Great Smoky Mountains National Park

 April 2-5, 2021

We are on a quest to fill more pages of our National Parks passport book and also to see more NC waterfalls so we decided to do a Covid-safe trip to a house near Cherokee, NC to see some of the GSMNP for spring break. We hit a cold snap and didn't do any long hikes but we saw a few waterfalls and a lot of the park so all in all it was a success!

The day we arrived we went to the Deep Creek area of the park near Bryson City, NC. First we went to Juney Whank Falls on a 0.6 mile loop. There is a bridge across the falls which puts you right next to it but it's hard to take a picture of the whole thing. It is about 35 feet high. 

Next we continued to Tom Branch Falls. This was very picturesque, a 75 foot high multilevel cascade. It flows into the Deep Creek on the opposite side of the bank as the trail. We thought this would be a wonderful place to cool off during the summer. It was about 0.2 of a mile from the parking lot on an easy path.

After passing Tom Branch, we continued on another half mile or so to Indian Creek Falls. This is about 25 feet high and we got a view of it from the side. There was a lot of water flowing here and we liked it but didn't go down close to the bottom. We backtracked to the parking lot for a total of about 2 miles. There were other people around but it didn't feel crowded at all here.

The next day we got an early start to get to the park but had to stop at Mingo Falls first. It isn't too far off of 441 and there were some signs to it but the parking area didn't make it really obvious. But we found it and went up the 160 stairs and 0.3 mile trail while it was 30 degrees out. This is a tall waterfall at around 150 feet and compared to the pictures I have seen of it, there was more water falling than usual. We all enjoyed it but didn't linger too much in the cold!

We continued up 441 into the GSMNP on Newfound Gap Rd. We stopped at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center to get our passport stamped after viewing some elk near the park entrance. We continued on, turning at Clingman's Dome Rd., which had just opened for the season a few days prior. We were surprised to find cars from all around the country in the parking lot. We found a spot without any trouble but by the time we left cars were lining up for our spot. There is a point here where the Appalachian Trail crosses the path to the Clingman's Dome observation tower. It's a 0.9 mile paved path to the tower and up it, which is steep. We climbed 405 feet between the path and the tower! There are beautiful views from the parking lot and even better ones from the tower. 

It was still pretty chilly so we ate our picnic lunch in the car on the way to Cades Cove. Near the Sugarlands Visitor Center traffic was really heavy and we found out one of the slow-downs was due to a bear with her cub in the trees. We were lucky to see them too and get past the traffic jam pretty quickly. The road follows the Little River with roadside views of Miegs Falls and The Sinks. We finally reached Cades Cove, which is an 11 mile loop road. This area was settled in the 1800s but before that was also home to Native Americans. There are many historic buildings and we saw two more bears as well as a few deer. We stopped near the visitor center to stretch our legs and go on a little walking tour of some of the buildings. It had warmed up nicely and we enjoyed the drive. Then we drove alllll the way back through the park and found a nice place for dinner at Rancho Viejo after navigating an elk traffic jam.

The next day was Easter and we took our time getting going. Our first stop was Soco Falls. This was about 30 minutes from where we were staying off of highway 19. There are only a few roadside parking spots but we got one and were excited to be able to see it from the road. There was a short path and a few steps down to a viewing platform. We were surprised by how much we enjoyed it here and again would like to come back in the summer to get wet. There are two waterfalls here, about 35 feet tall.

Our plan was to head back toward the GSMNP Balsam Mountain area for a hike but the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed in that direction so we instead went south to Waterrock Knob. There is a large parking area here with restrooms and visitor center (both closed) and a 0.9 mile hike to the top of the mountain. We again were fooled into thinking that was no big deal, but we all completed the steep trek to the top and saw some beautiful views. It turns out there is 439 feet of elevation gain. If we came back, the views from the parking lot would probably be good enough!

On our last day, we tried to go home via I-40 through Old Fort to see Catawba Falls, but the trail was closed due to maintenance. Lucky for us, there was one more chance to see a waterfall in Valdese at McGalliard Falls. It's not a scenic area but there is no hike and the 35 foot tall falls were kind of impressive for where we were. A good stop!

We enjoyed our trip and feel like we saw a lot of the park. I think there are a few more options for hiking and waterfalls if you stay in Gatlinburg, but there are also a lot more crowds there too. We stayed at an airbnb house in Whittier which was very comfortable and we were happy to have mom/grandma Amrosini join us for the trip. The house had a fire pit which we used every night and enjoyed the sunset over the mountains view from the backyard. We were happy to check this park off the list finally and to also see so many new waterfalls!