Biking Great Smoky Mountains National Park | Tennessee

Ahhhh the Smokies. Its been wayyy too long since we’ve been able to spend some quality time out here. We’ve been to the Cades Cove and Deep Creek Areas before, but this was our first time in Elkmont. We were lucky enough to get a creekside site at the Elkmont Campground. The sites here don’t have any hookups- but luckily, we were able to sleep with the windows open, running our LED lights when needed, and used the water from our reservoir to shower/ do dishes. Its like luxury tent camping. Those pics in the very beginning are to show what is involved in filling our reservoir. We have a 15 gallon tank which I fill up with a metal funnel and multiple trips with a 3 gallon jug. Those muscles definitely come in handy!

After driving 5 hours from Jordan Lake to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we took it easy and chilled by the campfire the day we got in. The next day, however, was beautiful and we decided to go for a bike ride. We rode to Laurel Falls first- making a quick creek side stop to hop along the rocks. Then we rode 4 miles down the mountain and into the valley to hike along the Sugarland Nature Trail. There is an excellent swimming hole here . As we took pictures of the beautiful scenery, we also discovered that I shoot with the wrong eye (see picture). Now I have to practice shooting the “correct” way with my left eye…weird.

On the way back we rode all 4 miles back up the mountain. It was strenuous, but not as impossible as we had built it up to be in our minds. As we rode, a black bear ran right across our path. That made for our 3rd bear sighting of the visit. These guys are all very small (40ish lbs) and the tall brush makes them very difficult to photograph. Still, its always exciting to see one in person!

We then returned to camp and probably ate even more calories than we burned off. Can’t wait to see even more of my favorite national park! ~Shelley , Great Smoky Mountain Wedding + Elopement Photographer

Been hanging out in the Smokies this weekend and we timed our visit perfectly with the spring #wildflowerpilgrimage ! So much beautiful nature to be seen here- colorful wild flowers, turkeys, babbling creeks, AND we’ve seen 3 young black bears!!! Plenty more pics of this beautiful place to come :) #nps100 #gsmnp #greatsmokymountains

A photo posted by Josh + Shelley Hartman (@hartmanoutdoorphotography) on Apr 23, 2016 at 5:04pm PDT