Location : Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Date : August 8th, 2023

Total Distance : Variable. 5.5 miles

This is the first. The first of hopefully many (more) trails and adventures. I was encouraged to do this blog by a friend, and after much consideration, decided to go for it. I love hiking, and I love writing, and I love new adventures. These are not, by any means, the only trails I’ve hiked. It’s possible I’ll go back and write on some of my previous hikes, but for now, we’re going to start recent. MDH (that’s My Dear Husband) and I took a four-day trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park as a short vacation before the school year got into full swing. We stayed in Gatlinburg and spent a few days roaming the park, hiking the trails, and enjoying the beauty of the area. I had never been to GSMNP before, and I quickly fell in love with the amazingness of it. We arrived in Gatlinburg around 4pm and decided to do a quick pre-dinner hike from our hotel in Gatlinburg to Cataract Falls, via the Gatlinburg Trail. That being said, we did NOT take the “typical” route that starts at the Sugarlands Visitors Center. We did indeed get to the Visitors Center, but alas, they were closed. The Gatlinburg Trail starts kind of at the “end” of Gatlinburg, and quickly melts into a scenic trail (very wide, by the way) with the sound of traffic roaring up Newfound Gap Road. The West Prong of the Little Pigeon River, however, is usually louder. And after all the rain, it was moving quickly. The trail itself is crushed rock and pretty easy, although there’s a bit of more rugged trail once heading up to the Falls. The Gatlinburg side of the trail, close to the town, is pretty easy. We stopped for a photo by the National Park Entrance Sign and then continued on our way. Once we hit the Visitors Center area, we stepped off the Gatlinburg Trail and hit up the Cove Mountain Trail the rest of the way to Cataract Falls. Honestly, the trail itself was not very hard. There was a slight decent down to the Falls from where we had been, and then the slight climb out on the way back. It was a pretty chill hike, with minimal bugs or elevation, and the perfect pre-dinner hike. Below are several photos from our hike.