I wanted to do something this year that was active and intentional and that fit with my love for traveling. So, my husband and I decided that we would try to add more hiking into our year. We have hiked all over the country as we have traveled, but this year we wanted it to be more intentional. We debated on how to choose our hikes, but eventually settled on choosing one area and hiking as many trails in that area as we could. We, of course, chose the Smoky Mountains. It’s close enough that we can take weekend trips there and we love that mountain region. We have chosen around 20 trails, from easy to hard, to hike over the next 2 years.
We started the morning at Crocket’s Breakfast Camp. I had never eaten here before but had heard really great things about their breakfast. It had already started raining so it was nice to sit and mentally prepare ourselves for the weather. I ate the oat waffle with Greek yogurt and sliced strawberries. Very delicious!
Our next stop was Sugarlands Visitor Center. There we picked up a hiking map for the weekend and a couple of ponchos. When knew there was a chance of rain, but forgot our travel raincoats anyway. Luckily the hard rain had stopped and it just sprinkled on and off the rest of the day, so we only had to wear the blue ponchos for this first hike.
The first trail we did was Cataract Falls. It is right behind the visitors center and it’s a very easy out and back trail. There are beautiful creeks to cross and a waterfall at the end. A great short hike to start out with.
Our second hike of the day was Metcalf Bottoms Trail. This was another out and back trail. A little more difficult and a little bit longer hike than the first, but still an easy hike. And an added bonus was that you hiked to a schoolhouse and cemetery from the 1800s. Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse was under some construction, so we didn’t get to venture inside. Once again there were beautiful creeks to cross over on this hike, and even though it was winter, the trail was green with magnolia trees.
It was nice to get two easy trails out of the way because we knew that the next day we would be doing a longer hike.
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