Monday, March 25
I think I already shared this- I started Monday off with some hot tub time. It was a late night Sunday night so we weren’t planning to be up and out the door super early on Monday or anything.
It honestly got a bit later than I preferred before we headed out (yeah, probably my fault for chit chatting too long in the hot tub…), and we didn’t have any groceries yet (also our fault for not being more organized in advance…), so we still needed to track down some sort of breakfast. (None provided at this resort.)
Anyway, we stopped at a couple places heading into Gatlinburg (looking for something quick like a cafe/bakery type place…), but didn’t find anything right nearby and the traffic was NUTS down the main strip. Like backed up, bumper to bumper traffic! I have heard Gatlinburg is always super crowded in the main stretch but probably extra so with spring break.
We were planning to head over towards Sugarlands Visitor Center and that surrounding area of the park, but ended up having to take this long detour up and around Gatlinburg (which still ended up being faster than sitting in never ending “red” traffic on the map through Gatlinburg…).
Long story short- we didn’t find the quick stop and go type breakfast we were searching for. I think “Gatlinburg” and “quick” and “restaurant” don’t really go hand and hand.
We ended up eating some granola bars we had in the car and deciding to head up towards Townsend (another city on the other edge of the park). I wanted to go in that direction anyway, but was planning to get lunch there, not breakfast. I had planned a drive to stop at several waterfalls, maybe a hike or two plus the visitor center first.
Well. Once we got around the traffic and onto the park road, we found traffic wasn’t much better. There was A LOT…. Every parking lot, every pull off viewpoint, etc was packed. 😫
Finally I was like, ok, forget all of this- let’s just go out toward Townsend, EAT, and then do something more on the other side.
Eventually as we got farther away from that entrance area of the park it cleared quite a bit. The drive was pretty! Drove along this river the whole way:
It took 45 minutes I think to get to Townsend, where we grabbed Subway. Look at this cute patio though! (Ended up being practically lunch time by then anyway, so this worked out.)
From here, we stopped at another visitor center for a map. The one we had originally tried to stop at (the main one, by park entrance) literally had a huge overflowing parking lot and tons of people waiting in line to get in. Yeah, pass.
This one in Townsend was much smaller but literally empty. Got my info and we were on our way!
I had researched several hikes and had my eye on Spruce Flats Falls (not actually on the main park map, but I had found it online). I got exact instructions from the park ranger on how to get there.
First we stopped off at one of the park signs! Gotta get that picture, right?
A man took a group shot for us… here’s the blooper version. lol!
And the good one:
Just the four of us:
The boys climbed around on the rocks here for a few minutes before we drove on to the trailhead.
Spruce Flats Falls
If you go to the Smokies, I’d recommend this hike! It was wayyyyy less crowded than the other trailheads we passed. Like, way way way less crowded!!!
My mom stayed in the car to read her book as this hike was more moderate and had steep sections and some parts sort of along cliff drop offs.
It was a fun hike! Again, very uncrowded- we only passed a few other groups, really.
It was only a couple miles round trip, but took a little longer due to the incline.
The falls were so beautiful!
Spent quite a long time just viewing them and climbing around. We only wished it were warmer out so the boys could have gone in the water.
The river area was beautiful, too.
All in all, a great waterfall hike! Especially considering how crazy busy the parking lot for Laurel Falls was (one of the supposed “must do” waterfall hikes…. People were parking over a mile away before they even got to the trailhead… yeah, I think I’ll take this one with fewer crowds.)
Then the hike back out:
I really enjoyed this hike- a nice option for a more moderate, interesting hike (ie not just a super simple paved or flat trail).
Next up, also in this general region of the park…
Cades Cove!
This is a definite must do in the Smokies. It’s beautiful. It’s a section of the park that used to be home to over 700 people back in the olden days. There are still some historical buildings in the area that you can explore as part of your visit.
The best part to me was just the prairie-like areas surrounded by mountains.
Cades Cove is an 11 mile, one way loop. We got a little booklet at the entrance that described the various stops and I read the blurb aloud at each one.
I won’t go into all the details of each, but I really enjoyed stopping and checking them all out. They were all interesting and the whole area is just gorgeous.
And we had the BEST weather for this!!! I am so grateful we did this when we did, because the next day a big windstorm moved in and some trees went down. Apparently the loop road has been closed now this rest of the week!! So we really lucked out or we may have missed it on this trip.
There are remnants of several old historic churches and cemeteries in the area. All really neat to look at.
One section of the loop was wide open with big, sweeping views. Gorgeous!
A favorite part was this ~1 mile hike in to an old mill area. The whole loop road was much quieter in the late afternoon when we were there (I had read in the morning it can be literally bumper to bumper all the way through the loop).
This little hike was totally abandoned, too. Very worth the detour. Loved it.
I LOVE these next few grist mill pictures:
Hiking back out:
A few more scenic stops…
There are several longer hikes within Cades Cove that I would have loved to do if I had had an entire day to dedicate to the area. (Abram’s Falls is there but I think it’s 5 miles round trip, among some other trails.)
Basically it is impossible to hit even close to all of the trails in this park, so you really just have to pick a few and call it good. There are so many!
Heading back to Gatlinburg, we opted to take the route up toward Pigeon Forge instead of the same route we had driven in (Little River Gorge Rd). I wanted to see a portion of the Foothills Parkway before sunset!
Foothills Parkway
It clouded up a bit, unfortunately. Also, we went up to some elevation and the predicted windstorm was moving in quickly!
We drove back through Pigeon Forge and then back to Gatlinburg. It was getting late- after 8 pm by the time we got back to town and parked.
Gatlinburg was still…. Yep, busy. We wanted to try the restaurant Ole Red since it looked big (ie space for lots of people…) and had live country music. I’d read that it was a fun place.
It was semi-chaos getting in with a long waitlist (and no places seem to take reservations or call aheads) but we managed to get a table in their upstairs bar area. Service was… slow, saying it nicely. Our waitress was awesome and so nice, but the kitchen was REALLY slow. When we finally got our food, much of it was cold, too! And there were several errors, and they were out of a few things we tried to order.
For such a big, popular place, it was disappointing! I mean the atmosphere and entertainment were great. Very fun!! But it was expensive and food was just not that great.
Back at the resort, Ivan and I hit the hot tub before bed (around 11 pm.) It was gloriously empty and a very nice end to the day! After a little iffy start (with all the crowds/traffic/breakfast issue), it turned into a really great day exploring some beautiful (and not so crowded!) areas of the park.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Can I admit that just reading about the crowds and slow meal service kinda give me heart palpitations! But what a wonderful day. Love those hikes – the waterfalls are gorgeous and I love how remote those homesteads are; definitely looks like no crowds in those areas. And what fortuitous timing on doing that loop!
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Yes, the town of Gatlinburg is BUSY! But we knew that coming in at least, and, if one so desired, you could completely skip spending any time there. We really only ate there (and we stuck to the same few places mostly on “our” end of the strip which we usually never had to wait for). So while I think Gatlinburg gets a bad rap, and with some good reason, now that I’ve been there I don’t think it’s a reason to avoid visiting the Smokies. Just have to be a little smart about how you tackle it!! 😉
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I am glad you found some off the beaten path areas that weren’t mobbed with people! Crowds are rough to deal with. When I was in Gatlinburg 20 years ago, it was Easter weekend. I was meeting my brother and his family as they went there for their spring break. I had resigned from my job the day I met up with them so was in an extra good mood as I knew I would be moving back to Minneapolis. So I don’t remember much about the trip – except how busy Gatlinburg was!!
I am impressed by how late you can stay up!! I would be like comatose at that time of day. Ha.
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See my comment to Elisabeth about the crowds and Gatlinburg, but yes- so busy in that town!! But we managed to minimize our exposure to them overall I think, and we found plenty of places in the park where we were able to avoid crowds! (Also helps to be strategic with the timing of when you visit places. We are not super early morning people, but have found that late afternoon/early evening can be an equally quiet time to hit up the popular places. I think many people with young kids head out to do things early and then get back to their lodging or out for dinner by 5:00/early evening. We are totally fine eating a late dinner, so this opens up that evening window for us to do sightseeing without as many crowds too.)
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Your pictures are so great! Reading this I am really missing this part of the world.
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It’s so beautiful!!! I was here as a child but really didn’t remember any of it. I’m so glad we came back. I feel like we got a really good sampling of everything the area has to offer. (Could never cover it all, of course- there’s so much!)
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You have successfully convinced me that perhaps I am not a Gatlinburg girl!! The threat of crowds/no place to park everywhere is stressing me out. LOL. It’s pretty, but surely there are other places that are pretty with like a tenth of the people?
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I will agree you are probably not a Gatlinburg girl (nor am I), BUT I would disagree that this means you aren’t a Smoky Mountain girl! There are so many ways to avoid the crowds and this whole area is so beautiful. I was nervous about the crowds too but ultimately decided that it was either figure out how to deal with/avoid them or just never visit the Smokies. Not ever seeing this region didn’t seem like the option I wanted, so we figured out how to handle it. And I am happy to say we had a very successful trip that was only VERY minimally affected by the crowds. As you’ll see in my pics, at most of our hikes/activities we were not in any crowds at all- in fact usually hiking almost totally alone, or just a handful of people. I am glad it all worked out as it did! We stayed just outside of Gatlinburg because we do like the option to go out at night etc but some people also stay in cabins or camp in other areas nowhere near all the rush of Gatlinburg. So there are options! I felt like our place was the best of both worlds (for us), since it was not on the strip and very quiet and peaceful, but still just a few minutes away from the park entrance AND restaurants etc.
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I have never been to that area but have heard good things! I am not a huge fan of crowds and get kind of annoyed if I have to wait for dinner; I mean, I am not a complete pain, but I do love the off the beaten paths so much better. Having more people always makes it a little harder too; like I may try to get into a popular restaurant when it is just two of us, but when it’s the whole family, I am not as keen.
Ethan is basically as tall as you! I can’t believe that. Of course he is in that time of life I guess, where the boys shoot up and you wonder when they are going to stop. It seems like your parents are about the same height as you. Are Ivan’s parents tall or do you think E is nearly done growing?
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It’s a gorgeous area!! You’ll definitely have to visit sometime. You just need to be smart about timing of when to visit (in your case, you probably have way more flexibility to NOT visit over Easter week!) and also can choose less popular hikes (or go with longer options). The really popular ones are often shorter and easier for families, but you could totally go for harder ones and probably avoid most crowds just by doing that alone. Also looking at time of day- we went in evening or late afternoon to more popular spots and found that helped a lot. But early morning would probably work too. Definitely keep the Blue Ridge Parkway on your list- same beautiful mountains but a fraction of the crowds. We spent a whole day meandering from Smokies to Asheville but you could easily spend way more time doing hikes etc that offshoot from there and have a literal fraction of the crowds too. Don’t let the threat of crowds deter you from not seeing this region!! It’s manageable!
Ethan is still shorter than both of us but gaining on Ivan quickly. Ivan’s parents aren’t tall… but the doctor said Ethan is a very late bloomer and will likely be growing into his freshman year of college. They are predicting he will be taller than both of us, but we’ll see!
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Hello! I’ve got to say, your post brought back so many memories of my own trips to the mountains. The way you described the waterfalls and the quiet beauty of the homesteads really paints a vivid picture. It’s funny how we sometimes forget the charm of less crowded places until someone shares a story like yours. I’m definitely taking notes for my next visit – seeking out those hidden gems away from the crowds seems like the way to go. Appreciate you sharing your experiences and tips!
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Thanks for following along! I’m going to work on recapping the rest of our days. I love capturing all the details to look back on. It’s such a pretty place!! We loved it.
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What a gorgeous place! And also starting and ending the day in the HOT TUB!!! I was already sold on going to TN and I will come back to these posts when I do.
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Definitely keep it on your short list!!! It’s wonderful.
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So I think you’ve answered the question, will Gatlinburg be too crowded? Yes, and no. It sounds like if you’re doing all the “must see” hikes and attractions, it’s too crowded. But the things you did sound perfect, and it looks like you guys were the only ones there! I would love that. Your waterfall hike looks so beautiful, and I love that drive! I want to go!
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Yep! You nailed it. It is crowded, but with a little forethought and creativity, most of them can be avoided or minimized. I was so nervous that it would ruin our trip, but it DEFINITELY did not. It’s all been wonderful!!
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Enjoyed reading this update, Kae! One day, when the kids are a bit older and can really hike without bribes or promises of candy lol I would love to visit the Smokies. The crowds though … ugh! I do my best to avoid crowds but cannot always happen.
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I’m a lurker and enjoy your travel posts. I am planning my own trip to the smoky mountains and recall your travel posts. Are you able to share where you stayed? We are planning on traveling with a grandparent, too. Did you all stay in the same unit?
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