Scenery like this makes the Cades Cove Loop Lope special. (Mary Kay Godbey Photo)
TOWNSEND, TN. — There’s not a better way to spend a Sunday morning than participating in the Cades Cove Loop Lope.
You can choose the 10-mile trek around the entire park or opt for a traditional 5K (3.1 miles) where you actually run through a small creek.
This is the only organized footrace inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and that’s why it is limited to 750 total runners and normally spots sell out in a few weeks when registration opens. Proceeds from the event benefit Friends of the Smokies, a great group that helps with various park projects from historic preservation to wildlife conservation and more.
It was 29 degrees when the course opened Sunday morning at 7. The sun was just starting to rise over the Great Smoky Mountains.
I didn’t see a bear on the way to the starting line this year as I did in 2019 — the last time the event was held — but no more than 1 1/2 miles into the run there was a bear and two cubs not far off the course.
Before that you ran by a huge group of horses in a field and not long after seeing the bears I spotted my first deer. I think I saw around 15 deer total before finishing my 10 miles. Somehow I didn’t see the wild turkey at Cades Cove but plenty of others did.
If that’s not enough to make the run special, the scenery is gorgeous as the sun rises and Sunday it was a bright, vibrant sun on such a calm day that it made it easy to appreciate what you were seeing.
Friends of the Smokies also does a great job with inspirational signs on the course.
Two of my favorites: The best view comes after the hardest climb (which greeted you after a killer hill, one of several on the course) and Run like a bear is chasing you!
The run attracts serious runners but also a lot of casual runners along with walkers/runners. I like that because you can meet and talk to a lot of people on the course. I managed to finish in about 2 hours, 11 minutes — a lot faster than I expected because the scenery and conversations inspired me.
I’m not quite sure how many states were represented but I talked to participants from Alabama, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and even Texas. And a lot of the runners had participated in one of the five previous Cades Cove Loop Lope events and likely will be back again.
A promotional video for the race quotes a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., lifeguard on why he comes to Townsend in November to participate: “I feel like if you go to heaven, you just wake up in Cades Cove.”
I have to agree because Sunday certainly did feel like a piece of heaven to me.
