Dave's Hiking Blog: GSMNP

This past March while my kids were on break we took a trip to Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We figured we head south for some warmer weather and get some backpacking. Well that worked for the first day. We got there and got a campsite at Elkmont on a beautiful 60 degree day. We took the short hike to the Laurel Falls and it was a beautiful day.

Entrance sign to the park where we came in.

Our first campsite at Elkmont. Really pretty along the river.

Upper Laurel Falls

Lower Laurel Falls

We awoke the next morning to an inch of snow on the ground and more falling. So we packed up and headed out on the Little River Trail. This is a very nice trail with a slight upward grade, but very easy hiking. At least it would be if not for the snow! We made it to our campsite and setup for the night as the snow continued. Couldn't do much except hang out in the tent since it was so cold outside.

Our campsite after the first night of snow.

The Little River along the trail.

A nice rock hop we did a couple times. Our campsite was just to the left of this photo.

Our first night in the back country.

The next morning we woke up and headed up the Rough Creek Trail with the Mt Collins shelter as our goal. We got to the first stream crossing of Rough Creek and it lived up to its name - it was rough. In warmer weather it would be have been a simple crossing, but with the snow melt, the cold, and not wanting to be wet it was quite a challenge. After making it across that we continued on the Rough Creek Trail. The whole day it was snowing, but a nice soft sort of snow globe like snow. Around 5000 feet we came to the second stream crossing. There were no rocks to hop, only 3 feet of frigid water. The snow changed from a nice gentile snow to a hellish blizzard blowing sideways and sticking to our faces. We still had about 6 miles to go and a lot of uphill and no way to cross the stream. So decided to cut our losses and head back down. This meant we had to cross the first stream again! This time I had some problems. I was helping my one daughter across and she nearly fell so I jumped in the water to save her. She dropped both treking poles down the river, I dove further into the water to try and save one pole, but it was a gonner. But I did save the important part - my daughter. :) So we made it across, but I was now soaking wet and we were down two poles. I swapped out my socks for some dry ones and put some heating pads in my boots and we hiked back to the nearest campsite.

Rough Creek crossing number 1.

Me holding my soaked frozen socks after falling in the Creek.

Our camp the second night in the back country.

We setup there for the night and then in the morning we started heading back out down the Little River Trail. As we made it back to Elkmont the sun started coming out and the snow finally stopped. We ended up spending another night at Elkmont just to warm up at lower elevation and dry out some more. We drove the Cade's Cove loop this day just to kill some time at lower elevation.

View along the Cades Cove loop.

Horses on the Cades Cove loop.

View along the Cades Cove loop.

Tree along the Cades Cove loop.

The Sinks.

The next morning we drove up to Newfound Gap and decided to hike up to Clingmans Dome via the AT. We had some trouble at first spotting the AT going west from the parking lot, but my daughter found the sign and we were on our way. It was tough going in the snow - about a foot and a half deep on the trail. By the time we made it to the Mt Collins shelter trailhead spirits were low in our group and the kids wanted to turn back. There was a couple in their 20's there having a difficult time too, but they said they were going to hike up the road because there was less snow there then the trail. Following in the someone else's footsteps sounded good to me as I was breaking all the snow all the way up the AT. We went on for several hours. Eventually we were all exhausted, out of water and food, cold, but within sight of the observation tower. We were taking a break on the road when the couple ahead of us started coming back down. They gave us water which was much appreciated and told us that the parking lot and trail up to the observation tower was virtually impassable and they had turned around. With just under a mile to go we decided to cut our losses and start heading back down too. We didn't make our goal, but it was some tough hiking and tough conditions especially for the kids with such deep snow. We made it back to car and headed to a hotel for some much needed warming and showers.