning, so it wasn’t too hot. We were happy we did that, as it started to get a little warm near the end of our hike.

Yesterday, Charlie and I rode our bikes around the Cades Cove Loop Road twice. We started our first loop about 20 minutes before sunrise, and before the gate was opened for car traffic. It was an awesome time to be in the park, with the early dawn light.

We finished our first ride, after many photo stops, around 8:30 am. Since it was still early, we decided to do the 11-mile loop one more time. The end of that ride was a pain because we got stuck behind a lot of very slow-moving vehicles. They close the loop to car traffic on Wednesdays, May-September, but we will not be here this Wednesday.

While on the John Oliver Cabin trailhead, we spotted another bear. He ended up climbing up a nearby tree. It was a lot of fun watching him up there. I filmed the bear up in the tree. At one point, he jumps between limbs. Pretty cool. If you’d like to see the video, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/9S6N8FxIEXk

After our second loop around Cades Cove, we headed over to Tremont and did the short (1.6 miles RT), but steep, hike to Spruce Flats Falls. It is another beautiful Great Smoky Mountains waterfall.

We are heading over to the Gatlinburg area today. We will be exploring the park from there over the next few days. Stay tuned.