The spring wildflowers are in bloom in Cades Cove.
Cades Cove is one of the most popular destinations in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and its 11-mile loop road is notorious for traffic jams of tourists inching along the one-lane road. I found a great way to beat the traffic -- ride a bike. For hundreds of years Cherokee Indians hunted in Cades Cove but archeologists have found no evidence of major settlements. The first Europeans settled in the cove sometime between 1818 and 1821. By 1830 the population of the area had already swelled to 271. Cades Cove offers the widest variety of historic buildings of any area in the national park. Scattered along the loop road are three churches, a working grist mill, barns, log houses, and many other faithfully restored eighteenth and nineteenth century structures. With sunny skies and perfect temperatures, I pedaled the loop road twice, moving as fast as the traffic, and getting a lot better gas mileage. For a flatlander like me, though, the hills proved to be quite challenge.
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