Pigeon Forge 2012 {Day 3}

We spent our 3rd day at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Last year we hiked Clingman's Dome and Laurel Falls. This year we went the other direction to Cade's Cove.


On our drive to Cade's Cove, we pulled over to check out some scenery. Everyone had been on the lookout for black bears as we were driving.

The kids weren't content to just pose, they needed to explore, too. They were given the instruction "to stay dry" which they did.

We stopped for a picnic lunch.

We were also hoping to see some elk. We had heard that you can often find them in the big open fields.

The kids used binoculars to try and find some interesting wildlife.

For our hike, we chose Abrams Falls.

It was a 2 1/2 mile hike to the Falls, then another 2  1/2 miles back. We completed it in about 3 hours. We started just before 2pm and we were motivated to be back before it got dark, around 6pm.

We made very few stops along the way to ensure that we made good timing.

There were 3 or 4 of these partial bridges for us to cross.

 

After a little over an hour, we made it to the falls. 

We rested for a bit, then hiked back to the car. It took a little longer to get back. We did let the kids stop a little more this time.

The road at Cade's Cove is only 1 lane, so it made for some slow driving. There were signs saying that if you wanted to stop your car, do so only at the pull over sights, but many people just stopped anyway. But we did finally get to see some wild life!

And look at this little guy! We finally saw a black bear! The kids were super excited to see him.

We made it back to the cabin eventually. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Pigeon Forge {Day 6}

On Thanksgiving Day we decided we would do some hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Chris had suggested a hiking trip in the Smokies for our summer trip back in August, but when my parents were able to the condos for November, we decided that hiking in November would be much more pleasant in the cooler weather.


There are many different hikes to choose from. Our first one was Clingman's Dome. Here are the kids standing by the parking lot.

Here's a panoramic picture of a similar view.

Our hike was only one mile round trip and the trail was nicely paved, but it was quite steep. We had to stop and rest more times than we would care to admit.

Here's a view of the trail.

At the end of the trail, is the Clingman's Dome Observation Tower.

Here is a panoramic view from the top of the observation tower. 

From the top of the observation you could see Tennessee and North Carolina. This is the highest point in the Smoky Mountains and the highest point on the Appalachian Trail. It is 6,643 feet above sea level.

Here is where the Appalachian Trail passes through.

We trekked on the Appalachian Trail for a few moments just for the sake of being able to say that we were on it. It was a bit more rugged than the Clingman's Dome trail!

The hike back down to the parking lot was a lot easier. Hannah skipped down for most of the way.

We drove around for a bit after the hike, then decided to hike so more! This time we chose the Laurel Falls Trail. It was a 1.3 mile hike to the falls. This trail was considered easy, but the paved paths were a bit rough in many places.

Here's a close up of the bear sign.

And this sign was posted a couple of places along the trail.

Here's a picture of the trail.

And the beautiful Laurel Falls.

James & Hannah in front of the falls.

An incomplete family portrait.

We got back to our condo around 5pm. We rested a bit, then we went out for a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner with my parents. We ate at a Chinese buffet restaurant.