A Weekend In The Mountains of Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Surely I’m not the only stir crazy one out there that would literally get on a flight going ANYWHERE at this point?!

After our Canada trip got cancelled (insert heartbroken tears here), I told Dalton that I still wanted to go *somewhere*. I needed something fun to look forward to, a get away from the stress of being an ER nurse and hearing the word “Covid” and “Coronavirus” about 6,823 times a day. Didn’t care if we flew or drove, as long as it was a change of scenery and were able to distance ourselves from others as much as possible.

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Initially I begged him to go to Charleston, SC. But with all the uncertainty right now, he preferred a shorter trip closer to home. So, although, it wasn’t my first choice, we packed up our bags and headed to a cabin near Gatlinburg, TN. 

I’ve been here once before about 16 years ago, but I was sure a lot had changed. I was really worried about it being super “touristy” since it seems to be a more family-oriented place. But since we couldn’t go to the beautiful mountains of Banff, I decided the Great Smoky Mountains were a decent alternative and ultimately better than nothing. 

I found this cute cabin about 20 minutes outside of Gatlinburg on AirBnB. It was super peaceful with a beautiful view of the mountains and an awesome hot tub! I’m also a sucker for giant windows that allow lots of natural light. Only part that sucked was I didn’t pay close enough attention to the listing to see it didn’t have WiFi, and of course we had terrible cell service. However, it was honestly kinda nice to stay off social media for a few days and basically use our cell phone strictly as cameras. I also really liked this AirBnB, so if we ever go back, I’ll probably look into staying here too. 

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It’s about a 6.5 hour drive from where we live so we headed out at about 8am. I NEVER sleep well before a trip, even a short one like this, so I was dragging that morning! When we got there we dropped off our bags then headed to supper at Alamo Steakhouse. Dalton had also come here as a kid (Fun fact: His parents got married in Gatlinburg!). It was delicious and my first time eating filet mignon! 

Now, normally my blog posts are more about recommending a place I’ve visited, but unfortunately, I can’t quite honestly say that about downtown Gatlinburg. As I said before, it had been 16 years since I had last been and I fully expected it to be a lot different. I just didn’t expect how much different. What I once remembered as a cute little mountain town with a few restaurants and shops was now crowded with buildings, signs, awful traffic, and PEOPLE. 

We came to the mountains thinking it would be a great opportunity to social distance, but I didn’t realize how much this place had blown up over the years. Not to mention hardly anyone was wearing a mask. Maybe it’s better during a different time of the year? I don’t know. I’m just blown away by the amount of people that think their “human rights” matter more than their health and the health of those around them. Wearing a mask is literally NOT difficult. I don’t like it either, trust me, I wear one for 12 hours a day at work. But if wearing it while out shopping and being a tourist is an issue for you, maybe you shouldn’t be on a vacation? 

I think if I had children this would have been a great place since there were a lot of activities for families (if the virus wasn’t ravaging the country obviously), but our plans of visiting places we had as kids such as the Ripley’s Aquarium were squashed pretty quick due to the crowds. Dalton and I both agreed we had no desire to go back into town after this. I will definitely come back someday though, and by all means I’m not telling you to not visit Gatlinburg! There’s so much to do! I just think with the whole pandemic thing, we quickly realized going into town to do activities wasn’t the right thing for us.

Thankfully, the next day I managed to talk him into going hiking so we didn’t spend the whole day sitting in the cabin. I did a lot of research beforehand and picked the hike to Mt. LeConte via the Alum Cave Trail. It’s one of, if not the, best hikes in the Smoky Mountains. Warning you now though; if you choose to hike all the way to Mt. LeConte, it’s 11 miles round trip. Yep, you read that right!

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I’ve personally really gotten into hiking in the l-2 years, so I was pretty stoked to take this challenge on. Dalton, on the other hand, is not into hiking (though I was very proud of him for agreeing to go!) We made it to the halfway point, Alum Cave (about 4.5-5 miles roundtrip), which a lot of people do this hike to see anyway and make it their turning around point. Dalton was pretty exhausted and ready to go back, which bummed me out considering I wanted to finish the whole thing. Luckily, during our hike we had made friends with a wonderful group from Louisiana, and as we were leaving the Alum Cave, we ran into some people from the group who had stayed behind while the rest made their way to LeConte. I begged Dalton and he agreed to let me continue on by myself to meet the rest of their group at the top while he headed back with the others. Score!!

This was an incredibly challenging hike from this point on and I would be lying if I said I didn’t consider turning around several times, especially knowing I was still almost 3 miles from the top. However, I continuously told myself that each step I took got me a little bit closer, and how disappointed I would be in myself if I didn’t make it.

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And eventually, after a view breaks and stops to take pictures of the beautiful scenery, I reached the top, elevation of 6,594 feet!

Unfortunately, the Smoky Mountains gets its name due to the clouds that like to hang around them, so from the top you couldn’t see anything but clouds. But it was truly mystical and at some points felt like I was in a fairytale! I kept expecting a unicorn to walk out of the forest. It was pretty neat too because at the top there are several little cabins you can rent, as well as snacks and a giftshop. Of course, I had to get a t-shirt!

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The group from Louisiana was waiting for me at the top (they had been radioing the other people that stayed back so they knew I was on my way to meet up with them). I’m extremely thankful they allowed me to join in with them on the hike back and treated me like I was part of their family! 

The hike down was obviously much easier than the way up, easy enough that the only time we really stopped for a break was at the halfway point. I may do a blog post specifically on this hike as I’ve had a lot of people ask about it already, so stay tuned!

After our hike we were pretty hungry as both of us had really only had a few snacks throughout the day, so the Louisiana group pointed us in the direction of a Subway in a town called Wears Valley near our cabin, which ended up being our supper so that we didn’t have to go into Gatlinburg. After we ate, we laid around and watched Shark Tank and Ridiculousness and spent more time in the hot tub, then packed up to head home the next day. 

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All in all, it was a fun little get away from home and I felt like we did a really good job of distancing from people. Don’t let this deter you from going to Gatlinburg because there’s sooo much more to this area than just visiting the town. I personally think the point of going to a place with mountains is to experience nature anyway! If we go back, I would really like to possibly go white water rafting as well as try out a few other popular hikes, such as Grotto Falls and Mt. Cammerer. 

Have you ever been to Gatlinburg? Have any tips or experiences you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments! 

I’m not sure when my next trip will be with everything going on since almost every time I try to plan something it falls through. I’m still pretty bummed our Canada trip didn’t work out and am hopeful we’ll get to go sooner rather than later. Has anyone else had a trip cancelled or postponed this year?

Also P.S., my blog has been up for one year this month! I want to thank everyone that takes the time to read it, you have no idea how much I appreciate it. I love to write and share my experiences with others in the hopes that you’ll get some useful information for your next adventure, wherever that may be!