I didn't really have anything specific planned for our last full day in the Smokeys like I had for the previous days. I had a list of family-friendly hikes, and we'd passed several of the trailheads on the two days prior so I had a decent idea of where they were located and what the terrain might be like. I knew that all the kids and myself probably weren't up for another super long hike after our Abrams Falls adventures, but I didn't want Mason to miss out on any opportunities for adventuring. The suggested list I had left had several shorter trails and a few longer ones. Unfortunately it was raining the last day and was a little cooler, so this did come into the decision making process.
After tossing around lots of ideas, we decided to split up for the day and check out some different trails. Mason looked at the Alum Cave Trail which was about halfway along the Newfound Gap Road. The trail passes several rock formations and eventually leads to the LeConte lodge and Mountain (only accessible by trail). Mason decided that he and Woodrow would try the first half of the hike to Arch Rock, Inspiration Point, and Alum Cave. The total trip was about 5 miles and it was so rainy and gross when we dropped them off. The past that always makes us most nervous about splitting up is reconnecting. There was zero cell service within the park, which was our only way to really connect. We've been in this situation before, so we agreed on a time that I would be back at the trailhead, and our "emergency/maybe something's wrong" time. We were dropping them off around 11:30am and agreed to be back by 3:30. The other possibly problematic part was that there wasn't a lot of shelter at the trailhead, so if they decided to turn around early, or Woodrow wasn't having it, there wasn't a good spot to wait out of the rain.
After leaving them with snacks, water, warm coats, and some hugs, Theo, Max and I had to decide what our plans were. I was tempted to drive to the East part of the park back to the valley with the Elk, but I thought that would end up being a lot of driving and Woodrow would be disappointed if he missed seeing the Elk. I decided to head back towards the Sugarlands Visitor Center entrance where we grabbed a quick bathroom break, checked out the Visitors Center displays briefly, and then ended up going on two of the hikes that started from that location that I had earmarked.
The first short hike we went on was the Cataract Falls hike. This was a pretty level and short hike, I think a mile round trip (if that). I carried Max in the carrier and he was being a little fussy, so I'd let him reach out to touch the trees as we passed them. This turned into him yelling quite a bit to "touch touch" ALL-THE-TREES. But, it was a nice walk to get the hamstrings working again. We walked back to the trailhead where there was another split for the Fighting Creek Nature Trail. This hike was a loop and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It was a little longer (1.5 miles) and more elevated than I'd expected, but really wasn't bad at all and was definitely a good family hike. I was pretty surprised we didn't see more wildlife though-although we did see some turkeys again and we saw the John Ownby historic cabin. Theo had a fun time collecting lots of different leaves on this hike, and playing bear while we were hiking along. Another couple was nice and played along pretending to be super scared when he jumped out and "surprised" them.
After looping back to the Visitors Center I decided that we should head back to the trailhead to meet Mason and Woodrow. It was a little early, but I thought if they'd been waiting they'd be ready for us to get them. It was around 2:45/3:00 when we got to the trailhead parking area. Fortunately when the boys and I had gone back down in elevation the weather was perfect. Cool for a light jacket and a little sun peaking through with no rain. As we drove back up into the mountains the rain picked up and I felt bad for the boys hiking in the rain. As we waited we snacked, read books, and people watched. Fortunately, the boys showed up around 4:00 and were in great spirits. The weren't too soaked and they'd reached their destinations along the trail.
We weren't quite ready to head back to the house yet, so we hit the Sugarlands Valley Nature Trial which was a very short half-mile loop walk that was all paved. By this time of day it had darkened a bit with the clouds and this walk turned out to be very quiet albeit our boys running through the forests. There were relics from the original settlement that had been there and a beautiful flowing river to walk past. We soaked up as much as we could from the day and headed back towards the house- and got a treat of seeing TWO black bears again on our way out of the park. One was the same one we'd seen a few days prior and another was along the same road, but not as many people had seen it walking along yet, so the attention wasn't as great.
We finished up some laundry and packing our things that night and enjoyed soaking in the large tub at our house. The hotel had an outdoor hot tub that I was really wanting to try, but with the extreme darkness and previous bear sighting, we decided to skip it.
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