We parked at the Trillium Falls hike trailhead to try to hike Grotto Falls.  We should have kept driving further to get to Grotto Falls, but we were concerned that we weren’t going to be able to find a place to park as at 9:30 most of the parking lots were filled. We weren’t going to make the Grotto Falls recommended hike from where we parked because it would be too long of a hike for the kids, so we decided to go with the Rainbow Falls hike. That was even a stretch at 2.7 miles each way.

Not only was this hike long, it was tough! Roots, rocks, and intense elevation.

Thankfully the water distracted the kids. They played a little and climbed some more.  We have taken the kids on hikes that are only a half mile and we have had a whine-a-lo sighting.  This hike…not once. No whine-a-lo sighting. The other motivator for the hike was potty talk.  Cody started today’s discussion when he told me about a Star Wars story.  Scott decided we all need Star Wars potty names.  I thought we would all enjoy telling stories. (I tried cleaning up the discussion again.) So that worked for about five minutes.  Then Scott decided the stories would be way more fun with potty talk infusion.

It was sections of the hike like this one where I was thankful that I ran back to the van to get Cody’s sandals.

Scott pulled out, “The squirm is strong with you my son,” which helped bring Cody along. I loved that the path was lined with the newly fallen blossoms from the rhododendrons.

The path was very popular and we were passed by a few groups, but we also passed others. I always love the looks from adults when they see our eight and six year old passing them.  I enjoyed the sign about watching children at the falls.  2.7 miles of hiking and the kids were tired, but as soon as I told them they could sit and rest they wanted no part of resting.  They had to clamor over each and every slick rock.

Scott hiked further.  He went all the way behind Rainbow Falls.  There were signs warning us not to do this.  I stayed with the kids.

Scott was naming some of the rock formations as we were hiking.  The one above was candy bar.  We all named our favorite candy bar and then the talk quickly returned to potty talk.  Two deer were munching on their lunch as we headed back down.  During the walk down I told the kids stories of Scott and I when we were younger and some of our adventures. It kept Brooke and Cody from arguing.  Cody wasn’t really into the stories, but he listened. Brooke asked a lot of questions.

Woohoo!!! Longest hike ever for the kids!  The kids hiked 5.4 miles in 3 hours and 30 minutes.

As we were going through the insane congestion to get out of the hiking trails parking areas with our windows open we heard, “Look at that rack!” as someone pointed to our van. Scott said he hears that often. At the Sugarlands visitor Center we watched the park video.  We learned the Smokys got their name from the natural blue mist that often settles over them.  We also learned that the traditional Junior Ranger books in the Smokys cost $2.50 each.  Another option was to attend three ranger led programs.  Which is harder than it sounds with the programs being all over the very large park.  A park ranger was kind enough to help us try to map out a plan to attend three programs.  One of the programs was Feeding the Animals at the farm at 6pm.  After a spaghetti dinner we headed to the farm.  We had attempted to catch the view from Clingman’s Dome before dinner, but with the rain the only view caught was of some more clouds drifting across the Smokys.  While we were at the pavilion cooking up dinner we met a family from Guatemala on their way to Atlanta.

The elk were having dinner at 6pm too. The video at the visitors center shared the story behind the Smokys becoming a national park.  It reminded me of The Lorax.  Commercial logging occurred in this area in the 1920’s and 1930’s and completely cleared the area. Some families voluntarily sold their land back to the government, but some unhappily sold their land that had been in their families for generations.  It reminded me of the families in Oak Ridge losing their land to the government to help with the war effort during WWII.

The Smokys has more visitors each year than the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone combined.  10.5 million visitors.

Well that explains the traffic jams in a national park. The Smokys are within a one day drive for over 70% of the US population.  Scott asked how they determine how many visitors the park has when there is no entrance fee.  The park takes a survey twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall.  They randomly stop visitors coming in and take data.

The kids loved feeding the pigs. The ranger taught us where the term, “milling around,” comes from.  When people would bring their grain to mills to get ground they would need to wait around and pass the time by telling stories or riddles.  They would mill around until their grain was ready to go.

The ranger who helped us map together ranger activities for the kids also shared that as adults we could also earn a badge called the Not-So-Junior Ranger.  We had to do it!

We visited the inside of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center since we didn’t have time to do that in between dinner and the Ranger Animal Feeding time. We stayed until it was closing time.  Then we headed back to camp to read and sleep.