Smoky Spring Break Day 1

March brings spring break for local schools.  While spring break usually conjures up visions of wild Florida beach parties, we opted instead for a quiet cabin in the woods near the Smoky Mountains thinking we would enjoy some fresh spring air and wildflowers. But to our surprise, a major cold front blew into Tennessee, so our spring break became more like that Christmas in the Smokies we had once talked about.

We woke up semi-early on Monday and drove the long 4.5 hours directly to Cades Cove.  The closer we got to the Smokies, the more snow flurries started turning into real snow fall. Fortunately, none of it was sticking to the salted road. After winding our way through the Cades Cove scenic loop, we parked at the Abram Falls trailhead. 

In the beginning, the girls get a lead.

 An entrepreneurial hiker had built a nice snow man to greet us. The girls expressed their distress about being required to hike in the cold, but I reassured them that once they got hiking they would be plenty warm.  I had promised the girls that the 5 mile hike was mostly flat, but unfortunately for them, my reference point was the hike up Clingman’s Dome from Deep Creek. In retrospect, there are in fact two decently long climbs mixed in with all the flat stuff. The trail follows Abram Creek for its entire way, occasionally diverting up through the hills to short long bends. Snow continued falling throughout the entire hike, but fortunately the trail never got icy.  The girls and AM made good time and we reached Abram Falls within 90 minutes.

Abram Falls

JA wasn't impressed

 JA expressed her disappointment with the height of Abram Falls, feeling that she deserved a larger waterfall for her long hike. For myself, I felt that the falls were still particularly spectacular. 

Figuring out those new hiking poles.

Looking downriver

Feel the spray

Mom and daughter share a triumphal moment.

 

AM crossing bridge with trepidation

For some reason, I think every bridge crossing in the Smokies is photogenic

Yes there are indeed salamanders in the Smoky Mountains

AM looks a bit tired and ready to be done.

 During the return hike, the continuing snowfall and rate of accumulation on the ground caused me to worry that the narrow, windy park road would become icy.

Play us a song your the harmonica man

Snow falls during the return trip

We called this the Lord of the Rings pass thru the Misty Mountains

Fellowship of the Ring

Snow is beginning to accumulate along the trail

Abrams Creek is such a pretty river

 Along the way, JP spiced up the hike by hiding and then jumping out to scare the girls.

 Once we got back to the parking lots, the roads turned out to be just wet, not icy.  We had planned to drive from Cades Cove to Gatlinburg along Little River Road, but when we reached the junction, this road was closed (we later learned due to a rock slide).  So we had no choice but to take an extended backtrack to Townsend and then through Wears Valley, to reach Pigeon Forge. Upon reaching Pigeon Forge, we called the rental office because our GPS didn’t have their road listed.  After a few more wrong turns, we picked up the keys and then headed toward Gatlinburg and our rental cabin .

Chilling by the fireplace.

Upon our arrival to our cozy little cabin, JA once again announced her disappointment, this time at how small the cabin was. She had been expecting something like the mega-cabin that her aunt and uncle had rented in the Smokies when they had gone 5 years ago.  But the rest of us thought that it was just fine. It had one master bedroom, a loft with a pool table, a cozy gas fireplace, a bathroom, rustic decoration throughout and a large hot tub out on the back porch.  Compared to a backpacking tent, the cabin was a massive castle of comfort and luxury.

Pool Sharks

After settling in, we played a bunch of pool, with ME learning to shoot the cue ball for the first time.  The table had an interesting warp that caused balls that would not normally go in to slowly change direction and roll back into the pocket.  For me, this mostly seemed to apply to the white cue ball.  I don’t know if we had a grand champion, probably it was JP. I do know that I lost most games by prematurely sinking the 8 ball and that ME became the master of edge-wise shot.