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| A common scene through the park |
We love our national parks.
So when an opportunity presented itself
to visit The Smokies,
we took it.
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| Little River Gorge Rd. |
Wow, it was not like the other National Parks
we have visited.
It was soooooo crowded.
And everyone was in their cars!
?!?!?!?!?!?!?
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| Another common scene through the park. |
We approached from the east
via a small section of the
The Foothills Parkway
and arrived into honky-tonk Gatlinburg, TN
which was very crowded also.
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| View from the Foothills Parkway |
Our 4 night stay was in the
Holiday Inn Express
which was free if we sat through
a 1 hour time-share sales pitch.
My husband almost took the bait but
I kicked him back to reality.
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| Can you find the bear? Cades Cove Loop Road |
We started out with the go-to attractions:
1. Roaring Fork Motor Trail
(We did this early to avoid traffic.
We hiked along one of the trails.)
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| View From Roaring Fork Motor Trail |
2. Cades Cove Loop
(My advice, drive there early or later,
and instead of doing the whole loop,
take one of the two other roads off the loop.
Rich Mt. Rd. or Parson Branch Rd
to the Foothills Parkway
and explore.
We did not do this
but I wish we had.
I am sure there would have been a lot less people
and a lot of beauty.
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| View from Cades Cove Loop |
After spending a lot time stuck in traffic -
and god forbid someone sees a bear...
because then the traffic is standstill for miles -
we found an off the beaten path section of the park
that WAS off the beaten path.
But yikes...the potholes!
It was good we had our Pilot
and not the Accord.
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| Ramsey Prong Road |
Our off the beaten spot took us down
*Ramsey Prong Road*,
across a couple bridges to a parking location.
From there we decided to explore...
we heard there was a waterfall.
The early trail was easy going
and that was all we planned to do.
But the call of the falls beckoned us on
and we went despite having no water with us.
After hiking up an very steep and rooty trail
and over lots of boulders
we arrived at
Ramsey Cascade Falls.
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| Ramsey Cascade Falls |
What a beautiful and refreshing sight.
Photos do not do this 100 foot cascade justice!
In person, it was beautiful.
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| Hike to Ramsey Cascade |
The trail is 16 miles round trip and 2,000 feet uphill from the parking location.
It took us over 3 hours up and 2 hours down.
When we got back to the car,
I was exhausted.
We guzzled our water,
showered the dirt off our tired bodies,
and went to Bennet's BBQ for dinner.
I ordered a blackberry sparkler
after which my husband said I
was basically sliding off the chair
into a puddle on the floor.
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| Smaller cascades along the trail. |
My recommendation is to spend a day in this section of the park.
It is located in the Greenbriar area,
6 miles east of Gatlinburg.
The 4.5 miles drive to the parking area is scenic
but also on unmaintained roads
so it is slow going.
You will find others there
but nothing like the main section of the park.
There is a picnic area with restrooms.
(If this hike sounds too strenuous for you,
check out the 4 mile round trip hike to
the 50 ft. Fern Branch Falls.)
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| Cades Cove View |
A one time visit to Gatlinburg
was enough for both of us
so we probably won't be going back,
but at least now it is off the bucket list.
More photos are stored here.
Have you been to the Smokies?
Tell me what I SHOULD have done.
1 comment:
That water is beautiful!!
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