Great Smoky Mountain National Park

 Last summer we took a last minute social distance vacation. We thought that we could still social distance and get out of our house by renting a cabin in the Smoky's and doing some hikes. The Smoky's are about an eight hour drive from us here in Missouri, not too bad but also not great when you have a five year old. We rented a cabin on Air BNB and enjoyed the fact that it was away from people, had a hot tub, community tennis courts and pool and a pool table in the cabin. While Gatlinburg itself was pretty crowded we did grocery pick up and mapped out the trail we wanted to hike. We were just getting into hiking at this point so we only did one while there as well as an early morning Clingman Dome hike which is short but so worth it. 

Look out point going into the park. 

Grotto Falls Trail; it's a rated as moderate and is a 2.6 mile hike. The top of the hike is well worth it, there is a beautiful waterfall that is large enough to walk under and the pool is large enough to swim in. 

Clingman at sunrise

Beginning of Clingman hike, everyone is happy before the steep climb. It's a half mile straight up.