TENNESSEE: Gatlinburg

In the Smoky Mountains there are two entrances into the park: one in the East on the North Carolina side (which is where we were staying during our visit), and one on the West in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. For our time in the area we wanted to be in a more secluded area without crowds and typical tourist attractions. However, if tourist attractions and casual franchise dining are more your "thing" then Gatlinburg is the place for you to stay.

If you have ever been to Orlando and ventured down the heart of International Drive, then you kind of already have a feel for what Gatlinburg is. Full of bars, Chilis, Fridays and Ripley's Believe it or Not museums, it is like tourism gone wild. There are hotels and shops lining the blocks and all sorts of festivities going on.

Enjoying our peaceful cabin in Cherokee

After hiking in the Smokey's and spending time secluded for awhile, we ventured into this tourism paradise for an afternoon. Driving through the Smoky Mountains is beautiful. Winding turns and lush vegetation surround you as you traverse the hills and mountains through the park. The drive through is about an hour and you can't miss Gatlinburg. We looked up a few places to eat and decided on the Smoky Mountain Brewery.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN BREWERY

Located in the basic tourism center of town the Smoky Mountain Brewery is your typical bar food and local beer restaurant. The food was nothing special and their locally brewed beers were alright.

As we didn't spend too much time in Gatlinburg, we don't have a whole lot more to say about it. To be honest, what it had to offer just wasn't our cup of tea.

You can read our other entries about Tennessee here.

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park III

small butterfly near Laurel Falls

This post contains photos which were from our adventures hiking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. You can read Part I here and you can read Part II here. 

Tom Branch Falls in Deep Creek

Indian Creek Falls

Juney Whank Falls

From the Alum Cave hike

Alum Cave hike

View from Inspiration Point, along the Alum Cave hike

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. You can read our entries about hiking in the park here.

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TENNESSEE: Great Smoky Mountains National Park II

Alum Cave - other hikers for scale

Continuing our tour of the Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee is home to many of the more popular attractions and hikes. As we mentioned previously (click here to read Part I),  HikingInTheSmokys was a great resource for us when it came to planning our hikes.


ALUM CAVE TRAIL
This trail in particular is one of the more popular treks in the Smoky Mountains. It is a great versatile trail that isn't particularly hard and doesn't take more than a few hours to complete even though it is about 6 miles round-trip. We started this hike early cause we knew the parking would be tough, and we suggest you do the same. This hike wasn't open all week due to the volume of crowds and some maintenance along the trail.
We both really enjoyed this hike. While many hikes will lead you to one final viewpoint destination, this trail was full of sights and challenges that were very engaging. Great views and interesting bridges, running water and the final view from the actual Alum Cave, which isn't really a cave more like an overlook that was dug during the civil war for salt deposits. Definitely a hike you don't wanna miss.

along the Alum Cave Trail

View from Inspiration point along the Alum Cave trail

CHIMNEY TOPS TRAIL
Chimney Tops is another very popular hike in the area. Unfortunately, because we did some major hiking before this we only did about half this trail and turned back. From what we saw, there were lots of streams, bridges and soaring trees. The view from the top of this trail is supposedly amazing. While we can't speak from personal experience about the full hike, what we did see was gorgeous. There is a gradual incline which was a bit too rough on our legs for that day, but we'd like to complete this hike if ever we make it back to the Smoky's.

LAUREL FALLS
Laurel Falls is a bit out of the way compared to the other hikes, and very saturated with tourists. The hike to Laurel Falls is an easy mile or so of incline, and to be fair - we feel that the Deep Creek area has a lot more to offer in terms of scenery and solitude. While Laurel Falls is beautiful, there were so many people around it was very difficult to get a good shot of the scenery without including several tourists.

MORTON'S OVERLOOK
Morton's Overlook is more of a viewpoint while you are driving the main road through the Smokey mountains from NC to TN. We stopped here twice. It is a vast open valley with views as far as the eye can see. We also attempted to see a sunset here but the cloud coverage in the area at that time in the evening was overtaking the sun. It's a beautiful little turn off, and worth stopping for the view.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. You can read our entries about hiking in the park here.

You can read our other entries about Tennessee here. 

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NORTH CAROLINA: Great Smoky Mountains National Park I

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located on the west side of North Carolina and crosses over onto the east side of Tennessee. This park is free to enter, and it can easily be driven through in about 45 minutes or so. It is also located right off of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is regarded as one of the prettiest drives in North America. We did drive on it for a little while but we didn't have too much time to see all of its beauty. The ideal time for this location seems to be around fall, where the leaves turn and the scenery is incredibly colorful. We visited in late spring, which is somewhat off-season for the park - but it is honestly beautiful year round. HikingInTheSmokys was a great resource for us when it came to planning our hikes.

We opted to stay on the North Carolina side, finding a cozy, secluded cabin in Cherokee, NC. The cabin was a great retreat after a day full of hiking, and we even had some local wildlife visitors. If you prefer isolation, we would recommend Cherokee. However, if you would prefer to be closer to a city, Gatlinburg may be a better destination for your stay in the Smokys.

View from Andrew's Bald

ANDREW'S BALD
Located near Clingman's Dome, Andrews Bald is a fairly short 3.5 mile round trip hike. This was our first adventure in the Great Smokys. It was a great warm up for the next few days in the area. The trail ends at "Andrews Bald", which is great panoramic view of the area.

Path along Forney Ridge Trail to Andrew's Bald

Clingman's Dome Observation

CLINGMAN'S DOME OBSERVATION
Clingman's Dome is probably the number one attraction in the park. It is basically an observation deck where you get a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains. It is the highest point in the entire Smoky Mountains. The views were full of lush greenery and rolling mountains. Not quite as dramatic as the Cascade Mountain Range on the West Coast but still a very pretty view. The Observation is located directly on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina.

View of the mountains from the Clingman's Dome Observation Trail

Indian Creek Falls

DEEP CREEK
The Deep Creek is located on the East side, not far from Cherokee, NC.  The concentration of tourists seems to be around the Gatlinburg area, and so while hiking in this area, we rarely came across others. This area is full of waterfalls, and mild trails that can be walked by a family very easily. It was a nice change of pace from climbing the harder hikes in the area. We took a simple round trip, following the Deep Creek/Indian Falls Loop, which brought us to see Tom Branch Falls and Indian Creek Falls. Finally, we made the additional small trek to see the Juney Whank Falls. The area was full of butterflies and wildflowers (we even came across a black water snake). It was a beautiful, peaceful, hike.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. You can read our entries about hiking in the park here.

You can read our other entries about North Carolina here.

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