Since it was a beautiful almost-spring day and the kids were out of school for spring break, we decided to make our first trek of the season to Cades Cove. I assumed that since we were visiting in the middle of the week that we wouldn't see too many other visitors. Wrong! I believe the nice weather we're experiencing (with highs near 70 degrees) enticed quite a few people to the Smokies this week.

On the first half of the loop we saw a herd of about 20 deer in one of the fields, as well as a wild turkey and a few geese. The park service had a sign up at the Primitive Baptist Church advertising a talk being held at noon and 1 pm, but we didn't want to wait an hour for the first talk so we continued around the loop. The parking area at the John Oliver place as well as all three churches was over half full. Not as busy as mid-summer, but still pretty packed for March.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at the Cable Mill area. We spread our blanket out in the field near the parking lot, but had to pack up the picnic early because of unusually strong winds. I should have paid more attention to the weather forecasters since they had predicted strong winds. I was hoping we could still manage a picnic, but no such luck. The winds were too strong even for kite flying, so after finishing our picnic in the car we played catch for a bit before touring the Cable Mill.

There was a steady stream of people going into the mill. Inside a man was operating the mill grinding corn meal. He was very informative and I learned a bit more about the seven mills that operated in Cades Cove when it was still a mountain community. The mill is not always staffed with an operator, so I was thrilled the kids got to see it working. The gentleman we saw operating the mill is there several days a week during the middle of the day throughout the summer, so try visiting in the middle of the day if you want to see him. We even bought some corn meal (ground at the Old Mill in Pigeon Forge, not at the Cable Mill) to try later.

After hopping rocks in the creek by the Gregg-Cable house, we visited the gift shop which was absolutely packed with visitors. The spring schedule of park activities is not yet available (maybe by the first of April), so we quickly left the gift shop and continued our tour of Cades Cove loop.

On the second half of the loop we decided to stop at the Henry Whitehead Place. The door to the upstairs loft was unlocked (I have visited several times when it was locked - I'm not sure what criteria the Park Rangers use to determine when to unlock the upstairs). I love the tiny spiral staircase to the loft in this cabin. It is steep and narrow and can be difficult to navigate, so use caution. It definitely wouldn't pass building inspection today.

We also stopped at the Dan Lawson place and the Tipton Place where we found a great impression of a bear paw print in the mud beside the creek. The daffodils throughout the Cove were beautiful both in the fields and near several of the homesites.

As a final treat on our tour of Cades Cove, we got a great close-up view of a deer at the edge of the woods. The doe was eating and she seemed very used to visitors taking her picture. In fact, two young girls were only about 15 feet from her and trying to sneak closer as we slowly drove by.

While we were in the neighborhood we stopped at the Cades Cove Riding Stables. Even though the sign says they are open April through October, the Stables were open today and doing plenty of business.