Where to fly into for smoky mountains
Great Smoky Mountains Travel Guide: 2 Days Exploring the National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is
the most visited national park in the
United States Amy and I had never spent
any time there so on a recent trip to
Tennessee we decided to spend two days
exploring the park here's what we did we
were staying in the town of Knoxville so
our trip began with the one hour drive
towards Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge I
had never been to this area before and I
didn't know what was gonna greet me in
Pigeon Forge but it was definitely not
what I expected where are we driving
through the town of Pigeon Forge is an
experience in and of itself from passing
the large replica Titanic and the
National Inquirer building to visiting
the stores with live bears sharks and
alligators it's a really strange
experience to have on the way into the
National Park
eventually we escaped Pigeon Forge and
were greeted by green trees and small
rivers as we made our way to our first
stop in the Great Smokies Rainbow Falls
we have the last parking spot in the
Rainbow Falls Trail area going to have
some food and then heading out on a
five-mile hike Amy looks really excited
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a day out on the trail to Rainbow Falls
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Rainbow Falls is one of the most popular
trails in the park and it's a nice
introduction to the Great Smoky
Mountains with a beautiful shaded trail
and a stream you fall down most of the
way
we're about a half mile into the hike
two things to note one it's uphill most
the entire way and two it's really humid
we're from Southern California we're not
used to be in the sweaty after getting
used to the humidity Amy and I relaxed
and really did enjoy the two point six
miles to Rainbow Falls we even saw a
snake along the way that's a big snake
we stumbled right across the snake as we
were hiking and I asked a park ranger
later and he told me as a black king
snake that's not dangerous
from here the trail left the stream and
started gaining elevation as it made its
way up in the mountains is it gonna rain
on us not complaining about the humidity
as much anymore luckily for us the rain
never came even though it probably would
have felt nice with humidity made it
back to the stream again we're still
waiting for rainbow falls somewhere
around here
after 2.6 miles you'll eventually cross
a bend and you'll see Rainbow Falls in
the distance first view of the waterfall
right there we made it to Rainbow Falls
Rainbow Falls is a nice destination in
the Great Smoky Mountains is the largest
single fall waterfall in the park
standing at over 80 feet when you make
it to the Falls there's lots of nice
rocks you can sit and relax at plus you
can explore all around the area even
behind the waterfall but if you choose
to do that be very careful as the rocks
are really slippery that's a good end to
this height now let's head back
alright so we just made it back that was
a beautiful hike got to walk along the
creek most of the way lots of beautiful
trees and then of course the 80-foot
waterfall at the end good introduction
in the national park we're exhausted
though so we're going to an early dinner
and then we're going back to the hotel
we headed back down into the town of
Gatlinburg and while it's not as crazy
as Pigeon Forge it's still pretty quirky
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super busy and I shrink for Amy this is
our hotel in Gatlinburg it's nice I
think it was like 80 dollars a night
eighty-five dollars a night
check this out it was hard to beat the
views from our hotel and we spent each
night that we were there having a drink
out on the patio
utter coffee were headed into the park
got the jams on ready to go we were
trying to figure out what we wanted to
do today but after talking to the park
ranger we decided to make the one hour
drive to Cades Cove which is one of the
most popular areas of the park even the
drive there is beautiful as you follow a
river most of the way and there's small
seasonal waterfalls as well
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eventually we made it to Cades Cove paid
$1 for the tour booklet and started the
11 mile loop drive there are 17 places
you can stop at in Cades Cove according
to the map so Amy and I decided to stop
it as many as we could we just got to
Cades Cove and our first stop is John
Oliver's cabin
most of the stops around the area take
you to either churches or homesteads
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on the next spot
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note that this is a Monday in May and
there's still traffic in this area so
definitely plan on there being traffic
if you come we didn't know what to
expect when we started driving through
the Cades Cove area but it is an 11 mile
one-way loop road and most of the road
is only one lane because of that if
there's animals to be seen people often
stop in the road and it could take hours
to get through the loop one of the park
rangers we talked to said it took three
hours to get through the loop on a busy
summer day
so do note that going in that being said
it is a beautiful Drive especially if
you like history and there are two roads
that you can turn off at if you want to
cut the drive short while going through
the loop stop for Missionary Baptist
Church we're not getting out because of
all this make sure you get here early we
experienced the traffic firsthand as
there was a bear way off in the distance
that I used my zoom lens for and people
just parked in the middle of the road
and we sat there for about 45 minutes
it wasn't bad because we got to see a
bear but if you're in a rush note that
if someone parks in the road there's no
way around them
it was lunchtime for us so we stopped at
the cable mill historic area which is
about halfway through the park and it's
a great place to stop with lots to see
there's no food here in the park so make
sure you bring your own cheers after
lunch be sure you go over and see the
cable mill which is one of my favorite
things I saw in the entire Cades Cove
area and which was built in the late
1800s you can go inside when it's open
and learn about the mill process as well
as buy some cornmeal that was made in
the same processing style but off-site
from there we headed back onto the loop
and stopped it a few more cabins before
ending our time in Cades Cove
last up Carter shields cabin now we're
heading to Laurel Falls if we can find
parking deer traffic got some snacks
chips and ice cream just saw a bear
pretty good day
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the things
on the way back we decided to pull out
at the sinks which is a small 15-foot
waterfall as part of a rushing river and
which is one of the only waterfalls you
can drive up to in the park it has a
nice overlook and it's a great quick
stop for pictures score we fell in
parking got lucky made it to Laurel
Falls we're able to grab a parking spot
bout to head out to the waterfall wanted
to give you a few quick notes on Cades
Cove first bring your patience it's a
one lane road people stop in the middle
of the road to see different sights so
make sure you're patient and you'll have
a good time there also bring any snacks
that you have is theirs not allowed to
eat we plan on it being only one to two
hours but I ended up being three to four
hours still a great place to explore in
the park though let's head out to the
water Laurel Falls is probably the most
recommended spot in the park as it's a
2.6 mile round trip hike that takes you
to a beautiful waterfall because of that
it can often be packed as there's not a
large parking area
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it didn't he gave me an ad long to make
it to the falls and even though it was
packed it's still a beautiful two-tier
waterfall that we spent some time
exploring I would definitely recommend
hiking down to the bottom tier not as
many people go there and it's just as
beautiful we're heading back to
Gatlinburg for dinner and then we're
gonna head back up into the mountains
for sunset the town of Gatlinburg is
only about a 15 minute ride from Laurel
Falls we are back in Gatling Vegas for
dinner oh yeah this was our first time
really experiencing downtown Gatlinburg
and it's crazy how different it is than
the national park experience
last night we found ourselves at a fancy
establishment so tonight we're keeping
it low-key
bye guys Realty
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we're ended up fans but let us know in
the comments five guys are in and out
what's your favorite in the town of
Gatlinburg there's a few really popular
attractions ripley's believe it or not
the Gatlinburg Space Needle and the sky
bridge the sky bridge was the newest
attraction we really wanted to see it
while we were in the city decided to
head up the list of the sky bridge
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we are headed up to the sky bridge Amy's
really afraid of walking on it but I'm
not afraid that's the longest pedestrian
bridge in the United States and it's
supposed to have a glass-bottom we're
gonna check it out the bridge officially
opened in May of 2019 and it's over 700
feet long and a hundred and fifty feet
off the ground below here's the glass
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awesome after facing her fears on the
skybridge it was time to head down and
go to our last stop only one more stop
for our time in Great Smoky Mountains
and it is Clingmans Dome which is right
out there to drive from Gatlinburg to
clean man's dome is about 45 minutes and
it takes you up over to the North
Carolina side of the Great Smoky
Mountains
we're at the Newfound Gap which is the
tallest part of the road that goes right
through the park we're also currently on
the Appalachian Trail which is pretty
cool
Maine is only 1,900 miles from here from
here it was only about a 15-minute drive
to our sunset spot clayman's dome we've
reached the last stop on our journey
Clingmans Dome which is supposedly the
best spot in the park for sunset while
the hike up to claim mins dome is
actually pretty short and only around a
half mile don't underestimate it as
there's a ton of uphill and you're at
the tallest part of the park so you'll
feel the elevation
eventually around the corner and reach
the iconic concrete observation tower
built in 1959 the concrete observation
tower sits about 45 feet above the
summit and it provides 360-degree views
of the entire park it was an amazing way
to end our two days as it gave you a
great appreciation for how gigantic this
park is well worth the uphill hike the
views are awesome that's it for us
thanks so much for exploring Great Smoky
Mountain National Park with us we'll see
you guys on the next video
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you
