Abrams Falls, after "The Tornado"

We hiked out to Abrams Falls in Great Smoky Mtns on July 4th. Hadn't been out there since what we refer to as "the night of the tornadoes" on April 27, when over 50 tornadoes touched down in east Tennessee, including a confirmed EF4 tornado that ripped through the western half of the National Park, impacting (and closing) about 30 miles of trails west of Cades Cove.


Abrams Falls Trail was one of those closed trails (signage photo from our May 3 visit to the trailhead) and it was the first to be re-opened, as it is a massively popular summertime hike for tourists and locals.










If you hadn't hiked to the falls before the storm, the change might not look too impressive, but we could really tell the difference in a few places. Definitely a lot of trees were downed, but the workers did a great job shifting debris and filling in the trail beds.































Where some of the largest uprooted trees created hot tub-sized holes in the trail, log retaining walls were built for stabilization and prevention of erosion.

Looking to the opposite ridge from our trail, out across the river gorge, you can see a path of damage through the forest.



Despite the areas of damage, Abrams Falls Trail is still a fine hike with some pretty scenery.











The Falls were, as always, a beautiful sight.
We arrived at 8:30 am after the 2.5 mile-hike and were the second ones there. On the way back, between the Falls and the trailhead, we passed exactly 100 people.


Now, let me say this:


For the Love of All That is Holy, people..... Trash in, Trash OUT. Leave No Trace.
The amount (and kind) of garbage we found there was a disgrace. Litter seems to be getting worse in general around the park, but I was especially disgusted at the state of affairs on this holiday weekend. Just be glad I didn't pan down in that Falls photo.

Wildflower Extravaganza

On April 2oth, we took a hike through one of the popular Spring wildflower destinations in the Smokies. A drizzly weekday & therefore not too busy, only encountered a handful of people.

Catesby's Trillium


There were many different flowers to enjoy, but the stars of the area were certainly the huge patches of blue phlox covering the greening landscape.









Miterwort, Bishop's Cap


Eastern Red Columbine










Stunning carpet of phlox








What's this? A stinkweed amongst the flowers?! Bah! A dainty rosebud am I.





One of several caves in the area. Normally entry is allowed (with a permit only) but currently all entry is forbidden... & Big Brother is watching...



....due to the presence of White Nose Syndrome, which is unfortunately killing bats in huge, huge numbers.







There are multiple manways winding through the area. In past visits we'd followed several of them and I'd wondered where the others led. This time I'd done some research and printed an old topo map which was helpful. We were all over the place exploring, it was great.






Old gears





Still, there are other old paths yet to be explored among the heavily traveled ones.



A small waterfall plunges into a deep, slippery cavern. Once again, entirely no cave entry at the moment, on a normal basis entry by permit only.
We normally leave via the steep slope next to the falls, but today we exited on an old route to create a longer hike.



This little patch of stunning common blue violets near Schoolhouse Gap was an incredible shade of purple.








First sighting of the season! Crested dwarf iris blooming along the upper portion of the main trail.






Back in the parking lot, saw this growing in a large patch of horse poop.... looks like wild greens, maybe red veined sorrel? I don't know, but I could've eaten a pretty big salad at that point ;-) Off to find lunch.

Laurel Falls (again)

On Tuesday we headed over to the National Park for a little snow hiking. Along the way we passed a herd of turkeys all fluffed up against the cold. Temp was about 15F degrees with wind chill around 10F.

We decided to hike out to Laurel Falls (again) because the sub-freezing temps were sure to have created some interesting ice formations. We'd last been out about a month ago to see the high water volume after heavy rains.
The Falls trail was fairly busy, being one of the most hiked trails in the park and a short 2.6-mile roundtrip paved outing. But with the cold it wasn't as crowded as usual.

Ice flow, created just like cave formations... except waaaay quicker.









Below the Falls the river was freezing over.









Here are a couple comparison shots, taken at the overspill below the Falls, one after heavy rain and one in snow/ice:

















And now a comparison of Laurel Falls itself, heavy rain vs. snow/ice:












As usual we hiked on past the Falls and the crowd thinned out, but not completely. There were other groups headed toward the old fire tower... more traffic on the trail likely due to roads being closed around the park and thereby limiting hikers' trail choices. We turned back before reaching the trail junction as we got too cold, about 2.6 miles out.

Indian Flats Falls hike

A couple weeks ago we hiked in the Tremont area of the Smokies in effort to check another waterfall of our list. There'd been a hard rain previously, the day was mostly cloudy and we anticipated showers and good water flow at the falls - we weren't wrong.
The access to Indian Flats Falls is via Middle Prong Trail, an old railroad bed which parallels Lynn Camp Prong. It is just under 4 miles to reach the Falls, but if you don't want to go the whole distance there are many attractive little cascades to enjoy along the way.
Heavy rain had contributed to a fresh rock slide near the beginning of the trail.... that large rock is about the size of a bean bag chair.












A nice bench to view Lynn Camp Prong Cascade.





Rain did fall, slowly at first then progressed to a steady downpour then sporadic showers - we broke out the ponchos and continued onward.



Some serious force to pile these huge rocks.



A small creek falls on the right of the trail, runs under it and feeds into Lynn Camp Prong.







By now it was really raining hard and as we approached from a distance I saw the handrails of this bridge and thought maybe we could shelter underneath it until the downpour slacked off.... then again, maybe not.





When you get to the downed log across the trail, look for a well-worn footpath to the right for viewing the old car.

At 2.3 miles is the intersection with Panther Creek Trail, which branches off on the other side of the swiftly flowing Lynn Camp Prong... one would get majorly wet crossing there on this day.


A brick chimney still stands.




Old fire ring behind a tree growing on top of a rock in a wide clearing. Iron rail is nearby.


Occasional bursts of color punctuate an otherwise green and brown landscape.





The trail bed becomes quite rocky along the way and by the return trip I'd developed a stone bruise on my left arch, which was uncomfortable but not unmanageable.

A wooden bridge crosses the river at about 3.5 miles, then you climb a few switchbacks to a wide muddy spot with a scraped tree (probably from horses being tied to it). To the back and right of that tree is the narrow footpath to Indian Flats Falls. Use caution as the footing is a little treacherous in spots, especially when wet.


The falls are quite wonderful and have a nice little area to spread out and enjoy the atmosphere. We spotted a crawfish in the shallows. I took off my shoes and waded for a couple minutes until the icy waters made my feet numb.... yeah, in August. Then some aggressive honey bees discovered us and sent us packing along.

Video at the falls - showing the main/upper portion of 4 drop-offs, then panning over to the second drop-off.

We encountered several groups and an individual moving toward the falls as we headed back. Always pays to get an early start, as we are finding it more common to encounter folks on nearly all trails lately. Summertime + the most-visited national park = running into others is just about inevitable these days.

Rainbow Falls hike

A couple Sundays ago we hiked out Rainbow Falls Trail in the Smokies. As many times as we've traveled along the Roaring Fork Road (which is a LOT), this was our first time out to the falls because we generally try to avoid crowds.
Already having visited Laurel Falls, Grotto Falls and Abrams Falls (along with various less popular Smokies falls) we decided to finally bag this busy one.
The distance is 2.6 miles from trailhead to falls, with an elevation gain of about 1500 feet.



We started early and enjoyed our typical hiking weather - cloudy with sporadic showers. At one point we broke out the ponchos but after about 5 minutes it slacked off.

The trail is very heavily traveled with many eroding 'shortcuts' at switchbacks along the way, probably caused mostly by kids.


Lots of neat things to see if you're as obsessed with observation as I am.... I kinda feel sad to see others plod along viewing mostly their feet the entire way. I'm not gonna name any names or claim that I LIVE with anybody like that. Uh-uh. (Uh-huh.)



The obligatory tree-beats-rock photo :-)





That's a big tree, right there!
I think the ones on Ramsey Cascades trail are larger but this one is quite impressive nonetheless.

We overtook several groups along the way including several people wearing flimsy footwear and most were carrying no water.


You're probably saying, "seen one log bridge, seen 'em all".... well look, here's another!






We reached the falls. The water was low due to a dry spell; just a couple days after a great deal of rain caused some flooding around the park - I'd imagine the falls were fairly strengthened then.

One other group had arrived just before us and we observed as they frolicked about the place (see them in the photo for scale). We decided to hike a little farther up the trail in hopes they'd leave and we could enjoy some quiet at the falls. With luck on our side it worked out perfectly and when we returned they were gone. I enjoyed 10 minutes of bliss exploring and photographing before the next hikers arrived.



And another video from underneath the falls.

On the return trip, many people we passed asked if we'd made it all the way to the falls and of course, the most-asked trail question ever: "How much farther is it?" A lot of the folks we talked to said everyone else they'd met coming down before us had turned back before they'd reached the falls..... much to our surprise, as we've built up to 8-mile round-trip hikes and we felt the 'shortness' of this one in comparison. Hey, for sure we huffed and puffed going up, too. After all, it is uphill all the way....

I counted: we passed 140 people while on the trail (+/- 5)

Upon return to the parking lot, there was commotion over a mother bear and 2 or 3 cubs foraging. We've seen bears within that same area (far end of the Rainbow Falls parking lot) on several occasions. People crowded around much too closely (IMO) and one teen boy had even fled to the roof of the family mini van after the mother bear hissed at him.... last year a young boy was attacked by a bear near the start of Rainbow Falls Trail. Park rangers shot and killed a bear there shortly thereafter.