Hiking in the Smokies

The biggest problem with hiking in the Smokies is that they do not allow puppies!!! The second problem with hiking in the Smokies are the crowds. We made the mistake of traveling down there during Spring Break so it was extra busy. Jamie and I are not huge fans of Gatlinburg, but I do love the Smokies and they are the closest mountains so us. LeConte Lodge is another huge draw.

Our adventure started Wednesday night after work. We drove just south of Cincinnati and stayed in an Econo Lodge, which was cheap and probably not worth every dollar (thin walls, smoke filled room even though "non smoking," cracked bathroom floor), but it was just for 7 hours of sleep and we were back on the road. We made it to the Alum Cave Trailhead about 12:00 and luckily got a space just as someone was leaving.

We started the 5 mile hike up the mountain. It starts with a gentle grade along a pleasant river. Then the going gets a little more steep until you reach the stairs.

We keep going until we reach Alum Cave. Up until this point, you are passing a lot of people frequently. After this point, the trail thins out significantly. The rest of the trail is mostly three switchbacks along the mountain side. The steeper areas have a metal cable to hold, which is often quite appreciated. Eventually you reach a little forest high in the mountain, it flattens and then you know you are almost to LeConte. We arrived to LeConte after about 3 hours.

We enjoyed our little room in a three room cabin. Dinner was pretty good - not quite as good as we remembered. And sunset was pretty limited - in other words it was dark, cold, windy, cloudy and no views of the sun :-(

We were up early in the morning, ate a tasty breakfast and started down the mountain. It took about 2.5 hours.

We did another hike that afternoon called Little River. This was a gentle grade up along a river. We made it a loop and took Cucumber Gap at the end of the little river trail.

We spent the next two nights in a cute rental house about 2 miles outside of Gatlinburg - far enough from the hustle and bustle but the driveway was so steep we were worried we would start rolling backwards!

The next day we did two hikes both in the park, but not the main entrance. The first was Porter's Creek. This was a lovely hike and our favorite of the weekend. It started along a railway bed for about a mile and then the path forked. This area had a old farm house and barn which was fun to explore. It was used by hikers as a shelter until the 1980s. We then continued on the trail, surrounded by wildflowers every where and made it to a beautiful waterfall, which was the end of the hike.

We then drove even farther afield to Cosby to hike the Hen Wallow Falls. This was nice and quietish compared to how busy other trails had been. It ended in a pretty waterfall. That was our long weekend adventure to Tennessee!

Flowers:

Waterfalls:

Hypatia's first hike: Charit Creek Lodge

We decided we would go for Hypatia's first outdoor experience (other than a few walks around our house and at Birch Lake). And this one was a big one - hiking + two overnight stay! We took off Friday morning, puppy in tow and started the 8 hour drive to Charit Creek Lodge. We stopped in Cincinatti with a somewhat disappointing lunch at Bakersfield Tacos in Cincinnati (overated, overpriced). Another 3.5 hours down the road and we were on back roads in Kentucky and Tennessee with no Cell phone service. We parked in the Charit Creek Lodge Parking area, put our backpacks on including Hypatia's backpack and headed out on the trail.

The trail down to Charit Creek is about 1.1 miles. Beginning 0.3 miles was shared with the equestrian trail, then we headed out on the pedestrian trail. The trail was fairly steep down. We hit a stair case with about 8 stairs that were ridiculously steep so I gave Jamie my backpack and carried the dog down the steps. I put my backpack back on and continued down the switchback trail. Rain was misting the entire way. The trail was lined by evergreens, small creeks, and leafless trees. When we were almost to Charit Creek, we reached a suspension bridge. Hypatia made it about 1/5 of the way, but once it started swinging she stopped in place and started retreating. I picked her up and carried her the rest of the way to Charit Creek.

We reached Charit Creek Lodge. No one to be found. Jamie and Hypatia waited on the front porch and I went to other buildings to find someone. At the 2nd to last building, I found the owner and he showed us our cabin - an attached field cabin. It was rustic (as described) with no electricity, three bunk beds and a table. We put Hypatia's bed out and she quickly made herself at home. She also met the Charit Creek Lodge dog (Booger) and they quickly hit it off - running, playing, barking all around the property (without running too far).

Dinner was spectacular - pork loin, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole. We had a quiet night except for a few barks from Hypatia. The next morning enjoyed lodge made breakfast with the best hot chocolate EVER! We then went for a hike at to the Twin Arches. About 2 miles round trip to some beautiful large arches. We explored the arches, took the stair case to the top and rested a bit. The day was cloudy, but we managed to avoid the rainy part of the day on our hike. We then came back to the lodge for lunch. Hypatia was pretty tried after our walk but did manage some playing with her new buddy Booger. We did another short hike and then relaxed the rest of the day.

At dinner time, a bunch more hikers showed up. Hypatia made friends with all the new campers including 18 month old, six year old and a seven year old. She got lots of fingers in her nose and licked all of the away. She did well that night sleeping in her doggie bed. The next morning we had another tasty breakfast and then headed back to the car via the equestrian trail to see the other trail option. This was quite steep and included a water crossing that hypatia did very well.

We reached the car and headed back to Marshall. We did stop and get Adriatico's pizza in Cincinnati (our favorite pizza place in medical school) and made it home by about 7 pm. It was a great first hike and overnight for Hypatia!