Our Smokey Mountains Vacation - Day Four, Part One: Laurel Falls

This post is part of a travel series of our vacation in the Smokey Mountains.  To start at the beginning, go HERE!  The rest of the post in chronological order are HERE, HERE, and HERE!

On day three of our Smokey Mountain vacation we had planned on hiking the Laurel Falls Trail on our way back from Cades Cove, but it was so insanely busy, we skipped it and planned to hit it the first thing the following morning.  As always, we awoke before dawn and we were only the second car in the trail parking lot.  A photographer beat us.  It was so nice to have the trail mostly to ourselves.  We got beautiful tourist-free photos of the falls!

Laurel Falls Trail is popular not only because of the beautiful falls, but because it is short and paved.  There are signs everywhere warning you not to bring a stroller on the trail, wheelchairs, etc., but the day before we saw lots of people with strollers.  I think it's perfectly fine.  I think the concern is that it is a steep trail and if you're not holding tight to the stroller, you could easily lose control.  Also, at the end of the trail, near the falls, the nice pavement ends and it gets slightly rocky.  But if I was a young mum, I would still bring a stroller on this trail.  

One of the best things about getting up and at it so early in the morning, other than having some privacy on the trails, is that you always get to see a beautiful sunrise!

This trail is short, only 2.6 miles round trip, but it is all uphill on the way to the falls, so it is rated moderate in difficulty.

I didn't mind the constant uphill climb because I had such beautiful views to look at.  Laurel Falls is a beautiful trail to hike even without the falls, because the views are so spectacular.

Laurel Falls is named for the mountain laurel which is an evergreen shrub that blooms along the trail and at the falls in May.  We were there the first of week of April so we must have just missed the blooms. 

Hubby found an interesting photo spot along the trail.  There was water coming out of this rocky area.

We did have a chuckle at the "Danger" signage.  My husband and I are avid hikers and we have been on some seriously dangerous trails in our adventures, and this was not one trail I would consider dangerous.  However, Smokey Mountain National Park is a park that really attracts a lot of families.  We saw so many little kids on the trails, which we usually don't see when we travel,  so maybe the signage was for them.  It does say on the park website to "Closely supervise children at all times".

Although we never saw any mountain laurel blooming while we were there, we did see this pretty tree covered in white blooms behind me.

Laurel Falls for me was the prettiest waterfall in the park.  It is 80 feet tall, and a unique aspect to this falls is that a bridge goes right through the center of it allowing you to get so close to the upper falls and then be above the second falls.  I just loved it!

My husband hiked on a bit further past the end of the trail to get this picture.  Here you can see both the upper and lower falls with the bridge in the center.  

The hike back down the Laurel Falls Trail was spectacular, for now the sun had fully risen.

During the entire week we were in the Smokies we kept trying to stop at the Visitor's Center.  It's usually a good idea to go to the Visitor Center the first day of your trip, but every time we tried it was so insanely busy we couldn't even get IN the parking lot.  But now that we were out and about early, I thought, "Here's our chance!  Let's stop at the Visitor Center!"  And guess what?  They were closed!  They didn't open till 9:00 am.  I tell you,   I loved the Smokies but I was constantly frustrated.  Every blog post or website you read says "Get up early to beat the crowds!"  but then it seemed nothing opened early enough to beat the crowds!  Most restaurants in town didn't serve breakfast until 8:00, only two restaurants opened at 7:00.  We would have needed to eat by 6:00 am at the latest to hit the trails on time, so we ended up having breakfast in our room every day.  Cades Cove Loop has a gate that doesn't open until 8:00 am.  It says open from "Sunrise to Sunset"on their website, but I think they have a different opinion of sunrise than I do because we were driving in the light long before we got there, and the gate was still closed when we arrived.  Then, one scenic road, Roaring Forks Motor Road, was closed most of the week we were there, and didn't open up till the last day of our vacation.  That was disappointing, because many of the popular trails are accessed from Roaring Forks Motor Road.  I hate to sound like a whiner.  It truly was a wonderful vacation and a blessing to be able to visit the Smokies, but because I am reviewing a travel destination I have to be honest, and my readers need to be prepared if they are planning a trip to the Smokies.   My husband and I have been to many National Parks in our travels, and I felt of all the parks I've been too, the Smokey Mountain National Park has done the least to help with crowd control.  I do realize, the Smokies is the most visited park in the nation, but that fact alone should encourage MORE things to be done for crowd control.  Having Visitor Centers and restaurants open earlier would help immensely.  Also,  park shuttles from Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge to the park's most popular trails would clear up parking lot space.  I also feel even more trails, especially more family-friendly trails, would be beneficial. 

But enough preaching, while at the closed Visitor Center, hubby spotted this beautiful crabapple tree and wanted to take a picture.  So here is the pretty tree with the outside of the Visitor Center in the background.

 

As always, I've included a short video of the waterfall.  I think you can get a much better idea of the falls through a video than pictures.  It's hard to capture the beauty of moving water through a photo.

There was still plenty of daylight left on Day Four, so we decided to hike one more trail, and it ended up being my absolute FAVORITE trail in the park!  I can't wait to share that one with you, but you will have to come back next week to see which trail it was!  

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!
 

Our Utah Adventure: Zion National Park, Day 1, Part II, The Horse Trail & The Court of the Patriarchs

This is a continuation of a travel series to Utah.  To start at the beginning, go HERE and HERE.

In last week's travel post I shared our hike to the Lower Emerald Pools.  When we completed that hike there was still plenty of daylight so we thought we'd try another hike...the Pa'rus Trail.  I wanted to get back on the shuttle and get off on the Pa' rus Trailhead.  But my hubby, looked at the map and said "Why don't we hike this "Sand Bench Trail" to the Pa'rus Trail instead?"  Now before I continue on with this story, let me just say that my husband is well known for going off the beaten path and getting us lost as least once on every vacation.  I should have known better.  I should have stuck to my guns and said "No."  But as usual, I followed his lead and we began our adventure.  The idea of walking along the beautiful Virgin River sounded appealing to me.  However, we should have realized that although trails can look short on a map, in real life they can be much longer.  We apparently didn't notice the map scale before we began.

We started the Sand Bench Trail and at first all was well.  We saw wild turkeys along the river banks and enjoyed the beautiful river views.  But then we came across a sign that said "Trail closed due to rock fall".  UGH!  I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating that was.  It would have been nice if this sign were at the BEGINNING of the trail head or if this trail closure was mentioned in the trail map.  The most frustrating part of our visit to Zion was how many trails were closed.  At least six trails were closed due to rock fall when we there. It's very upsetting when you plan your trip for over a year and drive across the country, and then half the trails you want to go on are closed.  In the end, it didn't matter much anyway because we only had two days in Zion and we saw as much as we could in those two days.  Now we have something to look forward to when we go back!

Anyhow,  I digress, back to my story.  So after we saw the trail closure sign I again, wanted to double back and catch the shuttle to the Pa'rus Trail head.  Hubby however saw a "Horse Trail" sign and said "No, let's just take this horse trail!"  "I don't want to hike on a horse trail!  We don't even know where it goes.  It's not on the map!"  I said.  Hubby responds  "Oh, it's going north, it's going to take us right to the Pa'rus Trail.  It'll be fine."  As usual, I relented and it was a disaster.  The entire trail was deep sand and covered in horse manure. It was so difficult to walk in the sand.   We walked what seemed like hours, never seeing another human being.  I was pissed.  "Why did listen to him?" I wondered.  "Why do I always listen to him ?"  I was so upset because I had dreamt of seeing Zion for so many years, and we here such a short time,  I didn't want to waste any time on a trail buried up to my ankles in horse manure.  I couldn't even begin to tell you how many times I said "We should turn around and go back" only to have him respond "No, it can't be that much further".  It ended up being around 3.5 miles, most of it through forest.  But, when we neared the end, the views did get pretty nice.  And I don't think we would have saw these views had we not gotten on this detour.

In the picture above, we are nearing the end of the trail.  The posts are where they tie the horses up for a break.

The nicest part of the hike was meeting a small herd of mule deer.  I could not believe how tame they were.  You can get so close to them before they wander off.  They are not afraid of humans at all.

At the end of the trail you reach what is called "The Court of Patriarchs".  These rock formations are named after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  You can also see views of Mount Moroni and The Sentinel.  Now, here's my tip.  You can get here without hiking 3.5 miles in sand and horse manure.  Just take the shuttle to Stop #4 and hike maybe a 1/4 mile past the stables, and you will come to this gorgeous bridge and incredible views.

I have no idea what this powdery blue plant is, but it was growing everywhere in Zion.  I thought it was so beautiful,  especially when contrasted with red rock formations in the background.

The Court of the Patriarchs tower almost 2000 feet above Birch Creek Canyon.

While hiking the end of this trail, I often felt I was in a movie scene from "Jurassic Park".  Then when I reading to prepare to write this post,  I came across that sentiment from others a lot.  There's something about the mix of forest, combined with the strange plants and the surrounding rock formations that makes everyone get that "Jurassic Park" feeling.

At the very end of the trail, we found the horses!  I don't know what it costs,  I wasn't even aware horse rides were available in Zion National Park, but I would have enjoyed the trail much more on the top of the horse!  If you start this hiking trail at bus stop #4, you will see these horses right away!  To actually take a horse trail ride though, you want to get off on bus stop #5.  That is where they start the trail ride.  The picture below is where they board the horses.

I would love to say that I'm happy I followed my husband on this off-the-beaten path trail, but I'm not.  If I could do it all over again I'd still take the shuttle. HOWEVER, had I not followed my hubby, we never would have not gotten these beautiful views of The Court of the Patriarchs because we would not have gotten off on Stop #4, we would have taken the shuttle straight to the Pa'rus Trail head.  So in the end, I guess it really was o.k. 😊

I've read several reviews of the Sand Bench Trail in writing this post, and everyone complains of the difficulty of walking in the deep sand and how hard it is on the legs...and also the horse manure.  But, if you want a quiet hike away from the crowds, this is the one!  The views at the beginning and end are the best.  The majority of the hike was more of a forestry area, but it's a great area for spotting mule deer!

Next week I will share our last hike of the evening (yes, we went on one more!) and that was one of my favorites...Pa'rus Trail!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

What To Do When Bad Things Happen When Your On Vacation

This is a continuation of a travel series of a road trip I took to Las Vegas in May with my husband.  To start at the beginning read THIS POST.   The rest of the posts are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE in chronological order.

Even with the best laid plans and intentions, bad things can happen when on vacation.  My husband and I have taken so many road trips in the past few years and have never had any real problems until this vacation.  We were both really worried about this trip for it was not only going to be the farthest distance we've ever traveled, but we were also literally crossing a desert with a small Chevrolet Malibu with close to 100,000 miles on it.  Since my biggest fear was the car breaking down in the middle of the desert with no town or services for hours away (and no cell service), we took our car into the dealership to be checked over and have service done.  Then to be double safe, we took the car in for a second time to have the brakes redone and new tires put on.  We thought we were good to go and we were ready to drive hours into the middle of nowhere with full confidence.

View from Rest Stop

Now, the reason my husband and I love to travel (other than to explore and see new places) is to spend quality time together.  We always feel every vacation brings us closer together...until this one.  This drive was so STRESSFUL.  If you read THIS POST about our drive to Las Vegas you would remember where I discussed how this drive was the most beautiful, yet terrifying drive I have ever taken in my life.    All the pictures in this post are scenes of this drive...they will give you some idea of the amazing scenery, and also the dangers.

Because of the steep inclines and winding roads, I was a nervous wreck for about two and half days.  I felt my husband was driving way too fast (even though he was going under the speed limit, which was 80 MPH by the way), and I didn't like how he was using the cruise.  I cringed every time the engine revved up to climb a hill.  I kept telling him to slow down, don't use the cruise, take it easy on the curve, watch it!...... needless to say I was driving him nuts which resulted in a lot of bickering all the way there.  So much for our romantic getaway.

I was so disappointed.  We were both so stressed out before this vacation we really needed a break.  We were both looking so forward to being alone together, and now, we were at odds.  I felt farther away from my husband than I did before we left, and more stressed out than ever.

Rest Area

 But, we finally made it to Vegas, parked the car, and knew we could relax for three days until it came time to make our way back through the desert again and head in the direction of home.

We woke up around 5:00 a.m. anxious and eager to leave Vegas and see Zion National Park.  We checked out of our hotel, loaded up the car, got in, and my husband very nervously put the key in the ignition and it started!  Yay!  It still work!  And then, it stopped.  "Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic"' I said to myself.  He started it again.  It stalled again.  He started it again.  We were parked in the very top of a tall parking structure, he managed to get it going again and somehow coaxed the car downhill out of the garage.  He said "Everything should be fine, sometimes when you start a car up again after driving it hard for three days it's just stalled up".  Well, that makes no sense.  I was panicking.  I knew what we had to drive through.  I knew there was nothing, absolutely nothing, for hours and hours and hours.  How are we going to drive through a desert with a car that keeps stalling?

"I just need to get the car out of the city and onto the highway where I can give it some gas and hopefully clear the engine.".  O.K.  that makes sense.  Start praying.  "Lord, please help this car make it to the highway, please help this car make it to the highway.".  Then the dashboard lights up like the 4th of July "Check Engine, Check Engine, Check Engine!".  "We can not drive this car through a desert!"  I scream to my husband.  I then get out my trusty IPhone (Thank God for modern technology by the way.  I don't know how people ever traveled before without Smart Phones), and googled Chevrolet Dealership.  I found the nearest Chevy Dealership on my phone and had google maps lead the way.  Thank goodness the car made it to the dealership and we did not need to be towed.

The dealership was open but the mechanics had not yet arrived.  However, the nice young man at the desk said they should be able to look at our car right away.  We then walked about a mile to a Burger King to have some breakfast.  Although, I was so sick to my stomach with worry I could hardly eat.  Then we walked back and waited, and waited, and waited, and tried very hard not to worry.  My husband said "I don't think were going to be able to go to Zion National Park.  We won't have any time".  I was devastated.  Zion National Park was suppose to be the highlight of this trip.  I've seen so many pictures and read that it is one of the most beautiful places on earth.  I didn't know if we would ever be this far west again, I struggled so hard not to burst into tears.  I started to have a pity party. How could this happen?  We had the entire car checked over not once, but twice.  We were so diligent, so careful, so cautious.

Finally, we received some good news.  The car needed a new part (a sensor) that would only cost a few hundred dollars and if everything went well on a test run, we should be ready to go in a few hours.  That was a relief.  I was worried we'd have to ditch the car and find a new ride home.  Or we wouldn't make it to our next hotel and lose the money we paid for the reservation.

We were back on the road again before noon.  Yay!  Now we can go have some fun.  Everything was going smoothly until we hit Arizona, then we hit the second worst traffic jam of our lives.  But let me back up a bit.  Normally when we travel, I always use my Smart Phone.  Why?  Because it not only gets us to where we need to go, but it warns us if there are accidents or heavy traffic and we can find an alternate route.  My husband hates "The Lady" on the phone, so he insisted that I not turn our GPS on.  I knew that he knew where to go without "The Lady", so I obliged this time.  Plus, we were out west, in a desolate area....there wouldn't be any traffic jams.  Boy was I wrong!  They were repaving the highway and instead of doing just a small section at a time Arizona thinks it's A.O.K. to reduce traffic to only one lane for miles and miles with no where to get off!  We were literally stuck in traffic for hours, and a lot of the time we weren't even moving at all and could turn the engine off.  We saw so many cars making illegal U-turns to get off the highway and motorcycles were driving in-between vehicles just to get through.  It was ridiculous.  Sorry Arizona, but the Wisconsin highway department would never be so stupid to create such a mess.  They would only have paved a smaller section of the road at a time and/or provide an alternate route.  The worst part of this whole story was that there was a frontage road running right along side the freeway.  Traffic could have so easily been diverted onto this road to reduce congestion.  OR if I had my Smart Phone turned on, I would have seen the traffic jam and we would have been on the frontage road instead of stuck for hours in this mess.

When we finally got through the construction zone and traffic lightened up, we were exhausted, tired, and stressed.  We saw a Culver's advertisement and we were surprised to see our hometown restaurant this far west, so we decided to stop and have a bite to eat.  We parked our car at the restaurant and as we got out an elderly lady saw our license plate and said "You must feel like your at home now that your at Culvers".  We laughed and said "Yes."  She was so nice and we engaged in some friendly conversation with her for a bit.  We went in, ordered, then I looked at my phone and saw there was a text from my son.  It said "Mom, you finally have good reason to make fun of Uncle...." and a picture.  I looked at the picture and it was a scene from the comedic war movie Tropic Thunder with a caption underneath of how we should honor our veterans this Memorial Day.  I burst out laughing so hard I started to cry.  I showed my husband the picture and he said "Oh, no.  He didn't!" and he burst out laughing.  And before we knew it, we were both laughing so hard we could barely breathe and all the stress and worries of the day melted away.  You see, my husband's uncle posted this picture on Face Book thinking it was a picture of real war veterans, when it was actually a picture of Jack Black and Ben Stiller dressed up in Army uniforms.  Get the humor now?

By now, it was so late in the day that all we could do was drive to our next hotel and call it a day.  On our way there we passed Zion National Park which was covered in horrific grey clouds and my husband said "Maybe it's a good thing we didn't make it there, because we would be right at the top of that mountain right about now, in the middle of that storm".  I agreed, but it didn't make me feel that much better.

We got to our hotel in Cedar City, Utah around the supper hour and tried to find something to do but everything was closed.  I felt like walking around a bit, so we even tried to find some nearby trails but nothing was appealing to us.  I didn't feel hungry after a big Culver's lunch, so we skipped dinner and decided to work out in the hotel fitness center instead.  After that, we just went back to our room and had a quiet, relaxing evening and started making plans for the next day.

Runaway Truck Ramp Sign

(I've talked a lot about the steep inclines on the highway to Vegas and how they have runaway truck ramps in case a truck loses control.  Here is what they look like:  they are basically sandy side roads that take the truck up an incline to bring it to a stop.)

Runaway Truck Ramp

(And here are a few scenes taken inside the car as we were driving.)

(I still find it hard to believe that most of this road had an 80MPH speed limit considering how desolate it is and all the inclines, declines, and curves.  There were speed reduction signs on some of the curves, but not all.  They must think there's not a lot of traffic on this road, so your safe.)

I remember when we went back to our hotel room after working out sitting down on the chair and saying "This is the worst vacation we have ever taken".  My husband tried to console me, but I was so, so, so disappointed.  We lost an entire day of our vacation because of car trouble and a traffic jam.  We have been bickering ever since we left.  A bum in Vegas embarrassed me.  The Grand Canyon wasn't the experience we had hoped for.  Was anything going to go right?   My husband said to me, "I'm sure when you get home and start looking through all the pictures your going to see everything we did and think you had a great vacation.  And were only halfway through our vacation.  We can go to Arches National Park tomorrow and Vail or Aspen the next day.  Don't give up on it just yet"  And he was right.  The second half of our vacation really was the best...but you'll hear more about that in the weeks to come.

So why did I share this with you?  For one, to let you know my life isn't always picture perfect and also to give you some tips of What to Do When Bad Things Happen When Your On Vacation.  Here's what I learned from this experience.

1.  If you have a Smart Phone, use it, whether you need to or not.  If you don't need GPS, at least always be looking ahead on the map to see what traffic is like so you have time to plan an alternative route if needed.

2.  Understand your travel partner.  Even though we've been married for almost thirty years my husband learned something new about me on this trip.  He learned that I really stress out about driving conditions and it doesn't help me to calm down at all by trying to get me to stop talking.  And I learned, that even though I feel the car is out of my control, it's in his control, and I have to trust him that he doing his very best job.

3.  Stay Calm when something goes wrong.  Don't Panic.  Maybe your day isn't going to go as planned...just be flexible and open to a new experience.  So we didn't make it to Zion National Park, but we did go to Arches National Park...which was an amazing experience...and that was not in the original itinerary.

4.  And now for the hardest one of them all....TRY NOT to take out your frustrations on your travel partner.  Even though we bickered all the way to Vegas about my husband's driving, neither one of us took our frustrations out on each other over the broken car or the traffic jam.  We both stayed calm and cool.  AND, believe it or not there was no bickering at all on the way back from Vegas.  My husband drove a little slower and did not use the cruise, which kept me calmer and more relaxed.  A win-win for everyone!

We've been very lucky in the past to take amazing, perfect vacations, and this was the first one that was not so perfect.  But, my husband was right, when I got home and started going through pictures I thought  "Wow!  We really did and saw a lot in those 10 days!  What an amazing adventure we had!"

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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