It's hiking day! We were all ready and super pumped to start the first of two hiking trails we were going to do today!
With our Camelbaks packed with water, food, trash bags (pack in/pack out), a first aid kit and some other minor items all we needed were out hats and hiking sticks!
After a hair raising drive down a one way road where the road really wasn't wide enough for most compact cars let alone SUVs we made it to our first trail head. Grotto Falls here we come!
BUT FIRST, Jesse had to pee! Seriously folks, he has the bladder the size of a pea! AND NOW we are ready to go!
You certainly can't start a trail without getting your picture with the trailhead sign. This trail is easier than most but don't mistake that this is hiking on a mountain.
The trail has some great scenic views and allows you walk behind the falls.The water is from a natural mountain runoff so the water is numbingly cold, clear, and spectacular (bet you can guess you added that part....he he he!) However, spectacular is the perfect word. The smokey mountains and its water falls are breathtaking.
There's a couple of videos on my facebook page, where you can here the falls!
Even though it was early we stopped here for lunch (sandwich #1 for Zoey) and enjoyed listening to the falls while the kids explored.
After lunch the kids splashed around in one of the pools. Jesse kept saying how cold his feet were. This was right after he fell on the rocks and had a cold wet butt! However, none of this stopped him from climbing and splashing through a stream just a short ways away.
After making it back down that trail, we had to visit the outhouse again. The look on Zoey's face as she entered the outhouse after another lady was absolutely priceless. This older woman standing off to the side laughed so hard I'm sure she wet herself.
When we tried to make our way to the next trailhead the GPS could not be reached. It was a good thing we printed a map and was able to navigate ourselves over there without the use of Google. PSA folks!!!!!! Always have a map, your electronics will not always work!
We made it to the Laurel Falls trail head about 40 minutes later after driving pretty much down hill at 10 MPH!
The Laurel Falls trail has eaten up asphalt on the actual trail. This was not something we enjoyed and found it to be not as natural and we were looking for. There was a sign at the trailhead that specifically told folks in wheelchairs not to use this trail, strollers too, guess what we saw? Folks being pushed in wheelchairs and strollers!
Zoey and I both ate a second sandwich on the way up the trail. We were so hungry that day with all the exercise!
As we made it along the trail Jesse and Zoey wanted to take the "shortcut" as they called it. They had seen several trails off the beaten path and loved walking through the forest to meet Chuck and I on the other side. This was done over and over again. Someone actually said to Jesse when he was on one of the "shortcuts"...."you know there was a bear cub here a little bit ago"...Jesse was unphased by the comment and replied "meh" and then kept going.
It's hard to see but Jesse is giving a thumbs down to the sign.
Needless to say this Momma Bear had made it clear
he needed to follow what that sign had to say!
Once we reached the top of the trail we took turns taking pictures with numerous other families. We also took turns slipping on the rocks. I lost count the number of times Zoey actually slipped and landed on the rocks or in the shallow pond at the bottom of the falls. She now had a matching wet bum!
Chuck helped the kids up two stories of the falls for a great picture! They had so much fun but Zoey got nervous being up so high. To be honest, I think Chuck was more nervous than me that the kids were up there.
When we were ready to get going back down the trail Chuck and I noticed that Zoey didn't look like she felt well. I offered her my last sandwich (Sandwich #3 for Zoey), which I had packed just in case my blood sugars bottomed out. She took it so quickly and we noticed within 30 minutes our little girl was feeling much better. Word to the wise folks, always pack a little extra when you go hiking. You never know who is going to need it!
On our way down Zoey was not happy with her wet shorts! Of course Jesse made fun of her. LOL!
This was right before Zoey took a spill in the water.
So we hiked approximately 6 miles in the Smokey Mountains today. Even with all the slips and falls no one got hurt....well....until we were approximately 20 feet from the truck. Zoey decided to take a good spill, hitting her knee on the rocky path and slid in the mud. Chuck had to carry her to the car where she screamed bloody murder while we cleaned out the two cuts on her knee. One of the cuts was about an inch long. Due to the amount of mud and the depth of the cuts we had to spend quite a bit of time cleaning things out.
Most folks laugh at me when they see that I have two first aid kits in my truck. One in the glove box which is small and the other in what I call the "Shotgun case" all the way in the back. No, I don't have a shotgun but it just a funny thing to call it. There is a large first aid kit in there. Not to mention I had another small kit in my camelbak. I ended up needing supplies from two of the three kits. Chuck did a great job cleaning Zoey up but you could tell by the look on his face that he was not happy about it due to all of her crying. I on the other hand was letting Zoey squeeze my hand as hard as she could while Chuck cleaned. Jesse was a trooper by 1 - staying out of the way, 2 - getting all the trash and throwing it away, and 3 - making sure Zoey had her blanket and was OK as we drove back to the condo.
Unfortunately by the time we go back to the condo we needed to clean everything again and give her a bath. Zoey was not impressed but was a trooper this time.
We ended the evening by heading to the Island at Pigeon Forge; having dinner at the Timberwood Grill, and then playing. The staff and service was excellent just like the food! Chuck had meatloaf again, I had their klondike burger which has their homemade Borsin Cheese on it, Zoey had a full serving of chicken fingers with fries and Jesse ate two burgers and mozzarella sticks. I will say these were small burgers, so the two were the same size as an adult burger.
I almost forgot our dessert!!!!!!!!!!!! This was a smores brownie sundae. OMG! It was delicious and I'm so happy that we only got one to share between the four of us!
Afterwards the kids wanted to try a vertical rope course? I really don't know what to call it! But they were having a great time on it. Zoey had been dying to try zip lining and this course had two of them. She was flying high and was encouraging Jesse to try to zip line.
The cool thing about this and that if you don't have proper shoes they have crocks for you to borrow. I'm not a fan of this but I did see they washing them in a big buckets of soapy water. Which made me fell a bit better.
Unfortunately, Jesse did not fair well and had a panic attack. He was able to calm himself down and come down on his own. When I spoke with him about it he said "Mommy, I just couldn't be sure that the cable wasn't going to break. There's no net and if the cable broke I would have died." I have to say he really thought about that and had a logical reason for why not to do it.
Zoey even did the "BIG JUMP" at the end of the rope course. She said she closed her eyes the whole time so we had to show her a video.
While the kids were doing the rope course, Chuck went over to the Ole Smokey Moonshine store and participated in a tasting session where he got to try about ten different mooshine flavors including their moonshine pickles. He also got to head over to the jerky store. He's all set with items from each until we return to TN in a couple of years.
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