In the car.  Our gravel road shared a steep narrow valley with a quick moving spring.  Seems the road crew favored paved flow-crossings over bridges….I suppose they don’t wash out as often.  In reality the creek crossings were just a bit disconcerting.

The most difficult areas were uphill climbs that had been wallowed out by spinning tires to depths that easily exceeded the Miata’s ground clearance. Kent maneuvered us through without mishap.  It was a pretty 8 miles but it took us about an hour.  That’s one drive we likely won’t do again.  To extend the challenge, when we popped out on paved road we were right in the middle of the “Tail of the Dragon”; a section of US 129 favored by motorcyclists for it’s nearly continuous down hill curves.  That part was perfect for the Miata!  It just hugs the road and gets on down. Kent actually had to let up on it so he wouldn’t run over a couple Harley riders.

Today was a 170 mile day just to get to parts of the park we have never seen before.  Tomorrow we plan to put a few more miles on our boots and fewer on the tires.  Leaves are past peak in the high country of the Smokys but valleys are still beautiful so a couple waterfall trails are calling my name.