We went back into the Great Smoky National Park today to make the 2.5 mile hike to Laurel Falls.
The weather was cool and we took off through the forest. It was labeled a moderate hike. The majority of the trail is paved and the incline is pretty gradual.
We arrived at Laurel Falls. This is the upper falls. You could go down a very steep nonofficial trail to get down to the bottom, but we opted not to do it.
On our way back we stopped for this view.
After Laurel Falls, we left the park to go into the little town of Gatlinburg.
We wanted to check out the arts and crafts loop which is an 8 mile loop away from the downtown area with over 100 shops and restaurants.
We figured it would only take a couple of hours to check out the shops. We were very wrong. There were so many unique items in the shops, we realized it was going to take another day.
There are lots of chain saw artists here. This was one of our favorites. This bear is enormous!
Jim decided to take a rest at this great bench.
We only got about one third of the way through the loop. We'll be returning tomorrow.