12/5/2021
Today I’m exploring the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This park is beautiful. I started with a tiny hike to Cataract Falls. This was only a quarter mile out and back from the visitors center. The falls were nice and the hike was easy.
My next hike is up to Laurel Falls. On the drive out there was a nice overlook. There was a couple there that asked me to take their pic and I had them take one of me in return.
The trail up to Laurel Falls was a little over a mile long. It was an out and back trail that was supposed to take 2-3 hours of moderate hiking. There were some great views on the way up. The falls were nice, but there were a few instagram models that took away from it. I must’ve been cruising or the time estimates on my app are way off. It took me 45 mins to hike the entire way up and back.
I had plenty of daylight left after that hike so i took a drive around the park. I was going to go up to the top of one of the mountains, but the traffic was crazy. I turned around and went to The Sinks and Cade’s Cove Scenic Loop. The sinks were really neat. It was originally a sharp bend in the river, but there was a log jam in the 1800’s and they loggers blew the jam apart with dynamite to cause the falls and take the bend out of the river.
Cade’s Cove was a meadow area in the middle of the mountains where some of the original people that lived in the area settled. There was a heard of elk right along the road too.
After it got dark I went back to Pidgeon Forge for the night.