Waterfall Weekend

As you might expect, January is the time for snow. This year we had an unusual January.  One day it's unseasonably warm. Then it snows a foot.  And then it warms up and rains enough for flooding. To a hiker that means it's a good time to check out the waterfalls. During the dryer summer days they don't have as much water as they do after heavy rains or snow melt. This month we've had both-heavy rain and heavy snow melt. We headed first to the Gatlinburg Trail and Cataract Falls. 

This is Cataract Falls in July

And this is Cataract Falls in February

Our next hike was up to Laurel Falls.  It looked like this in November 

And this in February

Our third hike was to Rainbow Falls. This was a first time hike for me.  I had told the guys that this was one that I would probably never see, but now that I'm in better shape I decided to give it a try.  It's quite a challenge.  The trail has an elevation change of 1700 feet over 2.7 miles. The temperature at the trailhead was 42 degrees and sunny. At the falls the temperature was 22 and cloudy.  We kept taking off and then putting back on gloves and hats and scarves.  This is what Rainbow Falls usually looks like

And this is what it looks like in the winter

Three waterfalls and 12.2 miles hiked in one weekend. We are well on our way to earning that centennial pin.