The Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Fall 2013
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the first national park we have visited. This was a 3 day trip during the Labour day weekend. We rented a cabin in Gatlinburg, TN for three nights. The drive from Ann Arbor takes about 9 hours, so it is a long road trip. We left Ann Arbor on Friday, Aug 30th, and drove to Gatlinburg and got settled in our cabin and relaxed for the night. Day-1: Saturday morning, we packed our bags and left early to Trillium Gap trail head to hike Grotto Falls . It is an easy to moderate hike with over 500ft gain in elevation and takes a couple of hours. Along the trail, we saw some recent bear activity (that doesn't make a pretty picture!). At the end of the trail is a beautiful falls. The best part about the falls is that you can walk behind it. The water collects in a small pool at the foot of the falls and you see lots of tiny salamanders in and around the water. At Grotto Falls As soon as we got back to our car, we had lunch and headed strai