State: Tennessee and North Carolina
Link: https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm
Days: 5 (3 park days)
Month: March
Hotel: Vrbo (cabin)
Hikes: 10 = 15.85 miles
Ice Cream: The Island Creamery, Maddi Mae’s Café and Creamery, Mad Dog’s Ice Cream & Donuts, Cruze Farm
The day before we made it into the Great Smoky Mountains, we drove to the Manhattan Project – Oak Ridge NHP. After We were done there, we drove to the Great Smoky Mountains area. Both parks were completed by us, 2 of our parents, and our 11-year-old niece, Natalie.
Day 1
We woke up early so we could get to the park in time for the sunrise. Taking the road from Sugarlands Visitor Center to Laurel Falls, we stopped at an overlook. We arrived at the overlook by 6:55AM in time to see some incredible views of the sun coming up behind the mountains. We were the only ones there for most of the time.
Next we headed for Laurel Falls Trail, a 2.4 mile moderate out and back trail with moderate incline. There were some slick spots from mud and water along the way. Parts of the trail are close to the edge of a cliff. At the end, you arrive at nice waterfall. This is one of the most popular areas in the park; by 8:30AM it was already getting busy but we were on our way out.
We were planning to go to Cades Cove next but the road was closed past the intersection of Little River Gorge Road and Elkmont so we turned onto Elkmont Road. We stopped at the Elkmont Nature Trail. This trail went along a nice flowing stream. Overall it was an easy 0.8 mile loop. This ended up bring our first experience with what we eventually saw many of; a small wooden beam made out of a tree trunk, with a rail on one side so you could get across the water.
Then we went to Daisy Town, which contained historic houses you could walk through. From there, we attempted Jake’s Creek Trail to Advent Cabin. On the beginning of the trail you pass through ruins, basically a small ghost town. We continued our journey by following signs to Jake’s Creek Trail. We couldn’t find the Advent Cabin so we circled back to one of the forks and went to Meigs Mountain Trail. At the log bridge we went to the right but still couldn’t find the cabin. We probably hiked around 3.4 miles round trip. Although the terrain is fairly easy to navigate, I give it an overall easy plus rating due to the amount of incline.
When we made it back to our car, we stopped to eat a quick lunch – PB & J, chips, and apples. It was quick and simple.
On our way out Colleen noticed the Cades Cove area was open so headed that way. We took the loop and made a few stops.
The first stop on the loop was John Oliver Cabins. It was an easy 0.5 mile loop; 0.2 mile dirt trail to the cabin and the 0.3 mile paved trail back.
The next stop was at an overlook to see the beautiful mountains.
Our third stop on the loop was Elijah Oliver Place. There was an easy 1 mile out and back trail. Part way through the trail we stopped at the John Oliver Barn. Once at Elijah’s Place, we saw several buildings. It’s amazing how some buildings still stand that are this old.
After finishing the loop, we headed to Meigs Falls. The falls are viewable from a pull off along Little River Road, or you can hike to them. Due to time, we chose to drive up to them.
Next we headed to the Sinks, which are falls right at a parking lot. Optionally, you can go up some steps to a viewing platform to get another vantage point.
Our final stop for the day was the Metcalf Bottoms Trail to the school, an easy 1.2 mile out and back hike. It started getting very windy on the way there, it seemed like a storm was coming. The historic school was cool and surprisingly still in very good shape.
Once back to the cabin, the wind really picked up. There were gusts up to 80 MPH! Later in the week we found out Cades Cove was closed the rest of the week due to the wind; it blew over campers and there were trees everywhere. Everything seemed to fall into place for us being able to see it this day.
Day 2
This day was rainy and since we’re not big fans of hiking in the rain, we headed to Pigeon Forge. We started with a great meal a little bit past Pigeon Forge at Five Oaks Farm Kitchen. I had a stellar cinnamon roll cooked perfectly but couldn’t finish it; it was so big.
To sum up this day, it was filled with great food, shopping, and an arcade. Our niece loves rocks so naturally, we took her to the Gem Mine; she had a blast!
Some of the group went to the Island Creamery to get some ice cream before we left for the cabin. I heard it was pretty good.
Day 3
On this day we headed to Gatlinburg. We started by eating breakfast at Crockett’s 1875 Breakfast Camp. The food was awesome, the service was awesome, what more can you ask for?
We then headed to the SkyBridge, a the longest (almost 700 feet) pedestrian cable bridge in North America. You get great views of both the Smoky Mountains and Gatlinburg. After you’re done with that, don’t forget to check out the Tulip Tower – that was cool too.
As a huge fan of adult style cider, one of our stops was to Tennessee Cider Co. Their ciders were very good and had great variety.
We had to make a pitstop at Maddi Mae’s Café and Creamery to get some ice cream. Yum!
Besides stopping at a lot of stores along the way, we also headed to Hillbilly Golf. This turned out to be lots of fun and themed very well.
We ended our nice going back to the SkyBridge to see the bridge and the town both lit up at night.
Day 4
Originally, we were planning on going on a driving tour of the Newfound Gap Road and Blue Ridge National Parkway on our last park day but decided to go this day instead. It ended up working out great because the last day included the Fork Motor Nature Trail, which we later found out was opened for the first day this year on the last day of our trip.
By 8:40AM we made it to the Alum Trailbut the parking lot was already full. In fact, cars were parked on both sides of the road for about a mile.
We continued to the Ben Morton Overlook, where we saw more viewpoints of beautiful mountains.
Next up was Newfound Gap. The wind really picked up here but we managed to see the state line sign where North Carolina and Tennessee meet in the park.
Then we went to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center where we saw elk both closer by the road and from a distance across a large field. After taking pictures from a safe distance, we walked to the Mountain Farm Museum.
As we headed out of the park we looped to the Northeast, up to Mingo Falls, a moderate 0.8 mile out and back trail with 160 steps (one way). After the steps, it was rocky but once to the end there was a beautiful 120-foot waterfall!
Next up was a cruise down the Blue Ridge National Parkway!
On our way back from the Blue Ridge National Parkway, we stopped at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, hoping to see the elk again (and to use the restroom). This is when we found out Monday night winds caused lots of stuff to get blown over in Cades Cove.
Next, we headed to Mingus Mill an easy out and back 0.25 mile hike to see water flowing down to a historic mill. Normally people can go inside the mill, but it was closed for rehabilitation work.
Our last hiking adventure for the day was the Alum Cave Trail to Arch Rock, a moderate 2.8 miles out and back trail. Most of the way there was up hill, which made coming back easier. There was a cool arch you could walk through, then continue or come back. We chose to come back.
After leaving the park, me, Colleen, and our niece headed to the Moonshine Mountain Coaster. It was fun but could have been a bit faster!
For dinner we went to Mama’s Chicken Kitchen. This was the best food we had on this trip. The chicken was cooked perfectly, the sides were great, and service was very quick. Everyone was raving about this place!
Finally, we went to Mad Dog’s Ice Cream & Donuts, yum!
Day 5
We started our day determined to find Advent Cabin, an easy 2.7 mile out and back hike. We headed to Jakes Creek Trail for our second attempt. The trail starts off semi paved for a while then turns into a rock/dirt path. Keep following the trail for Jakes Creek; left at the sign for Jakes Creek Trail. Keep walking straight at the next sign. Take a left at the next fork to follow the trail for Jakes Creek. We found some stones that looked like they could be the steps we were looking for, there was even a trail but it turned out to not be the correct path. After going back to the main trail and continuing on, we finally found the proper steps; they were wooden!
The trail to the cabin was very muddy with lots of rocks to walk across. After a short distance, we found the bridge to go over the water. Similar to the other bridges we walked across, it was a tree trunk turned into a bridge with railing on one side. What made this one a bit different though was it was a much longer span – there were two tree trunks stabilized by a giant rock connecting the two trunks. At one point we had to walk upstream through a little bit of running water. Finally, we made it to the cabin! We took some time exploring and found the kitchen, which contained guest books by year; we signed the current one. Colleen and Natalie did some sweeping, then we were on our way back. We felt a lot more accomplished this time!
We stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center on our way over to the Roaring Fork Nature Drive. This visitor center was absolutely packed. There were cars everywhere!
As mentioned under day 4, this ended up being the first day of the season Roaring Fork Nature Drive was open. The drive was beautiful. As the driver, it was difficult at times to focus on the road and not just look around. Thankfully the speed limit was only 10 MPH. We tried to get a parking spot for some of the trails and other places to stop but we couldn’t find a parking spot until after spot 11, a pull off on the left side.
We then parked and had lunch, making sure we left nothing behind. Once we were done, we took a short walk by the water.
At #13 we found a place to park. We walked down a little path along the water. We think we found the pothole but weren’t 100% sure.
Right by the exit, we saw #15, Thousand Drips Falls. Thankfully we were stopped from traffic so we were able to snap some pictures from the car (there were no spots available).
Once we exited, we stopped at Ely’s Mill – a prime location for this business. They had a lot of handmade items that were very nice.
After Ely’s Mill, we of course had to stop for ice cream on before starting our drive toward home. This time we picked Cruze Farm. Once we were done there, we started driving north for a few hours before stopping at a hotel. About an hour into the drive we had car trouble where we couldn’t more than 32 MPH! Thankfully the issue went away after stopping at a gas station for a while and had no further issues.
