On September 20^th 2008 we visited Smokey Mountains on my birthday. I have writen several articles concerning the places we visited – the trails we walked, the falls, the huge rocks and the beautiful waterways next to the roads. We finished our day yesterday at Cades Cove.

This is my last Hub Page for this trip concerning the Roaring Fork Motor Drive and Grotto Falls just outside Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Monday September 22^nd 2008 Last Fling before leaving for home.

This was our last day in the Smoky Mountains and we decided to do the Roaring Fork Motor Drive and Grotto Falls this morning before departing for home.

The alarm woke us at 6:00 am. Off we went with our regular routine of getting ready in the morning, using our company’s personal products to shower, shampoo, after shave, skin care, deodorant, and tooth paste.

Next we rubbed the Company’s 1960s green product on us to keep bugs away. Eddie sipped on his coffee while I drank my weight loss protein meal drink. I also took another weight loss product for energy and my regular supplements.

We left Pigeon Forge and started driving toward Gatlinburg at 7:30 a.m. The sky was amazingly clear. The trees looked like velvet carpet on the mountains and were sparkling with the morning dew. What a beautiful mountain view! Our awesome God sure can paint a spectacular picture!

We made a right turn to get on the Gatlinburg by pass. It looked as though we were traveling to the Smoky Mountain National Park, and we were. But we were also headed to one of the roads leading into Gatlinburg.

After turning on the road to Gatlinburg, we passed a shady little walk way along the stream, on the left side of the road, which starts at the Sugar Land visitor center and ends at the park boundary near the Gatlinburg entrance.

We entered Gatlinburg and stayed in the right lane. We passed the Smoky Mountain Convention Center, and made a right turn at light # 8. What a glorious view of the mountains! As we drove up the mountain, we passed Glen stone Lodge and headed toward the Roaring Fork Motor Drive and Grotto Falls.

We came to a three way intersection and took the right fork toward the Motor Nature trail.On the right along side the stream is a beautiful park with many picnic tables. It looks like a great getaway for people in Gatlinburg.

A sign – Ogle place is 1.7 mile ahead, Rainbow Falls trail head is 2.4 miles and Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is 2.7 miles.

Eddie set odometer to zero at this sign.

Next sign – Twin Creeks area to the right – education center, picnic pavilion.

Then we passed the Ogle place and approached a fork in the road and took the right fork.

Sign pointing to the right - Old Sugar Lands trail, Bull head trail 4 tenths of a mile, New Finland Gap 3.9 miles, Trillion Gap trail.

Sign at parking lot on right - Rainbow Falls 2.7 miles, Mt. Le Conte 6.6 miles, Lodge, meals accommodation, required reservations.

Next, we entered Roaring Fork where the sign indicated “Baskens Creek Trail” The road narrowed to one lane. There were plenty of curves and cliffs on this spectacular mountain drive.

At 8.05 a.m. we entered the parking area on the left side of the road for the Grotto Falls trail. I just spotted the Lamas and the man who will be guiding them up to Mt Le Conte with the supplies loaded on their backs.

We parked the car and grabbed our walking sticks. Looking ahead we saw a Park Ranger and the Guide with the eight lamas. Each of the eight lamas had storage bags neatly tied to their backs as they were sitting at attention in a neat formation of a half circle around the trailer that they were tied to. The lamas were very calm as we approached them.

While we were speaking with the Guide and the Park Ranger, one lama suddenly stood up, and then another and so on until all the lamas were standing. It was “Treat Time” and the lamas were excited.

The Park Ranger said normally a mother bear and two cubs would be right here in the parking lot at this time of the morning. He said that most cubs only weigh about 25 pounds and are not dangerous.

The Ranger also said that if a person was being approached by a bear, the suggested noise making, and yelling at the bears was not working as well as it used to. However, it is still the most effective way to scare the bears away. He said a little boy was attacked at Rainbow Falls two weeks earlier. We departed and headed for the Grotto Falls trail walk.

As we started toward the Grotto Falls trail head, the Lama Guide asked us if we wanted to go on in front of him. He said that he and the lamas would follow us up the trail to Grotto Falls. They would pass us at Grotto Falls and continue their journey to Mt. Le Conte.

At 8:15 a.m. we approached Grotto Falls trail head sign - Grotto Falls 1.4 miles and Mt Le Conte 6.7 miles and the Lama’s were right behind us.

We really hustled one and a half miles up the mountain trail to stay ahead of the lamas. Eddie was able to get some great video clips of the guide and the lamas coming around the mountain trail behind us.

When we arrived at Grotto Falls Eddie filmed the Guide and the lamas circling under the falls and on up the mountain toward Mt Le Conte.

Eddie and I stayed for around a half an hour doing our first video and walking under the falls. It was a very exciting and relaxing time.

Around 9:20 a.m. and 3,238 steps from the trail head we were ready to leave Grotto Falls.

As we were walking back down the mountain trail by a stream we heard loud crackling noises coming from a higher part of the mountain. We stopped and looked but couldn’t figure out what it was or where the noise was coming from.

A few minutes later I spotted a black bear cub walking across a log over the ravine and through the dense forest. We’ve been coming to the Smoky Mountain National Park for 15 years and this is only the second bear we’ve seen while walking a trail. We spotted the first bear the day before when leaving the Elijah Oliver Cabin in Cades Cove.

We stopped to talk with several friendly couples along the way down the mountain and mentioning the bear cub. We finished the Grotto Falls trail with 4,262 steps at 10:10 a.m. and conversed with other couples in the parking lot.

Leaving the parking lot and resuming our trip on the Roaring Fork Motor Drive we passed several cabins with old wooden zig zag fences. The gate is made in such a way that a human can make the turn but a large animal like a cow or horse cannot.

We were reminded that last May we saw a large horned owl and followed it down the trail for awhile as it flew from tree to tree. At that time the entire Motor Nature trail was covered with many colors and varieties of beautiful wild flowers.

There are many pull off areas along the roaring fork motor trail. The road crisscrosses the creeks with the water dashing over the huge rocks. We passed little cottages across the stream. We approached a stop sign at Low Gap Road, and turned left toward Gatlinburg.

There is a beautiful creek on the right with high walls. CAUTIION: We are no longer in the Smoky Mountain National Park. This is a 25 MPH zone. On another occasion we were driving here with Eddie’s mother and sister, when a local person becoming impatient, crossed over the double yellow line, passed a line of traffic and side swiped us.

At the last moment Eddie caught a glimpse of her car approaching in the wrong lane and thought that she was going to push us over the wall into the creek.

While we were waiting for the police to arrive, the people who lived next to the creek informed us of one of the dangers of being in the creek. We were told to never stand in that creek or any creek or stream in the lower part of a mountain with our back to the mountain. Reason being, any rain activity at the top of the mountain or at a higher altitude could cause a sudden flash flood and without warning a person could be washed away.

I enjoyed the contrast of this town (Gatlinburg) right next to beauty of the forest, away from the crowd to a secluded place of nature with its forest and streams in the mountains.

What a wonderful trip and birthday. I hope that these articles have been an inspiration for you to visit The Great Smoky Mountains. If you would like to start at the beginning of this trip, please see my article on Alum Caves.

My Passion is Health and Wellness through Nutrition. I have successfully put cancer into remission without Chemotherapy, Radiation or Surgery.

Thank you for visiting ~ Barbie