Hiking to Laurel Falls, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Tennessee

Laurel Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

A massive snow storm shut down US 441 Thursday night. 441, also known as Newfound Gap Road runs through Smoky Mountain National Park and makes the trails and other higher elevation features accessible to backpackers. Unfortunately, this messed up the limited window to hike to Clingman's Dome and back. Clingman's Dome is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail and the third highest mountain in the Appalachian range.

Two months ago, I saw the is National Geographic special on these crazy people who brave the elements, terrains, ticks, and rattle snakes to hike the entire Appalachian Trail in a summer. Because I am one of these crazy people who sets my goals big like this, just like I set the goal to ride my first RAGBRAI (The Register's Great Annual Bicycle Ride Across Iowa), which is about 500 miles, in less than 20 hours. Mission accomplished (we did upset a lot of riders along the way, so the next year we brought Ride to the Right Home Brew to ease tensions brewed by yours truly. It was a hit!) Now I have the goal to hike the entire Appalachian Trail before I turn 50 years old. This weekend was my first chance to see how attainable that goal is.

Like I said, it didn't start off very good as the road to Newfound Gap was closed so I couldn't easily get on the Appalachian Trail, so instead I was forced to hike some lower elevation trails until Newfound Gap Road opened.

The second trail hiked was the Laurel Falls Trail, which is a 1.3 mile trail back to the falls with about 300 feet of elevation gain--not too hard unless you are hiking on ice and snow, or are the family of five with one in a stroller. That's right I couple dad's were pushing strollers on this slick trail (which has warning signs on it about high drop offs). That didn't stop them as evident with the strange parallel tracks of four sets of wheels in the snow. Fortunately, these dads kept the strollers in control on and on the trail.

Now Laurel Falls--it is advertised as a peaceful, cascading type of waterfall right? Well, not when it's been raining for a few days and that has turned to snow. The waterfall is anything but peaceful at this point. Take a look for yourself.



The falls has two sections separated by a walk across that keeps your toes dry and warm, but I would still recommend waterproof footwear when you hike here. To access the trail to Laurel Falls, take 441 south out of Gatlinburg, TN, and turn right on Little River Road, which is at the National Forest Service's welcome offices. They sell a great trail map for $1; although it doesn't rank the trails by difficulty.