Laurel Falls and Beyond

Tuesday July 10, 2018                                                                                 Most Recent Posts
Great Smoky Mountains National Park                                                         To Jump Off for Glorious Views 
Tennessee                                                                                                    Three Falls in One Morning

Laurel Falls is one of the most popular hikes on this side of the park.  Not sure I’d call it a “hike” actually since it is a paved trail although the pavement is quite rough and rather difficult for strollers.  Probably evenmore difficult for wheel chairs though I’m sure access was the intention.

If you drive by Laurel Falls after noon on any day during the summer the parking lot will be over full.  Cars everywhere.  There will also be cars all along the road on both sides for at least a quarter mile.  That’s why I pull in as the first car at 6:40am.

 

They say the falls is 1.3 miles one way average walking time 40 minutes.  At the entrance to the trail is a warning sign. Not sure why any self respecting bear would want to deal with the number of people who daily hike this trail, but I take note, though in attempting to research injuries and or death in this area, I could find nothing.  I did find a couple of attacks on the AT one in 2016 and earlier.

Along the trail, amazing roots.

Early morning views along the way.

The sun is just beginning to hit the mountains.

I arrive at the falls and cross the footbridge which divides the cascades.  It’s really a wonderfully lovely spot especially with no one else here.

I take a few more pictures of the falls and the rhododendron that frames them.

I take some shots of the lower cascades from above and consider climbing down there for better shots but I want some time here to just sit and reflect.  I fear people will be hot on my heels so I skip the climbing.  Remember these pictures for when I come back.

I have the falls to myself for about 20 minutes before another couple comes and joins me in just soaking in the beauty.  About an hour after I had pulled into the parking lot, there are too many people for me so I head on up the trail.  Seems like a lot of people got out earlier than usual so you can just imagine what will happen by 10am or later.

Time to go

I take one look back up at the falls before heading on up the trail.  Pretty much no one goes on beyond the falls but there are supposed to be old growth trees there.  It turns out that the couple who were the first ones to join me also continue on the trail, perhaps because they saw me go.  But I’m such a dawdler that they pass me by and I am again alone.

Not very far along I spy the Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpiller.  I don’t know who he is at the time, I just find him very interesting.  But later when I look him up, I find he is the caterpiller for the butterflies I have been seeing at the VC and all over.  Only his orange spots give him away

It’s not very long before I am seeing some big trees.  Of course with no one to stand next to them, it’s very hard to show just how big they are.

So I fiddle around and manage to get a timed picture for some perspective. 

There are only a few blooms remaining in these Rhododendron tunnels.

Can’t find a way for a perspective  picture of these trees as I continue to climb.  But they are bigger than they look in this shot.

This is the best I could do here.  I set the camera up but couldn’t scamper fast enough to hug the upper tree.  There are some pretty funny attempts.  This is the only one fit for “publication”.

Morning sunlight streams in through the trees.  I like the effect on this big guy.

Even in death, this stump is home to club fungi also known as coral fungi.  I’ve read that they are edible but I think I’ll pass though I find them interesting and enjoy seeing them

Another funny hug attempt.

Along the trail I see group of what I think is Fly Poison from my time in Shenandoah.

But when I get closer I see that the shape is wrong and I recognize the leaves of Black Cohosh.  It’s a big patch but not many blooms yet.

On the other side of the trail amid broken tree debris is a group of nearly finished Wild Bergamot or Monarda.

Nearby is a really lovely delicate fringy flower that I cannot find.  I love the light blue color.  If you recognize it, please let me know.  I think it is beautiful

I’m not sure if this is a jack o’ lantern mushroom since I think they usually come in clusters and this one is very large and all alone.

He’s as big as a dinner plate.

At nearly 4 miles up from the car, I see the sign for the Little Greenbrier Trail.  I stop and sit on a log while I eat a snack and enjoy the birds singing.  From here I could go on up to the top of Cove Mountain in another mile but since I know there are no views there I decide it’s time to head back.  Time to go down for a change.

In addition to what I think may be a Jack O’ Lantern, here are some of the other mushrooms on the trail today.  So many kinds, so many colors, so many shapes.  I really wish someone would do a Great Smoky Mountains Mushrooms book as they have for wildflowers.  It’s impossible to use a general mushroom guide to find anything.

On the trail is evidence of the bears I was warned about.  Looks pretty fresh but I haven’t seen or heard a thing.

How does the hiking stick do for persepctive?

The trail narrows in the sunlight and widens in the shade.

 

One lone fire pink amid all the leaves.

On this big tree I find what is the discovery of my day.

It’s a Sphinx Moth caterpiller and I think he is just magnificent.  Look at that fake eye on his tail end.

I found a picture of him on line.  Specifically he’s the Abbott’s Sphinx Moth and he’s much more attractive as a caterpiller I think.  I know I’ve seen the moth.

It really is a nice lovely stroll back down the mountain switching back and forth.

I know I’m nearing the falls when I approach the rhododendron thicket.

Even though I know what I’m going to find, I’m unprepared for what I see at the falls.

Compare this to the picture I took when I first got here showing the bridge and the bench.

Here they are all over the lower falls where I didn’t climb.

Remember these pictures?

It’s difficult to make my way across the bridge with the steady stream of people.  I take this picture from the other side looking back and then make a fast track back down the trail as the line continues climbing up.  It reminds me of the lines at popular attractions in Disney World.  Seems kind of demeaning for this gorgeous natural wonder.

I’m glad to be back at the car and pulling out before the parking lot gets even more crowded as it will in the afternoon.  There will be a row of cars parallel parked behind me on this side of the highway and on the other as well as down the road forever on both sides..  It’s not even 11:30 yet so they are just getting geared up. 

My total miles for the day  - 7.8 and I feel like I timed it just right to have a nice hike both to the falls and to the trees.  But I sure am glad to escape.