Grotto Falls trail – OsteoPraxis on the road

The Knoxville leg of the journey turned into a bit of a mixed trip. The Bourbon search was meagre…most of the Knoxville distilleries produce moonshine not bourbon….and there were really not any that grabbed our attention.

We had planned to be in Knoxville for the week but the weather later in the week was promising huge thunderstorms and lots and lots of rain. This left us with one more day of hiking in the Great Smokies…..so we picked a trail and did a repeat of the unholy hour start to the day to get to the gate before opening.

Grotto Falls was the pick…and we knew it was going to be busier than the Abrams Falls trail. The drive in took us through Pigeon Forge…..none of the images of Pigeon Forge could prepare you for the experience of just driving down the main drag. Its a clown nightmare of rollercoasters, permanent fairground style entertainment and huge cartoon buildings.

We were both a little stunned after driving through…..

On to the trailhead. The now familiar slow roll drive up the single track paved road winding ever upward through the forest to the Trillium Gap trailhead which is also the start point for The Grotto Falls trail.

Our early start got us there with half a dozen parking spaces still available….and many people already out and up the trail.

The smell of everyone else’s bug repellent must have kept the bugs at bay cos we did not see any …which, given the shade and the humidity, was surprising.

It was a well marked trail with quite a few people out, lots of families and lots of kids…which was nice to see.

The trail is around 2 and a half miles ( a bit more than 4 km ) out and back…so it was not long before we were in sight of the falls.

…and then the Grotto Falls themselves…..very cool…..

People were very polite about allowing everyone else to take their photographs…and taking turns passing under the falls….

The path continued up and around the corner…..

….but as far as I could tell from the map there was no other viewpoint and lots of dense forest ahead…so we turned back down….

The challenge for the blogtographer was getting the shots that make it look like we were the only ones out there……LOL….

…and of course he also had to clamber out into the rocks in the middle of the creek to get the best shots…!!!!

We met some very lovely people along the way….chatting as we followed the trail ….

I’m not sure how he managed to get those shots without the people we were chatting to…LOL….!!!!

Having started out early we still had half the day to fill. So we had brought a change of clothes and the means to do a military style wash down skillfully concealed by the doors of the truck…and then followed the continuing slow roll of cars back to the gate of the park.

There were a few stops along the way……

….for picturesque waterfalls……

…and mother nature’s water features…..

…as the photography guy goes clambering again……. (spot me at the bottom and him at the top..!!)

….and a young bear along the road……

We had found our favourite frozen custard vendor, Andy’s Frozen Custard , in Gatlinburg….so a little reward for the morning hike….!!! ( lunch….!!!..Key Lime pie frozen custard….a whole slice of key lime pie crumbled into frozen custard….Wow….!!!😁😋)