Great Smoky Mountains National Park
One of our all-time favorite summer vacations was a trip we took to Tennessee a few years back. We rented a house in Sevierville and spent our days out on the water in Douglas Lake, we stayed a few days in Nashville to take in all things country music, we drove through Knoxville to check out the house I lived in when I was a baby, and, of course, we visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
We got up before the sun rise one morning and headed out to Cades Cove entrance of the park. We were told that being in the park for sunrise was the best way to experience it, and we could not agree more!! The 11 mile loop road in this portion of the park highlights the wildlife, scenery, and historic buildings one would expect to see.
Abrams Falls is located inside the Cades Cove area and has a 5 mile hiking trail that we had hoped to do. One we were out on the trail we realized that we were a little under prepared in terms of food & water so we only completed about 1/3 of the hike and unfortunately never made it to the waterfall.
After driving the Cades Cove loop and checking out the visitor center, we decided to drive the road leading back to Gatlinburg along the lower area of the ridge. Following Laurel Creek Rd, continuing to Little Gorge Rd, then onto Fighting Creek Gap Rd. back to Gatlinburg. The drive was amazing and it was still early enough that the traffic was light and the sun was still making its way over the Smokies.
