Smokies Spring 2018 Trip Part 4
Smokies Spring 2018 Trip Part 4 is the Ramsey’s Cascade hike. Believe it or not, it is the only hike that we did on our vacation but what a hike. The hike is an over 8 mile round trip at almost 2200 elevation change to the tallest waterfall in the park. It is definitely worth it but the hike itself is BRUTAL. Adding to the length and elevation change, both Tim and I were carrying between 30lb-40lbs of camera equipment on our backs. This is the hike that I have wanted to take ever since I first started researching the park. I joined a gym 6 weeks before my vacation and went at least 4 times a week but I still wasn’t totally prepared for it. Of course it is hard to train for elevation when you literally live at sea level. This is part of the description of the trail on hikingthesmokys.com: "Hikers should note that the trail travels over some extremely rugged terrain over the last third of a mile or so, make this a fairly difficult hike". They are not kidding.
Wildlife Sighting
The first 1.5 of the trail follows an old gravel road and isn’t hard at all. It pulls you in thinking even though its long, its not going to be a difficult hike. We stopped a few places along the way on the rivers edge to get shots of mini waterfalls. The 2.5 miles to go marker was one of those places. I had just put my camera backpack back on and was about to start hiking again when I saw a bobcat dart across the trail and run into the woods. Both Joe and Tim were facing the wrong direction so I was the only one that saw it. I didn’t even know that the park had bobcats. It was quite a treat for me as it was the first one I had ever seen in the wild. I just wish it had stopped long enough for me to get a photo. At least I saw it.
The Last Mile to the Falls
We continued on our way with frequent stops. The trail was getting steeper and very rocky. Each time I would get to the bottom of a hill and see the rocky hill, I would hope that it would be the last one before the falls. This happened continually. This was one of the two hardest hikes I have ever done and the first one was Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls trails in Yosemite National Park when I was 25. I’m not 25 anymore.
The photo on the left is Joe and Tim crossing on of the two bridges and the photo on the right is one of the MANY rocky inclines that you have to deal with when hiking this trail. My mother thought it was a beautiful photo until she found out that it was part of the trail to Ramsey’s Cascades.
The last 8th of a mile to the falls is brutal and even rockier than that.
The next blog post will arrival at the falls and the rest of the day.