hikes,  outdoors,  travel

Laurel Falls: Great Smoky Mountains

April 13, 2022 /

Laurel Falls is an 80 ft tall waterfall and is divided in an upper and lower section separated by a walkway. The Laurel Branch falls trail is paved and 2.6 miles long roundtrip. It was an easy trail for us to walk (children ages 4 to 15) and there were several rock formations on the side that the boys enjoyed climbing.

I didn’t let the boys climb this particular one as the other side was a very steep drop but there were quite a few they enjoyed. I do recommend bringing snacks and water especially if hiking with kids as that does keep them happier! I made the mistake of not bringing the backpacks on a later in the week hike and I sure heard lots of complaints.

Here is the upper part of the waterfall: thankfully I was able to take some nice pictures even though this was a very busy hike: we opted for less traveled ones later in the week but this was very busy!

We climbed down to the lower part of the falls (the most difficult part of our hike) and had our picnic lunch there. It was also less crowded and nice to enjoy the waterfall.

I loved this view along the hike. The mountains were so pretty in the background. My favorite though was our drive through Cade’s Cove and the views there which I will share on Friday. This day though was probably our best as far as weather went: blue skies and mild temperatures.

Here is our cabin: see how close it is to the water? It was worth every penny for the location. The inside was somewhat outdated but clean and had every thing we needed. We loved the views, the proximity to the river, the fire pit and outdoor spaces.

The boys had some lessons in fishing: it is a waiting game of patience and you don’t always catch something, in this case, you never catch anything! But they still enjoyed the experience! As I mentioned before the location of our cabin was perfect. We were only 35 minutes from the trail head, 30 from Pigeon Forge, 20 minutes from a nice Kroger for groceries and less than 45 minutes for all of the hikes we took.

A bientôt!

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