GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK NOVEMBER 2019
This was a weekend trip with the intention of spending two nights in the park and visiting a couple of the waterfalls that the Smoky's has to offer. It was a weekend trip so Spencer could join me and not miss (much) school. The GSMNP has over 2000 miles of rivers and streams and accumulates over 85 inches of rain each year. The park has over 100 waterfalls within its boundaries. Our plan was to reach just two of them.
Saturday November 2:
Our plan was to spend two nights at Smokemont Campground with a hike of the Laurel Falls trail on Sunday morning and then trying to make it down to Forney Creek Cascades on Sunday afternoon. We would return home on Monday. Our plan went off the rails from the early stages. There would be no Smoky Mountain Magic on the Saturday of our arrival.
Saturday November 2:
Our plan was to spend two nights at Smokemont Campground with a hike of the Laurel Falls trail on Sunday morning and then trying to make it down to Forney Creek Cascades on Sunday afternoon. We would return home on Monday. Our plan went off the rails from the early stages. There would be no Smoky Mountain Magic on the Saturday of our arrival.
The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited National Park in the country with over 11 million visitors each year. I'm pretty sure the entire 11 million chose the same weekend to visit that we did.
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| Entering the Smoky's from Cherokee |
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| Stop and Go for miles, 441 North towards Gatlinburg |
Reserved campsites are very limited at Smokemont this time of year with most sites being first come, first served. I knew we were in trouble when we encountered the stop and go traffic just inside the park. Sure enough, arriving at Smokemont, we were told the campground was already full for Saturday night, and in fact there was nothing available in the entire park. We were able to grab a site at Smokemont for Sunday night however, so all was not yet lost. Alone I could have found a place to stealth camp in the truck, but with two of us I figured I'd better play it safe, so we were forced to (begrudgingly) return to civilization for the night.
Back into traffic we went, resigned to spending the night in a dull hotel. Two hours later we made it over the mountain and into Pigeon Forge. The crowds were not confined only to the park and after several tries, we finally found a hotel with a vacancy. It was a nice hotel and I paid way more than the $20 the campsite would have cost, but oh well, there was little choice given the circumstance.
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| A Pigeon Forge Best Western. Our "Campsite" for Saturday night. |
Sunday November 3:
On Sunday morning, braving temperatures in the 20's, we checked out of the hotel early and were at the trail head not much after 0700. Arriving at the parking area, there was only one other vehicle there. A couple of hours later when we would emerge from our hike, the parking lot would be full and there would be vehicles lining the roadside as far as one could see in both directions.
This would be Spencer's first real hike, albeit a short one. It was 1.3 miles one way to the falls and he crushed it. The hike was uneventful with some nice views along the way. We had the falls to ourselves for a few minutes before others started showing up. We took a few pictures and then headed back. We still had to make it up to Clingman's Dome, the start of our second hike of the day.
With Laurel Falls behind us, we were approaching the Dome parking area by 10:00 and it was already filled. We got lucky (extremely lucky) as someone was backing out just as we reached the front of the parking lot. We grabbed the spot and readied our gear for the second and more serious hike of the day. We would each carry light day packs with water and snacks as well as a hiking pole each.
Clingman's Dome is the highest point in Tennessee and the second highest point east of the Mississippi River (Mt. Mitchell, NC). This hike would take us from this pinnacle down into a deep ravine in search of the Forney Creek Cascades, 3.1 miles away. All downhill to the Cascades, all uphill on the way back.
In my research for this hike, it had been noted that this area was some of the most rugged in the park. It turned out to live up to its reputation and our progress was quite slow.
We were the only people down there. Despite the throngs of people in the park on this weekend, no one else was on our trail. I took a strange sense of pride in that.
We made it down into the ravine a little over two miles and stopped to rest by a smaller cascade. We decided at this point to turn back just short of campsite #68 and failing to reach our intended destination of the Forney Creek Cascade. Several factors played into this decision. Firstly our pace was slow. It was no fault of mine or Spencer's but the trail was just too rough to move quickly. I knew it was still at least a mile further down the trail. I kept an eye on the time. With a later start to this hike and darkness coming early this time of year, I didn't want to get too far down there with an 11 year old in tow. I knew we still had a long walk over rugged terrain and all uphill to get back home.
We made it back up the trail with rest breaks becoming more and more common as little legs grew tired. Eventually we made it. We stepped from the canopy of the trail out into the bright sunshine of the mountain top. The Dome parking lot was a mass of people and vehicles that was hard to believe.
It looked like there were a thousand people milling around in that parking lot.
We walked the short distance to our truck, took off our shoes and sat on the tailgate eating snacks and drinking water while the endless stream of vehicles crawled by us.
"Never again on a weekend" I remember saying to Spencer as we watched them inch by.
We had walked over 4 miles of rugged and steep terrain, and once we had recovered sufficiently we decided it was time to head for Smokemont. The traffic was obviously not going to let up. We had no problem backing out as someone was eager to let us out to grab our exceptionally good parking spot.
The lot is a one way loop that flows back into the two-lane Clingman's Dome Road which takes you seven miles back to 441. Given this layout,we had to continue around the loop just to get headed back out. As we crawled along the line of cars parked on each side of the road just kept stretching on and on. The traffic coming toward stretched on and on at a standstill. I was thinking that these people have nowhere to go. Even if they never stop and get out of their vehicle they are looking at a 2 to 3 hour commitment just to drive through the parking lot and get back out. Many of them probably had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
We were over a mile from the parking lot when we finally reached the end of the string of parked cars.
"Never again on a weekend" Spencer reaffirmed to me as we sat in this quagmire.
It took over an hour to travel the seven miles back to 441 and then things got somewhat better as we turned and headed south toward the campground.
Back at Smokemont, we set up our tent and grilled some burgers over the open campfire. As we relaxed, Spencer made the comment that he had never felt such a great sense of accomplishment as he did when we had finally emerged from the trail back into that sea of humanity at the Dome parking lot.
We had accomplished something. He had accomplished something. Something none of those other people all just standing around in a parking lot had accomplished. He had covered four tough miles of rugged terrain (and close to seven miles total if you count the morning hike). He had come from deep down in a ravine and summited the 2nd highest peak east of Black Hills, South Dakota!
He was proud of himself. And I was proud of him too.
It had been a long day and we were in the tent and ready for bed at dusk preparing for the cold night ahead. We both slept warm and toasty in our sleeping bags but the 27F temperature that awaited us at sunrise made it a challenge to get up and get moving.
Monday November 4:
Once up, we didn't waste much time with trying to pack things away neatly. We just took down the tent and threw everything in the back of the truck and hit the road. We were in Cherokee buying fuel and headed for home before 0800. This trip didn't go exactly as planned, but we had fun, accomplished something, and made memories. That's all you can really ask for.
On Sunday morning, braving temperatures in the 20's, we checked out of the hotel early and were at the trail head not much after 0700. Arriving at the parking area, there was only one other vehicle there. A couple of hours later when we would emerge from our hike, the parking lot would be full and there would be vehicles lining the roadside as far as one could see in both directions.
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| Ready to begin his hiking career |
This would be Spencer's first real hike, albeit a short one. It was 1.3 miles one way to the falls and he crushed it. The hike was uneventful with some nice views along the way. We had the falls to ourselves for a few minutes before others started showing up. We took a few pictures and then headed back. We still had to make it up to Clingman's Dome, the start of our second hike of the day.
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| Fall colors on the mountain. Views from the along the trail to Laurel Falls |
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| Laurel Falls |
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| Laurel falls in Black and White |
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| Headed back |
Clingman's Dome is the highest point in Tennessee and the second highest point east of the Mississippi River (Mt. Mitchell, NC). This hike would take us from this pinnacle down into a deep ravine in search of the Forney Creek Cascades, 3.1 miles away. All downhill to the Cascades, all uphill on the way back.
In my research for this hike, it had been noted that this area was some of the most rugged in the park. It turned out to live up to its reputation and our progress was quite slow.
We were the only people down there. Despite the throngs of people in the park on this weekend, no one else was on our trail. I took a strange sense of pride in that.
We made it down into the ravine a little over two miles and stopped to rest by a smaller cascade. We decided at this point to turn back just short of campsite #68 and failing to reach our intended destination of the Forney Creek Cascade. Several factors played into this decision. Firstly our pace was slow. It was no fault of mine or Spencer's but the trail was just too rough to move quickly. I knew it was still at least a mile further down the trail. I kept an eye on the time. With a later start to this hike and darkness coming early this time of year, I didn't want to get too far down there with an 11 year old in tow. I knew we still had a long walk over rugged terrain and all uphill to get back home.
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| Spencer chewed up some rugged trail beneath Clingman's Dome. |
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| Rough Terrain |
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| Did I mention this was a rugged area? |
It looked like there were a thousand people milling around in that parking lot.
We walked the short distance to our truck, took off our shoes and sat on the tailgate eating snacks and drinking water while the endless stream of vehicles crawled by us.
"Never again on a weekend" I remember saying to Spencer as we watched them inch by.
We had walked over 4 miles of rugged and steep terrain, and once we had recovered sufficiently we decided it was time to head for Smokemont. The traffic was obviously not going to let up. We had no problem backing out as someone was eager to let us out to grab our exceptionally good parking spot.
The lot is a one way loop that flows back into the two-lane Clingman's Dome Road which takes you seven miles back to 441. Given this layout,we had to continue around the loop just to get headed back out. As we crawled along the line of cars parked on each side of the road just kept stretching on and on. The traffic coming toward stretched on and on at a standstill. I was thinking that these people have nowhere to go. Even if they never stop and get out of their vehicle they are looking at a 2 to 3 hour commitment just to drive through the parking lot and get back out. Many of them probably had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
We were over a mile from the parking lot when we finally reached the end of the string of parked cars.
"Never again on a weekend" Spencer reaffirmed to me as we sat in this quagmire.
It took over an hour to travel the seven miles back to 441 and then things got somewhat better as we turned and headed south toward the campground.
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| Traffic on the Dome Road. Cars parked over a mile from the lot, and more trying to pour in. |
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| My beautiful refuge of solitude overrun by the masses |
Back at Smokemont, we set up our tent and grilled some burgers over the open campfire. As we relaxed, Spencer made the comment that he had never felt such a great sense of accomplishment as he did when we had finally emerged from the trail back into that sea of humanity at the Dome parking lot.
We had accomplished something. He had accomplished something. Something none of those other people all just standing around in a parking lot had accomplished. He had covered four tough miles of rugged terrain (and close to seven miles total if you count the morning hike). He had come from deep down in a ravine and summited the 2nd highest peak east of Black Hills, South Dakota!
He was proud of himself. And I was proud of him too.
It had been a long day and we were in the tent and ready for bed at dusk preparing for the cold night ahead. We both slept warm and toasty in our sleeping bags but the 27F temperature that awaited us at sunrise made it a challenge to get up and get moving.
Monday November 4:
Once up, we didn't waste much time with trying to pack things away neatly. We just took down the tent and threw everything in the back of the truck and hit the road. We were in Cherokee buying fuel and headed for home before 0800. This trip didn't go exactly as planned, but we had fun, accomplished something, and made memories. That's all you can really ask for.
