Soft Bread, Cold Butter - Our Memories of Camping in the Great Smokey Mountains

There are times in ones life that create such poignant memories that one can look back over the careworn years and savour them. Although we were there for only two days, (well, one and a half really) we experienced a richness of culture and nature that will carry with us forever.


Take the brave and noble Cherokee Indians (they still refer to themselves that way, so don't gasp and huff and tell me they're Native Americans now). Visualize their humble and busy village of Cherokee, where they labour all day as stereotypes, some in full native garb, dancing native dances on plywood stages in front of clean cut American families. I doubt this has changed since the 1950's, and in fact the whole town has a distinctly mid 20th century feel to it. Here, the proud peoples of these mountains bravely trek their good in from Mexico and China to sell in "Authentic Indian" wooden shops. With genuine Indian Moccassins (from Minnesota and complete with plastic beads and soles), and real turquoise jewellery (one horrid arrowhead and some cheap rings) mixed in with plastic play tepees and drums for the kids.

The real town is behind the frontier type village, and consists of the usual mix of side split ranch-style homes with satellite dishes and pools, small houses and trailers that seem common to all of rural Kentucky, Tenesee and North Carolina that we have seen so far.

There are many signs that the Cherokee do in fact take their heritage very seriously. Street names, even in the out of tourist areas, are written in English and Cherokee, they are trying to preserve the language and culture and pass it down - it is an affluent area, and they have created their wealth from the ignorance and prejudices of middle America.

Smokemont campgrounds was actually a flat area between hills. Very few trees, although we did have a flowering tree by our tent. We had the Ocanaluftee river flowing about 10 metres away...

Yesterday, as Rob said, we started on the real McCormick flavoured part of the holiday. I will download yesterday's pictures, and leave it for him to post....