Such beauty, such traffic, such steep hill (ok, mountains) and so, so many people!
It was just under a three hour ride from Chattanooga to Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains. Once we entered the park, we were amazed at the traffic. Our first planned stop was at the visitor center, but traffic seemed to be backed up for miles to get into the parking lot. We quickly decided to pull off and try and get a parking spot and hike the trail that tons and tons of people were on. We fortunately got a space and enjoyed the steep 2.5 mile hike to 80 foot Laurel Falls. The path was rough and crowded but the views were beautiful. Next, we battled the traffic to the visitor center to get some info and we quickly realized it was Columbus Day Weekend! No wonder the park was exceptionally busy, it was a beautiful sunny 80 degree long weekend! Oh boy, we messed up the planning of this, retired life at its best, we had no idea of the day of week, never mind the holiday. We also learned that the Great Smokey Mountains Nation Park is the busiest National park in October.
After leaving the visitor center, we tackled the easy one mile hike to Cataract Falls. Tired and hungry we set off to our hotel only to get stuck in gridlock, no moving traffic! Luckily, using Google Maps and a few parking lots we were able to move to our hotel and parked the car! Our hotel/resort was beautiful with a huge pool, lazy river, fire pits, happy hour complete with snacks.
During our two days exploring the park were strategically avoided the traffic and managed a bunch of hikes including: Clingsman Dome, Forney Ridge Trail, Newfound Gap and the Newfound Gap Scenic Drive and our our last morning we took the leisurely Gatlinburg Trail. We attempted the Grotto Waterfall but the road to the trailhead was washed out with the recent storms.
Breweries were a complete disappointment in Gatlinburg. We tried The Smokey Mountain Brewery which also was a restaurant and had a two hour wait. We managed two seats at the bar the beers were good, pizza was meh, place was a mess and dirty. Sitting at the end of the bar we were entertained by the staff fighting and completely overwhelmed. Next, we tried Gatlinburg Brewery which had good ratings, a great backstory and not busy. We sat at the bar had one meh beer and tried had not to touch much since the place was a tad dirty.