Grotto Falls (Great Smoky Mountains National Park)

Grotto Falls is a waterfall somewhere between 20-30 feet tall, it has a very photogenic plunge of water you can walk behind, an equally photogenic little pool area in front of it, and is essentially the highlight of a grotto.  People flock to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and frequently take the 2.8 mile total out and back trek to see this.  What I do not understand is why nobody mentions anywhere that there is a Lower Grotto Falls.  To elaborate, I do the hike, I get to the top, find the fall, find dozens of people backed up pending photo ops under the fall much like I’m shown doing here.  Yes it is pretty, and I too sat down on a rock, gazed at it for a long time, and then my eyes started to wander, thankfully.  I mean zero disrespect for Grotto Falls, but, there’s more!

As I’m sitting by the pool at the base of Grotto Falls, watching children slip in and get soaked, and photographers get their jollies, my eyes stray down to see a salamander just hanging out.  Dozens of people there, including children that usually would find creatures, and none of them give a damn about anything else.  So I hung out with the little guy for awhile, and not a person there was probably the wiser that we had wildlife present.  You hear about salamanders being present, and you’re told not to flip rocks so you don’t disturb any of them, but to have one out sunning itself in plain view and no one even spots it, is amazing.

Then there’s LOWER GROTTO FALLS.  I didn’t spot it on the way up, but as I’m leaving I start exploring where the water heads downstream to from Grotto Falls.  Just a few hundred feet away, and one not too difficult scramble down a slope, there it is, close in height to (Upper) Grotto Falls and every bit as scenic.  A lot of people saw me when I went down, and only one curious guy joined me, leaving his wife above.  I guess the mentality of staying with the herd on the trail reigns supreme, but that doesn’t get you all the neat sites sometimes.  See my photo above.  Most people that day simply missed this…in both cases.

As far as getting to the trailhead goes, you’ll enter the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail via Gatlinburg, TN.  You’ll get stuck on the one-way “trail” of cars.  This trail isn’t long after you pass the Rainbow Falls trailhead.  The Grotto Falls trailhead features a fairly large parking lot, which due to the insane popularity was full when I arrived.  I had to drive past and pull over on the shoulder of the road less than 1/4 mile away and walk back.  You don’t really have a choice if the lots are full because this is a busy one way only road.  Luckily there are lots of pull outs immediately after the actual parking lot.  Once returning to the lot you’ll find the sign declaring 1.4 miles to Grotto Falls.