Hiking with my husband is a treat for me. He’s not the most outdoorsy guy, but he loves me a lot, so he hikes with me once in a while and supports me and my adventures.
We visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and I found a little 3 mile hike to a beautiful waterfall. There was a gorgeous drive along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail that took us to the trail head.
It was another beautiful day in the mountains and every parking area was packed with vehicles. We were lucky when we spotted a car leaving and took the spot close to the trail head. Dave agreed to hike to this trail since it is was under 3 miles round trip. Dave started out quickly and I reminded him to keep a slower pace so he didn’t tire out. Like most of the trails in the park it was UP and more UP. Dave used one of my hiking poles and it seemed to help him a lot. I may be purchasing him his own poles some day! There were a couple small streams to cross that I enjoyed splashing through. It was especially nice to see so many families and children on the trail. Everyone smiled in greeting, of course how could you be in a bad mood in such a beautiful location!
We stopped a few times to rest on some very convenient rocks and tree stumps. I brought water so were refreshed. Three miles isn’t that far, but it was hot out and the water was necessary in my mind. We could hear laughing and talking getting louder and we knew we were close to the main attraction – Grotto Falls.
We hiked up near the Falls and Dave seemed to stop. He asked if I wanted to go to the Falls and I said, I didn’t walk all this way to not go behind those Falls! I carefully stepped around the wet, muddy rocks, letting people pass around me and finally managed to stand behind the cool mist of the waterfall. It was magical! Dave didn’t seem as adventurous as me here, so he stayed behind and took an awesome picture of me. I wish I could have stayed there forever, but there was a line of people that wanted to experience it too, so I slowly made my way back to the trail.
Looking back at the pool under the falls, people were wading in the freezing water, children were splashing and laughing and everyone was just enjoying the miracle of nature. It was an amazing day!
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