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 I'm
surprised Cataract Falls isn't a more popular hike. When we went to the
Sugarlands Visitor's Center, we asked a Ranger if he could recommend a
place for us to go where we could go swimming. I had seen some "swimming
holes" on the map so I assumed he could pick a good one for us. He
informed us that the Park Rangers can not recommend swimming anywhere
because it is too dangerous. Also on that day there had been a horrible
accident on the main road over to Cades Cove so he didn't recommend going
anywhere in that direction. Instead, he recommended walking over to the
nearby Cataract Falls and he mentioned that sometimes people "do
or do not" go down in the river and splash around a bit.
After watching the 20 minute film at the Visitor's Center about Smoky
Mountain National Park, we followed the hand drawn map the Ranger gave
us around the back of the Visitor's Center, through the employee parking
lot, across the bridge and into the forest. After a few minutes we found
a nice place where we could go down into the river. This was the first
hike of our trip and the first time we had made it into the river. We
showed the kids how to walk across the rocks, paying attention to the
slipperiness of the moss. The river was cold but felt very refreshing.
Another couple, all dressed up, passed us as we splashed around. We put
our shoes back on to continue the hike.
In about ten steps we could hear the waterfall. In a few more steps we
could see that the couple that had passed us a few minutes ago was getting
married right in front of the waterfall. We turned back around without
seeing the falls and went back down to the river. We found a large rock
there where we sat down and had lunch. At this point we began our quest
searching for salamanders but didn't know what to look for so we didn't
find any. We did find some neat bugs that seemed to walk on top of the
water though.
The now married couple walked back past us so we got out of the river
and went over to the falls. This was the first waterfall we had ever seen
so close and we were impressed. It seemed to be about forty feet high
and water streamed down in a narrow drop. I had plenty of time to set
up my tripod and take a few pictures before another couple of hikers joined
us. We moved out of the way and let them take their pictures. Later we
noticed they lunched in the same place we had. We spent about fifteen
more minutes at the falls, us climbing around to get pictures while the
kids looked for bugs and salamanders. Only one other person stopped by
the falls. It was a great hike to start off the trip.
See
the Slideshow!
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