030213 Smoky Mountain adventures

I joined the Gourmet Hiking Club from St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church, in Farragut, TN. We planned to do Meigs Creek Trail and look at The Sinks; however, Mother Nature had other plans. The access road, Little River Road, was closed due to snow. We backtracked and tried to go around through Wears Valley; that road was closed. So, we returned to Townsend Visitor's Center to decide if there was anything else we could do. I had picked up a seasonal copy of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's "Smokies Guide". The center-fold always contains a pic of the entire park, which includes a few of the trails. I remembered the road going in the opposite direction of Little River Road was NOT closed, and there was access to Tremont Road, which leads to Middle Prong Trail. Middle Prong Trail allows one to walk as far as one desires and return along the same route. It's fairly flat and always beautiful in winter, although I had never seen it this beautiful. The weather was too cold to have an outside picnic at Metcalf Bottoms - a nearby park and trailhead (by this time, Little River Road was open to traffic) - as we had planned, so we drove back to Knoxville, to George's lovely home. The other 3 folks knew to bring food to share, but I did not. Another hiker was to have joined us at Metcalf Bottoms (due to a knee injury, she could not hike), but that had to be canceled. By the time we returned to Knoxville, the injured hiker had already kept her late afternoon plans. So glad we did not allow the weather to deter us.