Smoky Spring Break 3

Wednesday we woke up a bit early (no woodpecker that night) and packed up. 

Since a check on the website revealed that the Newfound Gap road up to Clingman’s Dome was still closed, we changed our planned hike to Alum Cave to be a hike to Laurel Falls instead. This gave us a chance to drive along Little River road that had been closed the first day.  The weather in the morning was definitely spring-like and the little snow dog that Emilie built the day before was quickly melting.  We had to drive back to Pigeon Forge to drop off the keys to the rental cabin, and then back drop to the Gatlinburg Bypass. 

Gatlinburg

Going over the Gatlinburg Bypass gave us a wonderful view of snow and fog covered Mount LeConte and then Clingman’s Dome in the background. I think both JP and I were impressed by the fact that we had hiked up Clingman's Dome from base to peak.

We stopped briefly at the Sugarland Vistor center, which was extremely crowded and then drove to the Laurel Falls trailhead.   

After searching for parking spot along the crowded road, we turned back around and were extremely fortunate that someone was pulling out and we got a parking spot right at the trailhead.

Although the girls had hiked to Laurel Falls previously, they didn’t remember it.  I remembered it mostly as the only paved trail in the Smokies and told the girls the hike was pretty flat.  However, in actuality, the trail climbs 300 ft (25 stories) in the 1.3 miles to the falls which is a pretty decent pitch. 

 The trail was crowded with families, but in the sections where there were gaps between groups, the kids had snowball fights. 

  I will have to say that JP and I probably saw 100 times more people on these trails, than in all our backcountry trips in the Smokies. So one of the attractions of the Smokies is that there is something for everyone, and by choosing your trail you can easily choose easy and crowded or breathtakingly beautiful solitude. As it nears the last quarter mile to the falls, the trail narrows with very steep drop-offs and was quite icy. I was impressed that AM was able to make it, given her fear of heights. 

 Laurel Falls is a set of cascades and certainly pretty enough to justify the attention given to it by park visitors 

Laurel Falls

On our return trip, AM did her good turn and picked up bits of trash that people had dropped on the trail. 

 

After finishing our hike, we continued our drive on Little River Road, stopping at the Sinks.   

This is a short cascade section in Little River.  When JP and I had been here before, we had seen some people getting ready to run the cascade in kayaks, but had not had the chance to see them actually do the run. Personally, I thought it looked crazy dangerous.   

When we pulled in the Sinks parking lot, there was a group of about six kayakers getting set up to run the cascade and we were fortunate to see them actually make the run.   

 

It was amazing and they made it look easy. Although I no longer have any kayaking skills whatsoever, I have to say that in watching them and driving along the river, a day on the Little River looked mighty tempting.

 After leaving the Sinks we drove home, stopping briefly at the Townsend Visitor’s Center.

Smoky Spring Break 2

In the morning we feasted on bacon, eggs, and hot cocoa, then played our long delayed Great Dalmuti game.  After several hard fought rounds, I pulled out a victory to become the reigning Spring Break Great Dalmuti.  Since the girl’s enthusiasm for another hike was very low, only JP and I did the planned Rainbow Falls trail hike. On paper, it only takes 20 minutes to drive from our cabin to the trailhead on Cherokee Orchard Road just a few miles up from Gatlinburg, but thanks to road construction in Gatlinburg, it ended up taking nearly an hour. Despite the snow and traffic, the trailhead parking lot was still full and we had to park at the auxiliary lot.  

The trail to Rainbow Falls climbs steadily for about 2.7 miles up Monte Le Conte, primarily following near the creek, with four or five creek crossings along the way. At the lower end, the actual trail was muddy as the heavy foot traffic kept the snow melted, but drop in temperature higher up and the continued snowfall caused the trail to become completely icy and at one point our tracks were getting rapidly covered over. 

 On a sunny winter day, I am sure you would have some spectacular views of the valley, but because of the snowstorm, we never had much more than a vague sense of the open space below us.  But the snow covered trail, particularly along the creek sections, was quite beautiful.  Unfortunately, the snow was falling so rapidly that it was difficult to keep the camera lens from having water spots or fogging, so a lot of my pictures ended up with blurry splotches in them. The last couple of bridges we crossed were particularly cool as the water cut interesting channel patterns in the ice.

 Despite the rapidly falling snow, we hike most of the way with no gloves or hat and our jackets open because the exertion from the uphill hike kept us sweating and toasty warm

 After about 75 to 80 minutes of hiking, we reach Rainbow Falls. When we did, we kind of had to laugh because on this day Rainbow Falls was not very photogenic.  Much of the falls had frozen over, leaving only one section cascading down. Furthermore, because Rainbow Falls is probably 60 to 70 feet from the trail and because of the fast falling snow, the falls don’t show in the camera lens through the white-out very well at all. While scrambling up the boulders /river bed to get a closer shot is not be a problem in the summer, doing so when it was all snow and ice cold water seemed foolish.  So we had to be content with a few poor photos.

The trail continues on past Rainbow Falls to the top of Mount LeConte, and we had briefly considered maybe going all the way to the top, but given the conditions and the fact that we wouldn’t have been able to see anything from the top anyway, we decide against it.

 On the descent it stopped snowing, which gave me a chance to take some better (I hope) pictures.  I was very grateful for the new hiking poles I got for Christmas and as they made what would have been a slippery and therefore somewhat hazardous descent into something quick and fun. I am also grateful for the new wool socks I got after the last blister-filled Smokies trip.  Although my feet and hiking boots got pretty wet by the end, my feed stayed comfy warm.

After enduring another long traffic jam in Gatlinburg, we made it back to the cabin.  A nice soak in our hot tub on the back porch overlooking a tiny little creek was just the thing for winding down a wintry day.  After that, we played more pool and some Boogle, where JA totally cleaned up in the final round to win going away.  After a late dinner, we watched “Brave” so that we could say we saw some bears in the Smokies.

Smoky Spring Break Day 1

March brings spring break for local schools.  While spring break usually conjures up visions of wild Florida beach parties, we opted instead for a quiet cabin in the woods near the Smoky Mountains thinking we would enjoy some fresh spring air and wildflowers. But to our surprise, a major cold front blew into Tennessee, so our spring break became more like that Christmas in the Smokies we had once talked about.

We woke up semi-early on Monday and drove the long 4.5 hours directly to Cades Cove.  The closer we got to the Smokies, the more snow flurries started turning into real snow fall. Fortunately, none of it was sticking to the salted road. After winding our way through the Cades Cove scenic loop, we parked at the Abram Falls trailhead. 

In the beginning, the girls get a lead.

 An entrepreneurial hiker had built a nice snow man to greet us. The girls expressed their distress about being required to hike in the cold, but I reassured them that once they got hiking they would be plenty warm.  I had promised the girls that the 5 mile hike was mostly flat, but unfortunately for them, my reference point was the hike up Clingman’s Dome from Deep Creek. In retrospect, there are in fact two decently long climbs mixed in with all the flat stuff. The trail follows Abram Creek for its entire way, occasionally diverting up through the hills to short long bends. Snow continued falling throughout the entire hike, but fortunately the trail never got icy.  The girls and AM made good time and we reached Abram Falls within 90 minutes.

Abram Falls

JA wasn't impressed

 JA expressed her disappointment with the height of Abram Falls, feeling that she deserved a larger waterfall for her long hike. For myself, I felt that the falls were still particularly spectacular. 

Figuring out those new hiking poles.

Looking downriver

Feel the spray

Mom and daughter share a triumphal moment.

 

AM crossing bridge with trepidation

For some reason, I think every bridge crossing in the Smokies is photogenic

Yes there are indeed salamanders in the Smoky Mountains

AM looks a bit tired and ready to be done.

 During the return hike, the continuing snowfall and rate of accumulation on the ground caused me to worry that the narrow, windy park road would become icy.

Play us a song your the harmonica man

Snow falls during the return trip

We called this the Lord of the Rings pass thru the Misty Mountains

Fellowship of the Ring

Snow is beginning to accumulate along the trail

Abrams Creek is such a pretty river

 Along the way, JP spiced up the hike by hiding and then jumping out to scare the girls.

 Once we got back to the parking lots, the roads turned out to be just wet, not icy.  We had planned to drive from Cades Cove to Gatlinburg along Little River Road, but when we reached the junction, this road was closed (we later learned due to a rock slide).  So we had no choice but to take an extended backtrack to Townsend and then through Wears Valley, to reach Pigeon Forge. Upon reaching Pigeon Forge, we called the rental office because our GPS didn’t have their road listed.  After a few more wrong turns, we picked up the keys and then headed toward Gatlinburg and our rental cabin .

Chilling by the fireplace.

Upon our arrival to our cozy little cabin, JA once again announced her disappointment, this time at how small the cabin was. She had been expecting something like the mega-cabin that her aunt and uncle had rented in the Smokies when they had gone 5 years ago.  But the rest of us thought that it was just fine. It had one master bedroom, a loft with a pool table, a cozy gas fireplace, a bathroom, rustic decoration throughout and a large hot tub out on the back porch.  Compared to a backpacking tent, the cabin was a massive castle of comfort and luxury.

Pool Sharks

After settling in, we played a bunch of pool, with ME learning to shoot the cue ball for the first time.  The table had an interesting warp that caused balls that would not normally go in to slowly change direction and roll back into the pocket.  For me, this mostly seemed to apply to the white cue ball.  I don’t know if we had a grand champion, probably it was JP. I do know that I lost most games by prematurely sinking the 8 ball and that ME became the master of edge-wise shot.