July 4, 2015
14 Miles Total
10.9 New Miles
453.69 Total Smoky Miles to Date (Since November 2013)
142.9 Total Miles in 2015
Laurel Falls
4 Miles
Laurel Falls Trail is a steady climb up to the junction with Cove Mountain. Most people only hike the first 1.3 miles to the waterfall then turn around. That section is paved and fairly easy. Luckily, we arrived early enough to beat the crowd. This is usually a very crowded trail section but we had the waterfall all to ourselves.
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| Can you see the bunny? |
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| Smoky loves seeing waterfalls so we had to get his picture here :) |
After a few minutes at the falls we had to press on, we had a long hike ahead.
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| Rhododendrons, my favorite! |
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| I like big trees and I cannot lie :) |
Only 0.9 to the junction with Cove Mountain Trail!
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| That was definitely a climb and VERY humid! |
Cove Mountain Trail
8.4 Miles
From this junction you can go an extra 0.2 miles and visit the fire tower (it is locked though).
There were still plenty of flowers blooming along Cove Mountain Trail.
Some of my favorite reasons for hiking in the rain are how bright all the colors become, the critters come out to play and I think it looks neat to hike in the fog.
The end! And still smiling through the painful feet :)
"It's impossible to walk in the woods and be in a bad mood at the same time"
