Abrams Falls

Abrams Falls is in the Cades Cove area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  It is a roughly 5 mile out and back hike to see a 20 something foot tall waterfall with a great looking basin.  You reach the trailhead by driving the Cades Cove Loop Road, a one way traffic nightmare full of tourists viewing the park mostly from their cars and seeing roadside attractions.  You’ll be a good bit into the drive before you spot Abrams Falls Rd on the right hand side, which is a small spur off the loop with a parking lot for hikers and the trailhead area.

    You’ll notice the sign says “moderately difficult.”  I think it is a fairly easy hike, it is just long since 2.5 miles each way will take some time.  There are few parts that are steep however and the scenery is great.  I ran into my first bear of the trip on this trail, and it wasn’t a big deal.  Kind of shocked since there are a lot of people on the trail at all times, which means it really isn’t the best place for a bear to hang out since there would be something to startling a bear away constantly.  That something this time was me, because I’m walking down a perfectly generic section of trail (pictured here) and the bear was in the bushes just off the side.  I saw it, it saw me, and before I could decide if I wanted to reach for my air horn to scare it away or camera for the elusive and stupid bear selfie I desire, it took off.  So I kept my cool better than the bear.  Within just 2 minutes more hikers were in this same section completely unaware of my encounter, because that’s how popular the trail is.

    Anyway onward I went, kind of smiling that I’d had my first bear encounter in the Smoky Mountains, knowing it is really common there, and the rest of the hike to the falls continued to be scenic.  Arriving at the base of the falls I found people hanging out, taking pictures, a couple of hammocks were set up.  I’m jealous of the hammock people, because that would have been super awesome to rest for a bit in one.  But the way I adventure chances are I couldn’t justify taking a nap.  Wasting day light isn’t a thing.  I still had my eye on visiting Crooked Arm Cascade later this day, so I snapped some waterfall pictures, rested briefly, and departed back the way I came.

    Once you depart the Abrams Falls area and you’re stuck on the loop, waiting for tourists to drive faster, the next thing down the road should be the Cades Cove Visitor Center.  Makes for a handy bathroom, gift shop and anything else you might need by that point.  There’s some sort of historic grist mill there but I didn’t waste the time on it this trip.