Wiki source code of McDowell Nature Preserve

Last modified by Richard Johnson on 2024/04/23 17:32
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1 So, it was time to leave the Great Smokly Mountains.
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3 On the way out, we stopped by the [[Sugarland Visitors Center>>https://smokymountains.com/park/things-to-do/sugarlands-visitor-center/]], which we hadn't yet visited.  Another visitors center had said this one would be very likely to have firefly things, so we stuffed the kitties into the trailer, turned on the ceiling fans, and went in.  (It wasn't very warm, so we weren't worried about them.)  The center did, indeed, have both a very nice, detailed, book about fireflies (telling about various types), as well as also some glow-in-the-dark T-shirts!
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5 After the visitors center, we told the GPS to give us a route to McDowell Nature Preserve in Charlotte, NC, and started following the directions.  Here we go again...
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7 We got to just south of Cosby, TN and were told to turn right.  (At least, we're pretty sure we were told to turn right.)
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9 [[image:image-20240422230105-2.jpeg]]
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12 If we had turnedf left, we would have reached I-40 pretty quickly and easily, as you can see from the map above.  None-the-less, we turned right.  Soon the GPS started saying we would "Proceed to the route" and was pointing back in the opposite direction!  Unfortunately, there were no places to turn around, so we continued, since the road seemed pretty good still.  Then, startedf noticing signs in people's yards saying things like, "The GPS is wrong, turn around!"  We thought maybe this was simply a matter of the GPS leading to a person's house incorrectly, having read about such things happening previously,.
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14 We continued on a very winding road
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16 [[image:image-20240422231313-3.jpeg]]
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19 At one point, we happened upon a tree which had fallen down over our lane and we had to drive on the other side of the road to get around.  Still searching for some place to turn around, of course.
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21 Suddenly, we passed some people having a cookout at the end of the paved road and at that point (about half way of map above) we were on gravel!  (Not dirt though, so that's good, right?)
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23 We finally found a place to turn around, but by that time we were almost at the end this section of road and were about to turn onto Waterville Rd, which would only be around 1-2 miles until we reached I-40, so we continued.  Waterville Rd was, indeed, a good, paved, road again and it was smooth sailing onto I-40 at last!  (We were using Apple Maps at the time.  I just noticed that in order to force Google Maps to highlight the twisty, gravel, road, I had to place my destination marker quite a ways in from I-40.  If I placed it any closer, Google immediately went back to the better route via I-40, turning left at the Cosby marker.)
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26 [[image:image-20240422231908-4.jpeg]]
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29 The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful.  Apple Maps took us on some more small roads and we probably would have been better off arriving from a direction, but we got to the campground just fine.
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32 After arriving at the campsite, we had some issues trying to get the trailer more-or-less level on a somewhat un-level spot, but finally managed it.  Then, we went for a walk (as we always do!), this time down to the lake, where we saw a nice sunset.
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34 [[image:image-20240423203025-1.jpeg]]
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36 [[image:image-20240423203211-2.jpeg]]
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39 [[Day 2 at McDowell Nature Preserve>>McDowell_Nature_Preserve-2]]
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42 And on the 3rd day, we left ...
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