Hiking to Grotto Falls

During our recent vacation to the Smokies we hiked to Grotto Falls in the park. To get there you drive through the park on the Roaring Fork motor trail, park the car and hike up from there.

We thought this would be a good one because it wasn't too far and you could walk behind the falls which sounded cool.

The kids at the trailhead:

The trail was really wet. We didn't know if it was because of some recent rain or if it was always that way due to all the shadiness, etc.

Paul was happy to spot a place to rest a minute! There were no benches along the way!

We finally made it to the falls and it was worth the hike up. We could hear them before we saw them. Such a beautiful sight. The Great Smoky Mountain Nat Park gets about 7 feet of rain per year so that's why there are so many awesome water falls.

There were lots of people on this trail. Everyone waits to get the ubiquitous picture behind the falls.

Both kids fell at some point but nothing too bad. It was a perfect day for a hike. Not too hot, just right. Michael was so cute telling people on our way down, "You're almost there, you can make it." After a while we told him he had to stop telling people that because they weren't almost there! He changed it to, "you can do it, keep going!"