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Location: Great Smoky Mountains National Park Gatlinburg, TN |
One of the falls you can't see from the comfort of your car near Gatlinburg, TN is Laurel Falls. The falls are named after the Mountain Laurel that grows all along the trail. It is probably the easiest and therefore the most popular waterfall to visit. Just 1.3 miles up a paved asphalt trail, with an elevation change of about 314 feet, which makes this an easy to moderate climb. I read that there are over 800 miles of trails in this national park and that less than 3 miles of them are paved. The trail was first paved back in the 1930's to provide easier access to Cove Mountain for fire fighting and to allow the park service to build a fire lookout tower at the top. In the 1960's the trail was reconditioned to what you see today, due to the high amount of tourist traffic climbing the trail to see the falls.
You may be wondering why I titled this post a walk and not a hike. Well my definition of a walk includes pavement of some sorts and a distance of less than five miles, coincidentally that is currently the limit to how far I'm willing to travel on foot under any circumstance. I'm working on increasing that distance though! Walking on natural surface, like a forest floor for instance, is a hike in my book. No matter how short the distance.
Before you start watching the slideshow I have to warn you. You may see pictures of my back side in several of them. So go ahead and proceed, you have been warned.
LAUREL FALLS
Laurel Falls on the right and a bench to park my arse on to the left!
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