A day trip to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park today. Hiking at Laurel Falls before lunch and Chimney falls after lunch. Lunch was in Gatlinburg at the edge of town closest to the park to avoid the chaos in town. Laurel falls was a very busy park! Crazy busy with lots of families with small children. The path was paved and it was a gentle uphill climb to the falls. There was a sign posted clearly stating no pets on the trail, so Leo, Pedro and Kasie stayed back while Sriracha and Lori went on the hike. Pedro and Kasie went up to the falls next and Sriracha and Lori rested in the car with Leo. Leo got a bit of a hike in as the car parking was on the road about 1/2 mile from the trail. We were at Chimney Tops trail after lunch. A quiet with the morning hike. Stairs and loose gravel and rock with a predominantly uphill trail. Several crossings of the river with large rocks the size of a Volkswagen. The trail stops short of the Chimney Tops that years ago were accessible by trail. The final portion of the trail has
been closed since a fire caused environmental damage in 2016. Hiking the trail leads you to a great view over the Smokey mountains as well as a view of the Chimney Tops. Leo went along on the hike and enjoyed pulling up the steps with his harness. Seemed to figure out that pulling when going up all of the steps was a good thing and then walking down did not pull. We got a bit damp on our way down as the skies let the water drip on us. There were several areas where the trail became greasy and slick. Sriracha had one near incident with a slip, but caught herself just short of landing on her shorts!. The white shoes she wore are no longer white, but that is the price of adventure. After our drive home and a change of clothes at our Knoxville headquarters, we headed to downtown for dinner at the Oliver Royale. It was a relaxing dinner with some good food. Our waiter gave us some ideas for our days as his father worked for the Tennessee State Parks and he told us about some of his favorite hikes.
