This was the week when we were planning to board a plane to kick off our 5-week trip to Europe. One week of participating in the Haute Route Alps (7-day cycling tour), followed by one week of sightseeing off the beaten path and finishing our trip with a few weeks in and around Karel's hometown of Znojmo, Czech Republic to celebrate his dad's 80th birthday. This trip was over a year in the planning and we were really looking forward to our time in Europe. Although our trip was cancelled, we still felt like a vacation was in order. This vacation served a few different purposes but most of all, it was an opportunity to check out of our normal routine of swimbikerun and enjoy different sights and a lot of nature. We choose the Smoky Mountains because it was logistically close for driving but far enough away to feel like we were taking a "trip." It was also a location that neither of us have been to together (funny enough - Karel and I both discovered that we were both in Gatlinburg in the winter of 2003 and we didn't even know each other then!)
Karel and I rarely take vacations that don't involve swimming, biking and running. Our last vacation (that didn't involve a race) was five years ago. We tried our best to embrace this change in our normal routine and slow down a bit.
Removing our daily lifestyle of swimming, biking and running meant an opportunity to do a different activity that we both enjoy - hiking! For Karel, hiking is not a slow and leisure activity. He stops to enjoy the views but he hikes on a mission - much like how he runs ;) I am usually following behind as I can never keep up with his pace. But we both enjoy stopping at the sights that we see along the way.
If you are considering a trip to the Smoky Mountains, here are some tips from our recent trip:
Where to stay
Cost
Aside from lodging, groceries and gas (~2.5 hour drive), this was a fairly inexpensive trip for us. We spent around $50 during our week stay. This included a tour to the Tuckaleechee Caverns in Townsend and an overly priced parking spot in downtown Gatlinburg. We brought a cooler of groceries with us (and a few prepared meals) and made two small shops at Kroger during our vacation. We didn't eat out but did purchase a few small grocery items at a local mass general store.
Hiking
There are so many hikes in and around the Gatlinburg area. It was difficult to decide which ones to select during our short Sun-Sun, 7-day stay (well - more like 6 days as we came home a day early as it poured all day on Saturday). I used Alltrails.com, Hiking in the Smokys website and the National Park Service website (along with a few recommendations from friends) to plan our hikes. Here are the hikes that we went on:
Monday: Gatlinburg trail at the Sugarland Vistor Center (the only dog friendly trail in the area)
Tuesday: Ramsey Cascades Trail
Wednesday: Spruce Flats Falls
Thursday: Tuckaleechee Caverns (not a true hike)
Friday: Alum Cave trail to Mt Leconte
The Gatlinburg trail was a nice hike with Campy. It had beautiful views of the Little Pigeon river. We arrived late morning and the parking lot was busy. However, the trail itself was very quiet as most of the tourists were on the hiking trails (which were not pet friendly) to the waterfalls. We made it about 1/2 mile before the sky opened up and it poured on us. Being the amateur hiker that I am, I didn't even think about bringing rain jackets for us (travel fail!). Karel ran back to the car to get an umbrella and we ventured on another 1/2 mile until we decided to turn around. Campy was not impressed with his only hike and the first day of our vacation was a wet one.
I'll recap the other hikes in future blogs - stay tuned.
There were plenty more hiking trails for us to visit but we wanted to avoid large crowds and pace ourselves with the hiking terrain and distances.
Lessons learned
- We wanted to check out downtown Gatlinburg as we both visited the area (not together) in the past but had vague memories of the area. This was a bit of a letdown as it was very touristy and commercialized, a bit overwhelming. We wore our masks, checked out a few stores (which were more or less all the same) and walked up and down the street. It was a very hot day and we probably could have done without this adventure to downtown.
- As I mentioned above, I should have booked a place closer to the hiking trails.
- Bring a rain jacket!
- I made the mistake of assuming that the trails were pet friendly. This is why we brought Campy (so he could enjoy the vacation with us). Although he had no trouble sleeping throughout the morning while we were out and about, it would have been fun to make more memories with Campy.
- I am glad we didn't bring our bikes as I would have been a bit stressed trying to find safe and quiet biking routes. I found one pool but didn't want to mess with the hassle of reserving a lane while on vacation. Running the trails would have been a lot of fun but we wanted to give our bodies a break from the pounding.
We finished the vacation rejuvinated and exhausted. Our work never takes a vacation so we dedicated the morning hours to hiking and then worked throughout the afternoon. We only set an alarm on Friday (to get to the trailhead before it got busy) so it was nice to reset the body without an alarm clock (or a hungry kitten and senior cat demanding breakfast at 5:46am every morning). I'm sure this place is stunning in the fall with all the colors of the leaves on the trees. It was rather hot and humid at times but we also had a few rain showers which cooled things off.
Here are some pictures from the start of our trip:
