THE TOURIST LOOP
Cherokee
Orchard Road and Roaring Fork Road form a loop originating in Gatlinburg that
tours a small corner of the Smokies. The Roaring Fork portion of the road is
one-way. I’d never driven the road or
hiked any of the trails in the area, mainly because I don’t like crowds and I
avoid Gatlinburg like the plague. Of
course, we were staying in a condo just outside of Gatlinburg on this
trip. Since I was already there, I
figured this was the time to explore that area.
It
turns out that Roaring Fork Road is closed in the winter, and doesn’t re-open
until mid-April. This is puzzling, since
the Park Service opens the high-elevation road to Clingman’s
Dome in February (if the weather cooperates).
At first this struck me as being extremely inconvenient. However, after a bit of consideration, I
realized that it was really an opportunity.
Since the road was closed, the waterfalls in the area would be harder to
access, which would cut down on the crowds.
Sunday
was the perfect day for a hike in this area.
The forecast called for a good chance of rain and rather chilly
temperatures. That would reduce traffic
on the trails even further. It certainly
cut the size of our hiking group by 50% - Christy decided to skip this one
since rain seemed inevitable.
I
got off to a lazy start. We stayed up
late Saturday enjoying the gas fireplace in the condo. We slept in the next morning and then had a
hearty breakfast of banana chocolate chip pancakes and turkey bacon. By the time the food and coffee settled, it
was getting on towards late morning.
Despite
this, I still started my hike around 10:30.
There are plenty times when I start my hikes at that hour despite
getting up at dawn. It sure was nice
having a 20 minute drive to the trailhead.
Christy
dropped me off at the Rainbow Falls trailhead.
Despite the forecast and the road closure, the parking lot was almost
full. That trailhead serves hikers
heading to Rainbow Falls, Grotto Falls, and Mount LeConte,
so it probably stays full most of the time.
My
plan was to hike to Grotto Falls first.
I’d then backtrack to the closed portion of Roaring Fork Road, which I’d
follow back to the condo. It’s a paved
road, but I figured it would be a relatively pleasant downhill walk without
traffic. Along the way I’d take a side
trip to Baskin Creek Falls and see the sights along Roaring Fork.
The
first couple of miles of trail wind through the woods, above and roughly
parallel to the upper portion of Roaring Fork Road. At several points the trail is within sight
of the road, and I spotted hikers on the road a couple of times. Apparently some folks walk the road instead
of the trail since it is a bit easier.
This
part of the trail wasn’t terribly exciting.
I did find a few wildflowers, but for the most part spring hadn’t
reached this part of the Smokies.
I
rock hopped a small stream that was nearly overflowing its banks before joining
a spur trail coming up from the road. Shortly
after was a tricky rock hop of another normally small stream. The highest peaks in the Smokies
had received over a foot of snow earlier in the week, and the snowmelt combined
with recent heavy rains had the water up.
I was looking forward to seeing the impact the extra water would have on
Grotto Falls.
I’d
only seen one group of hikers on the first part of the trail, but the next mile
was a different story. I passed several
groups, and a few people came and went while I was at the falls.
Grotto
Falls on Roaring Fork is really cool.
It’s only 20’ high or so, but it is a free fall, and the trail actually
passes through a recess behind it.
Because of the high water, that passage was pretty intense. The roar was so loud that any sort of conversation
would’ve been impossible.
I
ended up making the journey through the cave behind the falls six times (three
round trips). The first time was to get
photos from behind the falls and from the far side. I then returned to have lunch on the rocks
just downstream. While I was eating, I
realized that the optimal vantage point for photos was directly below me, on a
rock in the middle of the stream.
Unfortunately, getting to that rock required approaching from the
opposite side. After returning from
taking those photos, I realized that my map was no longer in my pocket. I returned to my prior vantage point to find
it stuck between two rocks inches from the stream.
I
backtracked down the trail to Roaring Fork Road. From there I followed the pavement down the
mountain. Early on the walk was dull,
but it got more exciting when the road began paralleling Roaring Fork. Just upstream was an impressive cascade that
I was tempted to investigate. However,
getting to it would’ve required fording a tributary and then bushwhacking up
along the creek. The cascade looked
intense, but I decided to pass.
Before
long I reached the Baskin Creek Trail.
True story* – this trail used to be extremely popular years ago when it
was called the Baskin Robbins Trail.
Alas, the Park Service changed the name some years ago because people
were upset about its lack of ice cream.
Now the trail is lightly used. In
fact, I didn’t see anyone else on it.
The fact that the rain started shortly after I started down it may have
had something to do with that.
The
trail passes an impressive cemetery right off the bat. It then descends steeply to a creek, ascends
steeply to a ridge, and descends again to Baskin Creek. There I reached a junction with a spur trail
that leads to the falls. This path
features a steep descent adjacent to the waterfall, which was a bit slippery in
the rain. At the bottom I found an
impressive rock wall. The cliff
continues some distance, and at the far end is Baskin Creek Falls.
Baskin
Creek Falls is perhaps 35’ high, and quite scenic. The jagged cliff it spills over would be
worth a visit even without a waterfall.
Rock hopping the creek was tricky due to the high water, but it was
necessary to get a decent vantage point for photos. Unfortunately it was raining hard enough that
photography was difficult. I also forgot
my umbrella, which would’ve been helpful.
I
doubled-back to the road and continued towards Gatlinburg. I passed an old farm with several restored
buildings. Later there was another old
farm, and then a mill. This stretch of
trail also featured lots of wildflowers.
Mostly I saw Hepatica, but there were also lots of trillium that weren’t
quite ready to bloom. Near the end of
the road I passed The Place of a Thousand Drips. Allegedly this is waterfall, but even at high
water it wasn’t very exciting.
I
returned to the condo eager to shower, dry off, and warm up. Afterwards we met up with Marsha, Ian, and
the kids for dinner. Another friend,
Cara was with them, too. They had all
arrived earlier that afternoon. They all
planned a bike ride in Cades Cove on Monday.
While they were doing that, I would be braving the ice and snow on Mount
LeConte.
Back to Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!
*
True story, as in, “it’s a true story that I made up”.