Having recently talked about our parents’ weekend with one son in West Virginia, I feel compelled to give equal billing to the other, a student at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN.

Our trip to Tennessee was similar in structure, but different in detail. First off, it takes a lot longer for us to get out to Knoxville, so on the way out we took an extra night to break up the drive. Taken in one go, it’s about an 8 and a half hour drive for us. If any of you have tried to find a hotel in and around Knoxville on an SEC game day weekend, you know it can get expensive, so once again, we took the opportunity to camp in the trailer. To date, this trip represents the farthest single distance we’ve pulled the teardrop!

Given that it was October, we had some concerns about chilly temps, and it was made very clear to me that our campsite had to be in a place where electrical power, and thus heat, would be available overnight. So we elected NOT to stay within the Smokies, or at any of the nearby State Forest sites. Moving farther out, the next ring of options were all tight-as-sardines RV sites around areas like Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, part of the tourist-trap ambiance that pervades those communities. So we moved even farther out – but found what turned out to be a great site run by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) adjacent to one of the hydropower dams and lakes that organization is well known for. We had a great spot at Douglas Dam, Headwater which put us about 25 minutes outside of town.

For a variety of reasons, we did not go to the game (Tennessee won, Go Vols!), but we did hang out with our son all day on Saturday, and topped it off with a good campfire-cooked dinner and some socialization around a fire as we watched the sun set into the lake. Sunday, we spent the day at Dollywood, which was also a great day in a beautiful park. And then we took the whole day on Monday to drive straight through to home.

One of our excursions during the day on Saturday was a short hike in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and that’s what I’ll highlight here.

Cataract Falls

We’ve done a fair amount of hiking in the Smokies, including a 3-day backpacking trip at the end of last semester. This time, we didn’t have much time, but everybody wanted to get in the woods for a bit, so we elected to go see a very accessible, easily reached cascade very near to the Sugarlands Visitor Center, just inside the park from Gatlinburg.

This National Park is the most frequently visited in the entire country, and Sugarlands, being right next to Gatlinburg, is one of the most popular spots in the park. So don’t come here looking for solitude. We were here fairly late in the day, so we didn’t have trouble parking, but we certainly weren’t alone.

The trail to Cataract Falls departs from the back of the Visitors Center, and never really leaves site of park facilities and roads. It’s an easy, flat walk about 0.7 miles each way, crossing Fighting Creek on a substantial bridge about halfway through, and then following the creek through a tunnel under a park service access road shortly after. At the bridge, you’ll also encounter an intersection with the Fighting Creek Nature Trail, a narrow loop that stretches covers 0.9 miles total, past the John Ownby Cabin, before returning to this spot.

The falls themselves are modest, at about 40 feet tall. There wasn’t a lot of water – of course October is just about the time for minimum water flow here – but still pretty, nicely framed by mountain laurel. I do imagine it’s more impressive in the spring. But it was worth the walk.

In order to add some distance, we continued past the falls, up the Cove Mountain Trail for a bit, before turning back and doing the entire Fighting Creek Nature Trail loop. This loop is also easy, but it does climb gently up the valley , resulting in a little more elevation change than the flat trail to and from the falls. All told, we turned this short out-and-back into a 2.7 mile trip.

Cataract Falls / Fighting Creek Nature Trail Key Parameters:
Length: 2.7 miles, out and back with nature trail loop. (If you’re only going to the falls and back, skipping the nature trail, you can do it in only 1.4 miles).
Ascent: +/- 220 feet
Trailhead: 35.68556, -83.53668 (Walk through the breezeway at Sugarlands VC)

A great way to spend an hour and a half or so, and worth the quick walk. If you’re just entering the park and visiting Sugarlands, this is a good opportunity to stretch your legs!

Get Out There