theDIBB - Touring Tennessee Day 13: Rainbow Falls & Cades Cove

We had another nice breakfast on the deck, slightly confused that someone in a cabin down the hill had brought a trumpet on vacation with them and thought that loud trumpet playing was an enhancement to the peace and quiet of the Smokies . . .

Then we made another pack up and set off for a walk to Rainbow Falls. It was lovely to be staying so near to the park and to have just a short drive into it. As I've said before, we love the National Parks in the US and very little beats just getting out there and exploring them.

It was drizzling as we started off but it wasn't cold, so we didn't mind all that much. The walk through the woods was really quiet, without many other people around and we really enjoyed it. The path goes along and then crosses the water and it was really lovely.

The rain didn't hang around and eventually we got to a small waterfall. We wondered if that was it, as it really wasn't very impressive, and decided to walk on. It was a good thing that we did, as the real Falls were another half mile further on.

And they were really quite impressive.

The Falls are so name because when the sun shines on the water, you can see rainbows. As it was cloudy, we didn't see any rainbows, but we enjoyed them nonetheless.

After hanging out at the Falls for a little while, we headed back along the trail. We found a nice rock to sit on and eat our picnic and we really enjoyed being in the woods.

The plan for the rest of our time in the park was to visit Cades Cove. You can cycle around the route if you get here early enough in the morning but we didn't manage that. We thought we would drive it though, hopeful of spotting more bears.

Cades Cove is a collection of old settlements and it's charming enough, but we got a bit fed up in the end, and weren't sure it was worth the long drive. We did take a funky boy band picture though and a passing car did tell us they were impressed with our mad posing skillz.

We did stop at one cabin and had quick look at it.

And Hannah got fabulous.

But we didn't spot a single bear. :(

There was a shortcut across the loop which we gladly took and then headed back on the long drive out of the park.

The river was looking very lovely and we did stop to cool and wash our feet in it. It felt lovely to sit with our feet in the water for a little while.

On our way back to the cabin, we called once again to Food City to get Bratwurst for the grill. Then it was back up the long and winding road to the cabin to settle in for our final evening of wonderful views and relaxation.

We had a final dip in the hot tub, watching the stars come out, before turning in for the night. We were really going to miss this place!