First hike of the season, what what!
Pictured above:
- Following Sarah up the snowy, slushy trail
- ICE TO SEE YOU!
- This is what I look like standing under a waterfall
- Grotto Falls
Grotto Falls is the only waterfall in the park you can actually walk behind, and as you can see from the pictures, it's pretty neat. Round trip was about 3 miles or so – a nice, gentle start to the hiking season if I do say so myself. Plus, I got to go out with my coworkers, who made the slushy-muddy trek up the mountain a hoot and a half.
It's been the nicest day since I've arrived in the park, so as soon as I got back and ate some lunch, I changed my clothes and decided to walk into Gatlinburg for the first time.
On the surface, Gatlinburg appears to be a shrine to hyper-consumerism, the epitome of all that is toxic about American materialism, and it sort of is. Underlying its miles of putt-putt, novelty restaurants, and Cooter's go-kart racing/Dukes of Hazzard Museum is a sort of saccharine self-awareness. Gatlinburg is not, as I first thought, simply a side effect of the park, but a destination all its own, and people come from miles around just to visit the town, regardless of its proximity to the park.
Sure, there are a thousand fat white people walking around and old-timey photo studios on every corner – that's what the tourists are expecting, and damn it all to the hell if that ain't what they're gunna git. Leave your pretenses at the door and be prepared to spend exorbitant amounts of money on average-quality fudge and you've got yourself a good time.
