Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Part 1

It's now time to disclose my location, which is Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  This place is most definitely a tourist trap, and when driving around here, you have to be careful just to avoid running the tourists over.  My brother, with whom I stayed in Virginia on my way down here, told me that he visited Gatlinburg years ago.  He likened it to going to the beach, but without a beach.  Even so, it has its upside.  For one thing, there's no shortage of restaurants.  But what I like is that it's just outside of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  A few miles south of Gatlinburg on U.S. 441 is the Sugarlands Visitors Center, from which I took a short hike to Cataract Falls, seen in this picture.

Here's a pic from a different angle.  Unfortunately, there was no way get a shot without the downed timber.

The Fighting Creek Nature Trail leads from the Sugarlands Visitor Center to the John Ownby Cabin, built in 1860, of which this is the east side.  Part of the roof is in bright sunshine while most of the cabin is in shade.

The west side of the cabin includes a porch.

I drove west from the visitor center along a road with two names, which are Fighting Creek Gap Road and Little River Gorge Road.  Somewhere along the road, I parked the Bigfootmobile and took this shot looking back toward Gatlinburg.

My next hike led to Laurel Falls.  The trail made of asphalt, but some of which was broken up.  You might say that it had its share of potential sprained ankles.  The trail and falls were crowded, which can be a good thing.  I was still able to get a pic of the falls without any people in the way.

Here's a shot from a different angle, showing just a few heads.

As seen in this next pic, there was a pretty good crowd at the falls, including two people who are much braver than yours truly.

While walking back from the falls, I took this panoramic pic.

I resumed driving westward and stopped at the Ware Cove picnic area, from which I hiked on the Metcalf Bottoms Trail to the Little Greenbrier School.

Near the school was this cemetery.

I decided that this was enough for one day and returned to my accommodations.  I figure that I will see more of the park over the next few days, so this post will be "Part 1".