Great Smoky Mountain National Park & Dollywood

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park was in one word: gorgeous. Between the scenic drives, waterfalls, and beautiful forests there is something for everyone in this area. This trip was a two part plan with the main focus being Nana's 90th birthday! For her birthday she wanted her family (kids, grandkids, great grandkids) to join her in hiking Clingman's Dome, heard of it? One word to describe it: steep.

This post took me a long time to write because we simply didn't stop the entire trip and I struggled coming up with the best way to tell you all the amazing things we did and sights we saw. I finally decided to tell it in "itinerary" order. Keep in mind we didn't really have an official itinerary, rather a list of things we wanted to do and see and the night before we made the decisions of what we wanted to see.

The trip to the Smokies for our family is about 5 hours and 20 minutes, depending. We started out by leaving early, if we woke up we were going to leave (4am came early) and when we got into the area we wanted to spend the day at Anakeesta. We were drawn in by the amazing pictures of bridges through the mountains and wooden tree house structures. One of the highlights of the chairlift was seeing our first (and only) Black Bear of our trip just eating and hanging out on the side of the road which ended up being 30ft below of chair as we rode up to Anakeesta. If you are taking little squirmy kids, wait for the red gondolas, it may take forever, but it is worth it. We did the ski lift chair on the way down and my knuckles turned white from gripping my children to stay still and safe on the chair. Welcome to Anakeesta!

  

We were there at opening and we wandered around Anakeesta the rest of the day until we left to check in our cabin. We walked across the bridges and stayed on each "tree house stop" until it was our turn to go. We made silly faces and games up as we went, you know, just because!

We swung on swings at the edge of the mountain and looked out at the scenery. We picked up some drinks at "The Happy Camper" and enjoyed the view. We ate lunch at "Kephart Cafe" and I would highly recommend eating there, my picky eater was even satisfied. There are tons of tables and rocking chairs to sit and eat at and while we were there we also enjoyed a LIVE band! It was a musical lunch experience!

One of the things that drew us to Anakeesta were the treehouse play areas and activity areas as well. If you have coordinated kids no matter what age they will enjoy it. B was a little young and nervous, but E was going through all the obstacles and climbing with wild excitement.

 

The top of the world, aka the tower at Anakeesta, and a very nice couple that took our picture. Otherwise it would have been a classic #guentheradventure selfie.

Overall, I would recommend Anakeesta if you are going to be adventurous and check out all that it has to offer. It does have some shops to walk through and drink stops as well. The rollercoaster was closed when we went, but you better believe if we make it up there again we will be giving that a try!

I am not going to lie to you, I took around 250 photographs on this trip and so it was really hard to choose which ones to put on this post. Therefore, the pictures will definitely outway the words this round! After leaving Anakeesta we went and checked into our cabin which we were sharing with two other families. 

Our adventures the next day were FULL and FUN! We are the only early risers of our cabin so we planned a hike at Laurel Falls, and finding parking was easy early in the morning. We had a slight time crunch for this out and back 2 mile hike because we were meeting the entire family at Clingman's Dome for the family hike later that morning. Therefore we kept a brisk pace and since dad hurt his back early in the month he turned around early and we finished up the hike. 

E walked the ENTIRE way! 

I am and was so proud of him and we made a big deal out of it. He sees the pictures and he says "that was my favorite" because he was SO PROUD of himself as well. He walked the entire 4 miles and it has decent elevation. 

It wouldn't be a hike without silly hike pictures.

I am nerd. If you have read my posts, mostly they are just a record for myself and my boys, but you will see I also will occasionally put park information inside. I find the histories or the backgrounds of the parks very interesting. With that in mind, here is some quick nibblets of information I found interesting! The National Park website shared this information, "Laurel Branch and the 80-foot high Laurel Falls are named for mountain laurel, an evergreen shrub which blooms along the trail and near the falls in May. The waterfall consists of an upper and a lower section, divided by a walkway which crosses the stream at the base of the upper falls. Laurel Falls Trail is the longest of four paved trails in the park. The trail was originally built to allow fire crews access to the Cove Mountain area in the event of a fire. Planning for the trail and a fire tower to be built at the top of Cove Mountain began in early 1930s.The trail was completed in 1932 at a cost of approximately $590. The fire tower was completed three years later. By the early 1960s, Laurel Falls had become a popular hiking destination for visitors and erosion was taking a toll on the trail. As part of the 1963 Accelerated Works Projects grant to the Department of Interior, Laurel Falls Trail was reconditioned, graded and paved to halt the erosion."

The picture on the left was at the top of the falls, WE MADE IT! The picture on the right is when we made it back to the beginning of the trail, WE MADE IT! We were so proud of this hike for so many reasons, but mostly because we enjoy hiking and if there is a waterfall there is a good chance we will check it out no questions asked.

E got his official Junior Ranger Badge and Laurel Falls patch for hiking the trail. 

This picture is his favorite from the trip.

The view from the trail. I mentioned earlier that we hiked Laurel Falls and then turned around and hiked Clingman's Dome. This was a lot for the boys, but they were troopers. Along with some help, I think at one point everyone helped carry B up to the top!

The family photo is a great memorabile from this trip and I think the only time everyone was together on the trip. We all had our own mini itineraries and things we wanted to do and see. We came together and celebrated Nana as she hiked the trail to the top at 90 - NINETY - years old!

Mom in beast mode. Enough said.

Clingman's Dome and the imfamous picture of Nana making it to the top. We cheered and clapped. We celebrated. It was a really fun time and I was glad we were able to do it together as a family. The workout aside of carrying the boys up the steep incline, it had breathtaking views along the way.

The next day we spend swimming in the pool, fishing in a nearby pond, and playing games at the cabin. A short off day in between big days and lots of walking. I am not sure who needed it more, kids or the adults? Either way, the boys LOVED fishing and even though we weren't really fishing and we couldn't and didn't catch anything, they still had a lot of fun experiencing fishing with their cousins.

Dollywood was our next days adventure. I will say this about Dollywood, it is PERFECT for kids. There are so many rides and activities for them that you could easily spend 1 day or a whole weekend enjoying your time in this park and riding over 50 different rides. While we were there a lot of the smaller food stands were closed, but most of the bigger ones were open.  It has been awarded “Friendliest Park” in the entire theme park industry and fun for the whole family which is 100% true to our experience.

It wouldn't be a Smoky Mountain trip with at least a short hike on the infamous "Appalachian Trail." We planned on a 1 mile hike just to experience a piece of the trail and vowed to come back and do a section of it one day. The first picture below is the first step we took on the trail! I may have taken one for me too.

We went early in the morning so it was chilly and dewy, but it made the trail all that more staggering. E was so proud of identifying a plant on the trail so naturally we took a picture. He definitely isn't a humid heat kind of kid, but give him any other weather and he excels and enjoys himself thoroughly.

The boys enjoyed the hike and said it felt "spooky" because of the fog. I loved it, it felt adventurous. Here is some interesting information from the National Park website, "The Appalachian Trail is a 2,180+ mile long public footpath that traverses the scenic, wooded, pastoral, wild, and culturally resonant lands of the Appalachian Mountains. Conceived in 1921, built by private citizens, and completed in 1937, today the trail is managed by the National Park Service, US Forest Service, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, numerous state agencies and thousands of volunteers." Attached here is a map that shows you the entire trail. I have heard people complete the whole thing, but it can take months to complete. Amazing!

This picture is one of my favorites from our hike.

The Appalachian Trail 2021 (above.)

The state line depicting the elevation (below.)

We really appreciated being able to go on this trip, hike a few of the hundreds of trails available, and celebrate with our family at the highest peak of both the Appalachian Trail and The Great Smoky Mountains. We would love to go back again already, but for now here are the last two pictures we chose for this post. Our geocache army man and the black bear from the first day in Gatlinburg. 

#guenteradventures goes to a National Park!