Welcome to our Hideaway! If you’re a guest, we hope you are enjoying your stay. If you are a past guest, thank you for staying with us, and we hope to see you again soon. If you haven’t been to our cabin yet, we hope that you will come to our corner of the Smokies in the near future.
This is the called our Hike-Along page for a good reason: of all the great things there are to do in the Smokies, our favorite activity is just getting outdoors and exploring the miles of trails that make the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a hiker’s paradise. There are trails of every length and level of difficulty, including some that can only be reached by boat. There are trails that can be hiked in an hour, and some that can take multiple days. The Smokies also include a stretch of the legendary Appalachian Trail, the over 2100 mile long Georgia-to-Maine thoroughfare that a few hundred people through-hike in its entirety each year.
So, let’s get hiking! We’ll start with an easy one, which is a must-do for anyone who is paying their first visit to the Smokies: the trail to Laurel Falls. Laurel Falls is a beautiful, 80 foot high waterfall which is bisected by a footbridge. The bridge, which is actually part of the trail, provides a close-up view of the upper falls; the lower cascade flows beneath your feet. The trail to the falls is a gradual 1.2 mile climb, which is suitable for families with children. There are a few sections which are a bit steeper, but they are fairly short. Unlike most of the trails in the park, the Laurel Falls trail has been paved, in order to control erosion. However, the pavement is not especially smooth, so it is not considered wheelchair accessible. You should plan a minimum of one hour to hike from the trailhead to the falls and back. 90 minutes to two hours is more likely if you are walking slowly, stopping often, or plan to spend some time at the falls.
In addition to its short length and relatively low difficulty, another reason this makes a great starter trail is that it is close by. The Laurel Falls trailhead is located on Little River Road (also seen as Fighting Creek Gap Road on some maps), 3.7 miles west of the Sugarlands Visitor Center. This makes it one of the nearest trails to Gatlinburg. The trailhead is exactly 10 miles from Happy Bear’s Hideaway, and it normally takes 20 minutes to get to it from our cabin.
As a result of its close proximity to the primary park entrance, as well as its scenery and length, the Laurel Falls trail is quite popular and heavily used. During weekends in the summer in particular, the trailhead parking lot fills up quickly, resulting in many late-arriving hikers having to park at overflow areas along the roadway, up to one-half mile in each direction from the trailhead. It is therefore recommended that if you want to hike this trail, you should get an early start, in order to find a parking space near the trailhead. Starting early will give you the additional benefit of having fewer other hikers on the trail with you, providing a more close-to-nature experience. Upon arriving at Laurel Falls, photographers will also appreciate being able to take pictures of the falls without having a crowd of people in the scene!
For those desiring a longer hike, Laurel Falls trail continues past the falls for another three miles, where it intersects with the Cove Mountain trail.
