THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS 241 
all the highest mountains, these too are bare, — no 
matter how small the opening may be, the moun- 
tain-top is free. 
But while there are no large settlements and few 
signs of the devastation that follows the coming of 
man, the long line of the Great Smoky Mountains 
is not uninhabited. The valleys that run up into the 
mountains hold little nests of houses, and here and 
there, far up on the mountain-side, in a cove or on a 
fertile "bench," one may find a clearing with its 
lonely cabin and its cornfield, to be reached only by 
a trail through the forest. 
The Great Smokies yet remain, as a whole, the 
most inaccessible part of the mountain region. No 
road crosses them, few paths penetrate into their 
fastnesses. To go to any of the high peaks is an 
arduous climb requiring a guide. And yet it is not 
difficult to ascend into their forests far enough to get 
a sense of the glory of the heights. 
Being at Cherokee, in the Indian country, instead 
of following the road down the Oconolufty River 
to the railroad, it is far wiser to go up it and thereby 
get into the very heart of the Smokies. As you as- 
cend the narrowing valley, you have a feeling of 
exhilaration, an increasing sense of splendid freedom, 
with which the increasing altitude may have some- 
thing to do. The many streams, that come hurrying 
down from their birth chambers In the clouds, cross 
the road to enter the river. Hence there are fords, 
beautiful shady places under the trees and the vine- 
draped bushes. And then the way becomes so nar- 
