Smoky Mountains Day Hike 12/16/14

These pictures below are from a day hike I did the other weekend in the Smokies. It was probably one the most underrated day hike I ever done in the Smokies. It one of those trails tourists don't venture out, and it was a sweet fun trail. The first mile had a barn that was built around 1870s by a homesteader that settled in the area. There was also cemetery on the trail with dates marked in late 1800s and early 1900s. I'm only going show my 4 favorites below, and I can post more if you wish.

I saw a set of bear paws, and it looks like a big one!



Maybe I overdid the edit, but this is a tunnel mountain laurels and other members of the heath family that will greet you on the final 1/3 of mile push to the summit. the mountain people called these thickets "hells".





I ran into one person the entire 12 mile round trip, and he was kind of enough take this photo for me.



And last but not least, one of my favorite picture I took:



This is the entire eastern flank of the Great Smoky Mountains. Mt. LeConte is the dominate peak in the foreground, while the rest is Charlie Bunions, Mt. Sequoyah, Mt. Guyot, and beyond. The entire AT runs over those mountains in this picture.

Thank you for viewing, and I do have a lot more pictures! I also have another day hike I need to post on here as well.

Outstanding! I've fought through some of those thickets bluelining, they're aptly named.

Looks like a great hike! I'd love to see more pics if you have time!

Your favorite of the bunch is my favorite too. Beautiful.

A couple more:

This is a barn built by a homesteader that settled in the area. Built around 1875, and barn of this type were popular among those who settled in this area. You see few more of these in Cades Cove.



Here is the cemetery of the settlers that lived in the area before it became a national park.



The sun was bright on this day, and many of the plant life were still green at this mid-elevation, at the beginning of the hike it looks like winter has already arrived as all the trees were bare. Here, it was as if spring was coming. They stay green year around I believe:



I had to hop across this beautiful cascade that was a deep pool. It would been nice to soak in this pool on super hot day, but it was tad too cold this time



At one point the trail went from walking on leaves, to pine straws to this:



Hope you enjoyed the few extras!

Whoops, forgot this one:



This is same as my favorite above except it further to the left that wasn't included in the picture above.