Laurel Falls

So I am convinced that this 900-Miler Goal will take us a NUMBER of years. Like maybe twenty. We will be using walkers by the time we're done. (Or maybe this will be what keeps us out of walkers ...) We have struggled to find the time to make it back to the Smokies, and this year, we missed the colors almost completely. But, as my favorite motto goes ... Better Late Than Never.

But we made it back for the weekend of November 13-15, we both took a rare day off Friday and finally made it to Townsend around 2 pm. We headed straight to the Sugarlands Visitor Center and were finally able to buy one of those $1.00 park maps that we needed. Our goal was to catch up with our friends and complete the Laurel Falls hike and Clingman's Dome hike, both of which they have completed on previous weekends.

While we were at the visitor's center, I happened upon a book called Hiking Trails of the Smokies. I'm a rookie, give me a break, OK? Low and behold, it has ALL of the hiking trails on the official park map listed in it. It even comes WITH an official park map! Well, that was a no-brainer purchase.   

From the visitor's center, we drove over to Laurel Falls. We hiked on up and got our pictures, as you can see below. The weather was perfect, cold with the breeze, but warm with the sun, which shown in our eyes the whole way up to the falls. I caught a rainbow in the falls and we hiked to the base of the second fall and looked around a bit. 

I was surprised to realize that in all our years of going to the Smokies, I have never actually been to these falls, which makes this goal of ours so much more exciting for me. We have come to the Smokies on many occasions and driven around Cades Cove. I still LOVE the cove and would never mind driving around there. I've actually hiked it on at least two separate occasions and would again given the opportunity, but despite that, there is SO much more to the Smokies, and I'm glad that we are giving ourselves the opportunity to discover it all.

Some kind stranger took our photo:

The rainbow in Laurel Falls: (It's there, look closely)

The lower part of the falls below the bridge. I would love to capture the whole falls on one photo.

We did it! Not a challenging hike, but a beautiful one none-the-less. 

So, when we got back, we headed in to Gatlinburg because dear hubby FORGOT HIS HIKING SHOES. REALLY? Yes, really. But it's actually not that bad, as we were planning on stopping on the way home at a store and picking him up some new ones. Instead, we were able to get some for him to break in on Saturday (a necessary evil).

Once we made it to the hotel and looked over our maps, we realized the insignificance of the hike to Laurel Falls we had just made. Not only will we have to hike it all over again at some point, but it is barely a millimeter on the park map. A tiny segment of trail completed. I MEAN TINY. I got this overwhelming feeling that this was not something we would ever really ACCOMPLISH. But I have been reminded that it is not the patch that I am striving for, but the journey along the way, which is the absolute truth. 

We will all be hiking Laurel Falls again, because it is the gateway to a number of other trails that we will have to hike to reach our goal. I look forward to the journey!!

STATS: 

Laurel Falls - 1.3 miles 

Total Mileage Completed - 3.3 miles

Remaining Mileage - 900+ miles (this won't change for a while, I suspect)

The above statistics are accurate for Chuck and Heidi, other team members statistics may vary slightly.