North Carolina {Day 3}

Our journey in North Carolina continues on Day 3 with some more exploring in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, as well as visiting the towns surrounding the cabin. Read about days 1 and 2 of our trip here - North Carolina {Day 1} and North Carolina {Day 2}.

Saturday, July 6

The towns of Sylva and Dillsboro lie just at the bottom of the mountain down from the cabin.

The favorite store of the Roche family is Dogwood Crafters. Everything in this store is hand-crafted or home-made by the locals.

We visited a local brewery in Sylva to try some of their beers - Heinzelmannchen Brewery

 Back into the mountains for another day of hiking!

As we were getting ready to hike up the mountain, we ran into this little guy. 

This was my first time ever seeing an elk in person and it was really cool. 

We hiked the Mingus Creek Trail along the Oconaluftee River

 This trail was a nice, easy hike compared to our adventures on the Appalachian Trail the day before. 

All of the recent rain was causing the river levels to rise and flood some of the trails. We were only able to hike a little over 2.5 miles on this trail before we had to take a detour due to flooding.

Our hike did lead us to this historic grist mill right along the river. 

 Mingus Mill in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

After completing this hike, we decided to head back to Bryson City for a little happy hour.

We returned to Nantahala Brewing Company because we enjoyed it so much the first time. Rather than go out to dinner, we grabbed a pizza and some growlers from Nantahala and headed back to the cabin.

We spent the remainder of our evening relaxing on the porch swing enjoying the mountain air.