A Great Hike and More Silky Water

Friday, 20 April

We wanted to make the most of our last day in the Smokies, but we also wanted to enjoy a couple of hours relaxing at the campground.  So, we opted for a moderate hike that one of the NPS rangers had recommended and planned to make it a half-and-half day.

We don’t have to drive far into the park to put our plans into play.

The trail in question is maintained by the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, which is located just off a spur on Laurel Creek Road as one heads in the direction of Cades Cove.  Tremont is a “non-profit residential environmental education center that provides in-depth experiences through education programs that celebrate ecological and cultural diversity, foster stewardship, and nurture appreciation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”  There was a sign on their board for a wildflower photography class that I would love to have attended, unfortunately I was a week too early :-(

When we arrived at the office/bookstore we almost turned back, because there was a big pile of backpacks near the trailhead.  Instead of going off half-cocked, however, we asked what was going on and learned that a group of teenagers were leaving after a week-long in-residence program.  As it turns out, we had the trail to ourselves except for one speed-hiker who was on a mission to get to the falls first.  When we got there we could understand why he was in such a hurry, but I’m glad we took our time as I’d venture to say that we enjoyed the trail more than he did.

The in-out trail is a mile each way.
stop at the institute for specific directions so you don’t take the wrong trail.

This is not a trail where two people can walk side by side; in a lot of places, it’s little more than a narrow goat-path.  Not that it was a problem — I made so many stops to photograph tiny wildflowers along the way that Mui and I weren’t keeping pace anyway.  Part of the way, we walked between hedges of mountain laurel in bloom on either side of the trail.  Simply gorgeous; and the only place on this trip where we saw the blooms.

A few spots on the trail were muddy, but for the most part the dirt path was dry.  Tree roots and rocks required us to pay attention to where we stepped as we hiked up one side of Mill Ridge and then made our way down to the Spruce Flats Falls at the other end.  Of course, what went down had to come back up on the return, but it wasn’t a particularly strenuous climb.

OK, I’ll shut up and just let the pictures tell the story of our hike.  First some scenes from the trail …

… then some of the flowers on the trail.  (I identified some of them, but if I have the IDs wrong, do chime in with a comment.)

Mountain Laurel is a plant in the blueberry family.  Who knew!

This flowering plant is also known as spoonwood.  The name comes the fact that
native Americans used to make their spoons out of it.

Clockwise from top left: yellow trillium; Perfoliate Bellwort; yellow trillium;
and Golden Ragwort.

Top right: Star chickweed; Bottom left: Bettleweed; the rest — pending id.

There were some bugs and crawlies along the way, too.  Thankfully, we didn’t see any snakes; it was cooler at this elevation, so maybe that’s why.  (I have requests for IDs out; but again, if you know what these critters are, please pipe up.)

Clockwise from top left: caterpillar; beetle — the ID request came back with the following comment: “Somebody in the genus Phyllophaga, but species determinations are tough without male genitalia dissection”; millipede; diurnal firefly — Lucidota Atra.

Of course, the star attraction was Spruce Flats Falls, which consists of a main waterfall and a couple of cataracts, each splashing down into a plunge pool at the base.  The main falls are of a type referred to as a fan and are 30 feet (9 m) high.  A true gem; all the more so because we had the place pretty much to ourselves.  Yeah, the speed-hiker/photographer was there, but he was too busy to pay any attention to us.

You can see why the upper-tier waterfall is designated as a fan.

After taking a break at the falls to enjoy our snacks, we headed back the way we came.  Our goal was to check out a set of cascades somewhere on the Middle Prong Trail.  We got directions from the staff at the Institute’s bookstore and drove the three-mile gravel road to the trailhead.  We even got on the wide trail and walked about half a mile.  But we soon tired of tip-toeing around the rather fresh and odoriferous piles of horse poop.  So, we went to plan B — lunch break perched on the boulders overlooking Middle Prong/Little River, followed by a slow drive along the riverbed with frequent stops for photo ops.

We perched on these rocks to have lunch and play.

Photo ops along Middle Prong/Little River.

Dog violet — I think — and spider (left); and red clover, a perennial weed.

And my favorite photo from our scenic drive …

Yes, I admit I have thing for silky water.  And I’m delighted the Smokies afforded me so
many opportunities to practice shooting water in motion.

It was a little after 3:00p when we returned to the campground.  It was much too nice an afternoon to be doing packing-up chores, so we put them off, grabbed our laptops, and made ourselves comfortable in our comfy chairs where we’ve been setting them up by the railing behind the coach.  A quiet afternoon, with Mui taking a little time out to check important things like the Phaeton’s tire pressure and fluid levels.  A great way to round out our much too short stay in the Smokies.  We’ll be back — perhaps not to this same area and campground, but we’ll be back.  There’s so much to explore in this great park, and we haven’t even scratched the surface.

The Drive That Wasn’t Meant to Be

Wednesday, 18 April

We went to bed last night to a downpour.  We woke up to a downpour.  And did it ever pour!  It was the kind of rain that overpowered the sound of Little River rushing over rocks and boulders.  It rained, and it rained, and it rained.  Finally, around 1:00p, it started to let up a bit.  So, we considered our options.  We could go to the Heritage Center; but the ongoing drizzle and possibly soggy ground was a deterrent.  We could stay at home; but we wanted to get out for some fresh air and a change of scenery.  We could go for a drive.  Perfect, see some sights in the park and stay dry in the process.

At the Cades Cove/Gatlinburg split a short distance inside the Townsend entrance to the park, we turned left to head towards Gatlinburg.  We didn’t know if we’d make it all the way there, but we wanted to see what we could uncover on Scenic Highway 73, which runs alongside Little River.  Of course, I couldn’t resist a couple of river shots.

After all that rain, there’s no lack of water flowing downriver.

As beautiful as the flow of the water is, it is endangering the trees along the riverbed by exposing their roots and eroding the soil that is supporting them.

Our next stop was at The Sinks, which is better described as a big cascade rather than a waterfall.  Regardless of what you call them, the turbulent waters rushing down into the gorge are very dangerous.  The currents are strong enough to trap victims underwater and keep them there.  I saw some photos of kayakers running the chute; all I can say is that they must be nuts to attempt something so obviously risky.  We didn’t see anyone jumping into the water from the nearby cliffs, nor was anyone wading, but it’s apparently not unknown for people to do both despite the warning sign posted in the parking lot.  People have drowned here; most recently a 17-year old girl last summer.  She was wading when she slipped and fell into the water.  Other visitors tried to save her by forming a human chain, but their efforts were to no avail.

A path hidden by the trees rewards us with this view.

Despite the ongoing drizzle, we find a dry spot for a photo op.

Mui has a request for proposals (RFP) out for events he’s organizing in May.  When we returned to the car, he had a message on his Blackberry that there were 43 questions from vendors interested in bidding for the job waiting to be answered.  We could have continued with our plans for the afternoon and he could have done his work the next morning, but it seemed like a better plan for him to get the job out of the way on a drizzly afternoon.

Thus we set off back to the campground, almost missing a great photo op along the way.  Mui’s eagle eye, however, caught a tiny glimpse of a treasure hidden by heavy brush on the far side of the river.  When I questioned why he had pulled off the road, all he would tell me was to take my big lens and the tripod, and walk back a few feet.  The big lens immediately made me think that he’d seen some wildlife, but it turns out that he’d seen a waterfall.  Yes, more flowing water pictures follow :-)

The picture on the left shows what caught Mui’s eye as we whizzed by at 30 mph.

At full zoom I can get only two of the cascades that make up Meigs Falls.
visitors can hike to many of the falls in the gsmnp; this one can only be seen from the road.
[though I’m partial to the B&W treatment, I couldn’t decide between the two photos,
so you get to see both.]

After this last stop, we drove back to the campground without dallying further.  Despite the light rain, we settled ourselves at the picnic table on the covered deck with cups of hot chocolate and our laptops.  While Mui did his work, I processed photos and tried to catch up on my reading — a lost cause, I’m afraid.

All in all, cutting our outing short was the right decision.  If the local forecast is to be believed, we have a really great day ahead of us to finish exploring the heritage sites on the Cades Cove Loop.

(By the way, for those interested, gas for the toad in Townsend today was $3.69/gallon.)

Abrams Falls

Tuesday, 17 April

OK, now that my wildlife encounter rant is out of the way, I return this blog to our regularly scheduled travel reporting!

The plan for the day was to visit the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, a “nonprofit organization formed to preserve and present the heritage of the East Tennessee region.”  Located in Townsend, just down the road from the Tremont Outdoor Resort, it’s within walking distance, but we were carrying too much gear to get there under our own power.

Mui had just parked the car when we noticed that we had company — two bus-loads of school kids.  Oh!  Oh!  Noticing our concern, a staff member from the center told us that they had two busses a day coming in every week morning for the foreseeable future.  “They’ll be gone by 1:00p,” he continued.  OK; so we’ll come back later.  Well, we never made it back!  Instead, we drove into the park and hiked the Abrams Falls Trail, located not far from the Cable Mill Area of the Cades Cove Loop.

Our focus on this trip is the Cades Cove area; just a tiny portion of the GSMNP.
The inset shows where the Abrams Falls Trail is located in relation to the loop.
[maps courtesy of the National Park Service website.]

Designated as moderate, the in-out trail is 2½ miles (4 km) each way.

It was 11:15a when we set out from the trailhead.  Normally, we’re not ones to start hiking this late in the day, but the cool 60F (16C) temp and the long hours of daylight made it quite feasible.  Despite the ups and downs, and the rocks, boulders, and tree roots that made it imperative that we pay attention to where we were stepping, I’d rate the trail easy-to-moderate.  The trail climbs up to 1800 feet (~550 m) at one point, but you’re 200 feet (~ 61 m) below your starting point when you reach the falls.

With glimpses of Abrams Creek through the trees and wildflowers galore along the path, the trail has what we like to call ‘high entertainment value’.  We made so many stops to take pictures and enjoy creek-side snacks that it took us almost three hours to get to the falls.  We missed seeing rhododendrons and mountain laurel in bloom, but perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing as we probably would have doubled our time going in otherwise!  (By comparison, the return hike took a little under two hours.)

Left: Pink Lady's Slipper Orchid — considered rare/endangered in Tennessee.
Right: Crested Dwarf Iris — very common; found growing on wooded hillsides.

The Red-Belted Conk is a ubiquitous shelf fungus that can grow to huge proportions.

Clockwise from the top left: Rhododendron (just blooming); Purple Trillium;
Spicebush; Mountain Laurel (budding); Meadow Beauty; Dog Hobble.
[please correct me if I am wrong on any of these.]

I didn’t mind the tree frog (looks like it’s about to pounce on its lunch).
I didn’t mind the five-lined skink (to the right of the snake in the top right photo).
but I sure could have done without seeing the common water snake.

There were three or four of these log bridges on the trail.
They were easy to cross actually; I’m just hamming it up for the camera :-)))

A boulder in the middle of Abrams Creek makes for a nice spot to have a snack.

Left: Now why can’t I just take a picture from the path like everyone else?
right: this cross vine was hanging down in the middle of the trail; I’m guessing that someone who walked up after us broke it off because it wasn’t there on the hike down — grrrr :-(((

At this uphill portion of the hike (left) we get a glimpse of Abrams Creek through the trees.

No, Mui; you don’t get to go for a dip at the falls.

Located as it is within the Cades Cove Loop, the Abrams Falls Trail is very popular, so we were very pleased (and lucky) that we didn’t encounter very many people while we were hiking.  The falls were similarly near-deserted.  The couple that was enjoying a snack left soon after we arrived; as did the young man who was taking a break from his 48-mile three-day hike.  More power to him.

We made ourselves comfortable on a couple of boulders at the edge of the water and had lunch in view of the falls on the far side.

Though only 20 feet (6 m) high, the volume of water rushing over makes the falls a sight to behold.

A Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly joins us for lunch.

After a while, we moved to the spit of rocks at the base of the falls.  We thought the spray from the rushing, tumbling water wouldn’t allow us to get too close.  But there was no spray whatsoever, so we stuck around to play a bit.  A few other visitors showed up, took photos and left; a family arrived just as we were leaving.

Any closer and we’d be taking a very cold shower.

I was surprised at how many people we saw going up while we were on our way down.  I sure wouldn’t want to be on this trail at dusk.  We made a few stops to take photos, but otherwise maintained a pretty even pace all the way back to the parking lot.

a ‘Silky water’ view from our snack break spot on the return leg of the hike.

Once off the trail, I wanted to stop at one of the heritage sites on the opposite side of the Cades Cove Loop.  So we took Hyatt Lane, one of only two roads with two-way traffic that cuts across the loop.  That detour led to a black bear sighting — this time a sow with her tiny COY (cub of the year).  This was followed by four other sightings; only one of which fit my definition of an encounter — we could see its beady black eyes.  Our total for the day: seven black bears, including the one that was the inspiration for my rant; and another bear we saw high up in a tree, looking down at a man that was standing at its base — I’ll resist the temptation for another rant.

See those eyes; if I can see them, the sighting is an encounter.

The return drive was particularly slow thanks to a couple of wildlife jams on the road ahead of us.  Nope, not for deer.  Nope, not for elk.  Nope, not for bear.  Rather, the traffic jams were all for wild turkeys :-)

Just as we exited the loop road, the rain that had been expected yesterday afternoon finally arrived.  The slow drizzle turned into quite a downpour, making for a slow drive home.  We were in no hurry, so we took our time driving the narrow, curvy roads.  Even as I finish writing this at 10:30p, the rain has not stopped once.  I love the sound of rain on the roof of the motorhome; it lulls me to sleep.  Speaking of which, it’s time to get under the cozy comforter.