We can’t get enough of those waterfalls.

The laundry monster was beginning to stir from its slumber. We reasoned that if we got everything washed today, it would last until we got home - maybe. First thing in the morning, we googled a laundromat in Gatlinburg. Google sent us to a place in a strip mall two miles out of town. Although a bit more expensive than our last clean and modern laudromat, this one was even cleaner and more modern.

With that chore quickly put to rest, it was time to tackle the roads around the eastern edge of the Smokies to complete the drive around the big park that we started yesterday. First up was highway 321. This road was lined with RV parks, some junky, some well maintained, all jammed with RVs practically stacked on top of each other. Now, that’s camping! (I am being facetious.)

I have to say, these RV parks soak up a lot of campers that would otherwise be crowding the nicer campgrounds even more than they are. For that, I am a big fan of them.

At the northeastern corner of the Smokies, we headed south on Highway 32. This was more of the kind of mountain road that we like - twisty and curvy. We stopped off at a tiny BBQ joint for a noon sandwich.

We cheated by driving a short stretch on I40. As far as interstate highways go, it was still scenic and fun. You get to twist and turn at 65 mph with a tunnel or two thrown in.

Once around the eastern side of the park, we turned west on highway 19 to hook up with the Blue Ridge Parkway. Here, Google Maps showed just how much it truly despises the Blue Ridge Parkway. Maps tried to keep us on highway 19. When I insisted on Blue Ridge by turning onto it, Maps tried to send us on Mile High Road, a gravel mountain goat path. Jeez, what gives with that?

My plan was to catch another one-lane one-way loop that starts at the eastern end of the Parkway, and ends at the western end. On the paper map, it starts off as Heintooga Ridge Road, morphs into Round Bottom Road, and finally turns into Big Cove Road. Along the Big Cove Road segment, is a trail to Mingo Falls.

Overlooks on Heintooga Road.

We found Heintooga Ridge Road. After six miles, the road was blocked - already closed for winter. We turned around. The new plan was to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway to the other side of the loop, drive up Big Cove Road, and reach the trail from there. Again, Google Maps balked. It screamed Mile High Road, an obscure road that forks off from Hientooga Ridge Road just before it feeds back into Blue Ridge Parkway. I tried it, but after a mile the road deteriorated to that mountain goat path I previously mentioned.

The gravel Mile High Road starts off rough but decent.

Mile High Road starts to get dicy.

An informal campfire site next to Mile High Road.

View from the point on the Mile High Road where we turned around.

That’s it! I was angry. I sent Google Maps to “time-out”. We drove the spectacular and fully-functioning Blue Ridge Parkway. We easily found Big Cove Road and the Mingo Falls trailhead utilizing our own reckoning.

Blue Ridge Parkway.

The trail to the falls wasn’t very far, but it was up a steep long stairway, then a rocky path to a final curve. For some reason, we weren’t expecting much. However, when we came around the bend we were confronted with a beauty. “Now, that’s a Bingo!” Or rather, “a Mingo” (you’d have to watch the movie, “Inglorious Bastards” to get that reference).

It was a great ending to our great day. We drove back up highway 441 to our camp to complete the circle.

Elk on highway 441.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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