East Coast Trip Part Seven
November 17th, 2022
After Luray, VA we went to Gatlinburg, TN for three weeks. This post includes the highlights of several days.
October 8th 2022:
Our first hike was the Appalachian Trail to Mount Kephart via the Jumpoff Trail. The trail starts at Newfound Gap (in the western part of the country, it would be Newfound Pass) which is one of the most popular spots in the park. The trail has very few views (for the most part it was just a tiny view at the very end) and I don't recommend it.
October 10th 2022:
Several days after we did Mount Kepart, we hiked Alum Cave trail to Mt. LeConte Summit. The trail was 11 miles long with waypoints at Arch Rock, Alum Cave, and then finally, Mt. LeConte. This is one of my favorite hikes in the park. This is also one of the most popular hiking trails in the park, although the crowds aren't as bad after Arch Rock and then it is almost empty after Alum Cave. At the top, there is a false summit with wonderful views, but the true summit is just a pile of rocks (see picture).
October 13th 2022:
Our third hike was Chimney Tops Trail which was pretty cool. The trail used to go to the top of Chimney Tops, but since 2012 it has been closed, although there is evidence that lots of people still go to the top. The end of the open trail has a nice viewpoint, which has great views of the surrounding area and Chimney Tops.
October 14th 2022:
Our next hike was from Cosby Campground to Mt. Cammerer Lookout. This was our longest hike (15 miles) and my favorite. This trail is in a pretty remote part of the park and we only saw 4 groups of people on the entire hike. At the end of the trail, the lookout tower there gives you 360ยบ views of the surrounding area in both Tennessee and North Carolina.
October 16th 2022:
Our last hike was Rainbow Falls trail off of Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. This hike has multiple waterfalls. If you do this hike, keep going until you reach a waterfall that is 80' tall. On our way back to Gatlinburg, there was instant evidence of the fact that there is approximately 2 bears per square mile in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park - we saw four bears on our drive back.
