Great Smoky Mountain National Park

In our quest to see all of the National Parks, we'd be remiss to stay in TN too long before visiting our local spot - Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  The Smokies have always been a favorite of mine.  The ancient, forest covered hills have a soulful quality that the west's jagged peaks and intimidating grandeur do not.  These mountains are a shadow of what they once were millions of years ago, and perhaps its the history lesson in geology that I find so fascinating.  Nope, actually that's not it.  It's the variety of wildlife and vegetation.  The Smokies boast the largest in number species of wildflowers of any of the US National Parks.  In addition, elk were reintroduced back in 2002.  Though we did not have the pleasure of seeing any, its nice to know that the original 40 or so have now mated and produced a population of over 200.  Elk were made extinct in the east years ago with hunting and poaching going largely unregulated.  Fortunately, after their reintroduction, it is now considered illegal to kill an elk on national park grounds.

There were no wild animal encounters on this trip, however we did meet up with two good friends from Charlotte, NC and enjoyed a luxurious weekend of car camping at Cosby Campground.  Though I have heard the Smokies are typically considered one of the most crowded national parks, we were delighted to have much of the campground entirely to ourselves.  From the Cosby grounds, you can hike one of many various trails leading to balds, waterfalls and even the Appalachain Trail.  We met a hiker in the parking lot who was section hiking the AT solo.  A lonely endeavor to be sure!

My favorite part of the weekend was a hike that Cortney and I did on Saturday morning.  From the A-loop in the campground, you can hike the Gabes Mountain Trail up to Hen Wallow Falls.  The total distance to the falls and back is approximately 5 miles.  The ascent on the way there is strenuous at times, but for the most part is a gradual up hill until the very end, when you hike down a steep section of trail to the bottom of the falls.

I found Hen Wallow Falls to be one of the most gorgeous waterfalls I have ever seen, mainly for its many tiers and facets in the rock face which creates hundreds of tiny waterfalls as the water cascades to the pool below.

The trail is well maintained and if you're hiking in the fall or winter (which we were obviously not) you can see some pretty incredible views.  In the summer, the views were mostly obscured by trees.  The abundance of tulip poplar made me think that this area of the Smokies must be particularly magical in the fall when all of their leaves turn yellow.  I made a mental note to return there in early October if possible.