Summer and Fall are busy season in Great Smoky Mtn National Park with over 9 million visitors coming through a year. (Random Fact: GSMNP is one of the only FREE NP's in the system: http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/whyfree.htm) My expectations of finding solitude were non-existent even coming in during the "off season", but I wanted to see the Smoky's dammit!
Flew into Knoxville and picked up my *snicker* bitchin wheels. A Kia Soul. Yeah.....well, I Hotwired it for $14 a day! I decided to stay in a hotel this go around because I am not completely comfortable in my winter backpacking skills especially alone. My adventure into Northern NM last year where we ran into 2-3 feet of snow in the higher elevations showed how badly lacking my winter backpacking skills are. I still have a lot to learn for cold weather backpacking. Anyways, last year was a really bad winter for most of the East Coast. I had decided on doing this trip in February back in December and didn't know what the weather conditions would be like. This year has been a fairly mild winter for the lower 48 due to La Nina.Pigeon Forge: a petri dish of tacky themed restaurants & entertainment advertised by bright gaudy neon blinking signs that were about to give me seizures. Pretty much, Las Vegas's smaller, less sophisticated, uglier, un-popular, red-headed 7th cousin. I get it......it's a tourist trap for families with 2.5 children. Anyways, I already booked my hotel here (free with my points) so I was stuck. No matter, I pretty just much slept and ate here.
Day 1: Noah Bud Ogle, Twin Creek, Sugarland Trails
Got into PF, got checked in early at noon (Priority Member....Woot!), dropped of my stuff, grabbed my gear and off to the trails I went! Now I am an A+++, anal retentive person. I am usually the person that researches the hell out of everything, has a list of places I want to see, eat, ect. Not this time around. I didn't even trip advise my hotel (Holiday Inn Express are pretty consistent though), I def did not know that Pigeon Forge was an atrocity to the senses......well, if I researched it I would have found that Dollyland was located there and that would have clued me in. Anyways, I didn't even really know what hikes I wanted to do. I had a tentative list, my trusty Falcon Guide book on GSMNP trails and my Iphone to navigate. I literally picked one out of the book and drove there. I got to the parking lot and there wasn't a single car! The first hike wasn't stunning with mountain vistas or leg shredding elevation, but it was nice, peaceful and quiet. The trail followed a stream and had some replica's of old pioneer buildings. Most exciting thing I saw were wild turkeys! Gobble-gobble! I did 4 miles and didn't see a single soul until I got back to a car when a minivan from Louisiana pulled up and 3 kids came spilling out. (Phew. Everyone knows how much I love kids!) I got back in the car and decided to stop by the visitor's center for some info and when I got there, there was a sign for a nature trail. Okie dokie, found my next little walk. Did maybe 1.2 miles, very easy relaxing walk to cataract falls and there were a bunch of interpritive plaques along the way.
Day 2: Alum Cave Trail to Mt. LeconteThe first day was literally a walk in the park.....the second day.....not so much. This was one of the hikes that I HAD to do. It is also one of the most popular as well because it has 2 well known interest points. Alum Caves at 4.6 miles round trip and Mt. Leconte Lodge at 11 miles round trip with most people opting for the shorter hike. I knew to beat the crowds I was going to have to hit the trail head early and I knew that this was going to take up most of my day. I made it around 9:00 AM starting at lower elevation at 29 degrees F. Buuurrrr. Nice, I love hiking when it's cold and brisk out. I actually found some solitude which was quite surprising given the reputation of how crowded this hike gets. I passed a couple of hikers and a few passed me but it wasn't the theme park line I thought it was going to be. Met some nice people on the trail and chatted a bit. Just a perfect day for a hike, went my own pace, stopped to take pictures, just enjoyed being outside and soaked in the scenery. The hike to Alum Cave was pretty gentle and followed a river for the most part. Lot's of bridge crossings but nothing too technical. After Alum Caves, the real fun started. The climb got noticeably steeper and parts of the trail had some ice. YESSSSS! Micro crampon time! One of my favorite pieces of gear! :) About 2- miles from the summit, I met a father and daughter from FL chugging along to the top. The
daughter was about 9 years old and was sooo freaking cute and was a little hiking machine. Now, I don't normally like kids, but this one was a girl after my own heart. Stubborn, tenacious, outdoorsy and blunt. Kind of reminds me of someone.......They were really nice so I decided to hike with them to the top (plus there were signs warning of bear activity......). The father was an engineer and had hiked the Smokies pretty exclusively so he knew a lot about the area. Got my own personal tour guide, ha! When we got to the top he showed me Myrtle Point, High Top and Cliff Top (which I would not have known about) that added a couple of miles to the standard 11 miles to Leconte Lodges. The actual summit of Mt Leconte is pretty anti-climatic.....it is literally a big pile of rocks. The story is, some people wanted Mt. Leconte to be the highest peak in the Smokies (currently 3rd) and some good humored hikers started piling rocks at the summit. The real views are found at Myrtle Point and Cliff Tops with sweeping vistas of the Smoky Mountains. While hiking I usually build up a sweat....no, seriously....I am a sweaty sweaty she beast. I was in a few layers, no thermals (because I wanted to test out some new "hiking" panties and just didn't think about how cold it would be at elevation, doh!), light gloves, neck gaiter, beanie and was ok hiking up. When I made it to the top where the mountain was exposed like Cliff Top, the winds were howling 20-30 miles, air temp at 17 degrees and wind chill feel like temps at 0. Ugh....not one of my brightest moments. Winds felt like little pin needless stabbing my legs and butt, my hands had gone numb.....can we say "asking for hypothermia"? I also got summit fever and the closer we got to the top the less I drank and I hadn't eaten anything yet (which is weird b/c I'm always hungry). Needless to say after a harrowing steep decent down the iced over trail from Cliff Tops, I was freezing and starving. We found a picnic table by the lodges, where I finally put on my thicker gloves, down jacket and rain jacket to block out the wind and tore into our food. Since I was doing a poor job of re-hydrating myself, the water in my camelbak hose froze completely solid. Good thing for my back up water bottle (which had ice chips in it as well). I would've killed for a hot drink. It was so cold and windy I inhaled my food and decided to descend without my new found trail friends because my body was starting to go numb sitting there. The decent was pretty fast because I was half jogging to get warmed back up again. I did slip on some ice because of bad footing and I decided to slow my roll. I am incredibly clutzy (I have the grace of a cow on ice) and I do have a healthy dose of fear of slipping on a mountain. It's happened a few times before.....Anyways, made it back safely without any serious incidents. 13+ miles, 2,835 ft of elevation in about 8 hours. It was an amazing day.
On day 3, my goal was to do 2 shorter day hikes and explore Gatlinburg for the rest of the day because I knew my legs would probably be pretty shredded from day 2. The night before, I sat down and did some quick research on which hikes to do and I wanted to find waterfalls. First hike of the day was Spruce Flat Falls (not so flat, btw....at least it didn't feel like it) and woke up early to get to the trail head before anybody else. Found the TH,
started off going up hill over a few switchbacks. This particular hike wasn't the most scenic until I hit the waterfalls. I was the only one there. BOOM! Early bird gets the worm. Took off my pack and climbed on the boulders and rocks, played around in the water a bit (it was nippy) and just enjoyed having the falls completely to myself. The sound of rushing water is just really relaxing, I was just listening to the falls and enjoying how peaceful it was. After 30 minutes of enjoying the falls to myself, I decided to head out so I could find my next trail. Last quarter mile of the hike I ran into a line of 20 people headed to the falls. YES! I beat the rush. *bigstupidgrinonmyface*. Hike # 2 was Grotto Falls, and as I got to the road to turn onto it was closed. Mother F*$%er! Big failboat on my part.......hiking guide clearly states trail is closed until mid March. I blame my blind crappy, slanty, asian eyes. *Sigh* At this point I was a bit frustrated and hungry so I decided to just head to Gatlinburg to eat and explore. Had a stack of waffles and ham, then headed down the main street of Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg wasn't as garish as PF, but there were Day 4: Chimney Tops
This was my last day in the Smokey's and I was hell bent determined in getting one last mini-adventure before heading back to the metromess. My flight didn't leave until 4:10 PM so I knew if I woke up early enough I could squeeze one last hike. I had already arranged a late check out (priority member= princess get's her way) so I could still clean up after my hike. The other hike I knew I "had" to do, was Chimney Tops, another of one of the most popular hikes in the park. Not super long at 4 miles RT, but the elevation gain was 1,700+ in the first 2 miles and the scramble/rock climb to the summit had me intrigued. I decided to do this on Monday morning as opposed to the weekend based on Falcon Guide's advice because I had read it could get very crowded and to beat the masses: 1.) go during off season, 2.) on a weekday, 3.) early in the morning. Headed out early after breakfast and found myself alone on the trail again. Who says you can't find solitude in the busiest national park in the US?
Pffft. Lot's of river crossings and the first mile was a "gentle" uphill. At 1.1 miles, it all changes. That was a seriously tough .9 miles and with over 25 miles in my legs, they were a little pissed off. Other than my legs giving me the big middle finger, I felt pretty strong. I swear whoever designed this trail has never heard of a switchback. By the time you hit a couple of switchbacks your are already close to the top and it levels out. Kind of evil. Besides me cursing like usual, this hike was beautiful. I got to the base of Chimney Tops and time for the final push. Now on a normal, good weather day this climb is pretty harrowing for the non uber climbers. This particular day was cloudy, foggy and misty (trailhead sign warns of dangers of climbing the Tops when rock is wet). Ummm, I did not bust my ass and hike all the way up there not to make it to the top. I was going for it. To hell with warnings, danger signs and common sense. I sometimes have more balls than brains. I strapped my poles to my pack, tightened the straps and up I went. I'm a very beginner rock climber and feel pretty comfortable on the walls with harness, ropes and a belayer. Erm. I had
me, myself and I. To make things worse (besides the slick wet rock) I was a little unbalanced with my day pack and big chunky hiking boots don't really allow me to smear or get my foot in the right position and I wasn't tied down to anything. So if I fell, it would've probably hurt.....a lot. Yeah, I had the epiphany half way up. After a few close calls and life flashing before my eye moments, I made it to the top. Breathtaking. (ok, that might have been mostly the climb). Not the ideal day to see the surrounding mountains with low visibility due to fog but I was so happy to have made it to the top without breaking my neck and I had the summit completely to myself! I don't know how to explain the rush of adrenaline, endorphin, and dopamine bombarding me. I love that feeling, that intensity coursing through my veins, all senses heightened, tingling sensation all over my body. I was literally high on life, as cliche as that is. As I was being introspective, the sensation was only deepened by the fact that I did it alone (again) and I reveled in the fact that I am completely at ease by myself, in my own skin, in my own thoughts and love who I am for all my flaws and weaknesses. (I'm slightly confident....what?). If I were a dude, I probably would have had a hard on with how freaking happy I was in that particular moment. I sat on top with the biggest damn grin on my face, just so stoked to have the health & means to see and experience all that I do and once again reflected on another amazing trip.
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