Kentuckiana Hiker’s Review

(Sunday, January 3rd)

One thing about Gatlinburg you’ll notice: you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a “pancake house”.

If you want to eat at the one the locals like, look for the Little House of Pancakes on E. Greenbrier Rd. about 2 miles from downtown. The Panhandler Omelet is my personal favorite. On this Sunday morning, I ordered a-la cart with two eggs over-easy, sausage and hash browns with wheat toast. In my opinion, if it’s breakfast out, it has to have eggs. I’m not the pancake fan I once was as a youngster.

When my sister Denise and I travel, we’re very flexible as to the events of any given day, and the only deadline we had for this Sunday was to get back to Louisville before 6PM so that Denise could make the extra two hour run to Bloomington without getting home too late. Having already checked out of our hotel rooms and while drinking after-breakfast coffee in a nice oversized mug (a custom at the Little House), we were staring down 9:30 AM and the sun began to shine in the parking lot.

We didn’t have time to tackle another trail, but we did have time to visit Laurel Falls.

Laurel Falls is one of the busier spots in Great Smoky Mountains National Park for several reasons. First, it’s conveniently located a short drive from the Sugarlands Welcome Center near the Gatlinbrug park entrance. Second, the trail to the falls is paved and is only a short 1.3 miles (all uphill). Most importantly however is that Laurel Falls is a mighty pretty place if you like waterfalls in an idyllic setting.

Being one of the busier places in the park, I highly recommend you make the effort to get up early and try to visit Laurel Falls before 10 AM. Most days, from 10 AM till  sundown, you’ll share the trail and the falls with a decent crowd (even in the off season Winter months). On this Sunday morning, when we arrived at the Laurel Falls parking area at about 10:15 AM, we were the third car in the lot.

The trail to Laurel Falls climbs approximately 400 ft over 1.3 miles, so be prepared to get your blood flowing. On this particular morning, clouds rolled through during our walk to the falls and then the sun broke through while returning to our car. The rest of the Laurel Falls trail continues (without pavement) to climb 1500 ft in elevation over an additional 2.7 miles before meeting with the Cove Mountain Trail. That’s a rigorous climb even by Smokies standards and one I plan to make in the Spring.

Though we didn’t see much in the way of wildlife besides squirrels, on this particular day, the woods were fairly teaming with Pileated Woodpeckers. We spotted at least a half dozen along the way and heard their taunting calls all morning. Of course, they eluded me and my camera, so the hunt for my first decent picture of one of those rascals continues.

Continue Reading