Finally!! After years of dreaming about visiting The Great Smoky Mountains, I was finally here! Since we arrived before we could check into our cabin, we decided to check out the Roaring Fork Motor Trail. This beautiful drive is tucked away just outside the town of Gatlinburg. We first stopped at the Ogle homestead and checked out the historic cabin.

The road then turns into a narrow, six-mile, one way road. We visited in May and while you could still witness the damage of the recent wildfires, the overlooks were beautiful.

There are two waterfalls located along the Roaring Fork, Rainbow Falls and Grotto Falls. We chose to hike to Grotto Falls since it is the only waterfall in the Smokies that you can walk behind. The trail is a 1.5 mile out and back (3 miles round trip) trek. The trail is actually used 3 days a week by a lama train to carry supplies to Mt. Le Conte. The hike was very scenic and Grotto Falls was beautiful!

We stopped at all of the pull offs to check everything out. I loved seeing the historic cabins and structures. My favorite was the little mill. In the 1830’s, people settled here searching for new ground to farm.

Roaring Fork is the name of the mountain stream that this scenic drive follows.

The Roaring Fork Motor Trail was the perfect way to start our first day in the Smokies. The scenery did not disappoint! From here we headed off to Gatlinburg for dinner and then to our wonderful cabin! Stay tuned for more posts about the Great Smoky Mountains!