Rainbow Falls Trail Report + Gatlinburg Shennanigans

With the day off work, I convince Jay to go on yet another hike with me this past Friday (Good Friday). Some friends of ours were in town for their honeymoon, and had mentioned meeting up for dinner. Instead, Jay invited them along on the hike with us.

awww - how cute!

We originally planned to tackle Ramsay Cascades, but upon arriving at the trail head we learned it was closed. The family we met walking back to their car said that a bridge crossing was out. We quickly regrouped and headed into Gatlinburg and toward another falls.

The last time I hiked the Rainbow Falls trail, I was headed toward Mount LeConte on a snowy day. I didn't remember much about the trail, or the falls, so this would be an adventure.

The happy couple aren't use to hiking, so we took the trail at an easy pace - stopping for water and snack breaks on the way up.  Jay had been up late the night before troubleshooting technical problems he was having with wireless Internet, so he had his grumpy pants on to start the day. Its hard to stay grumpy when you are surrounded by beautiful scenery and friends.

The above picture wasn't the falls, but just a pretty place to take a break. The day was cool and overcast. We were blessed with just about perfect weather, save for the handful of sprinkles which hit us at the top.

My favorite part of this trail is the constant scenery. When not passing smaller falls, there are plenty of spots with the creek to enjoy. Then, of course, when we arrived at *the* falls, we find a perfect perch to enjoy our lunch.

The people are hard to notice in the top picture, they are the tiny blue dots for a bit of perspective of the size of the falls. A bit of a drizzle hit us on the way down, but nothing significant. We had a casual, easy pace and stopped for photo ops.

The sprinkles of rain went away as quickly as it came, giving us the opportunity to walk around downtown Gatlinburg. The city is quickly becoming the {legal} moonshine capital, and we hit up 3 different distilleries for free samples.

Then we ended the evening at a favorite local restaurant of ours. I've never been disappointed ordering the El Presidente porter house at Alamo Steakhouse. If all of that fun weren't enough, Jason sprung for balloon animals for us ladies. The balloon artist said it was to raise money for Jesus missions or something of the sort - the ultimate Win/win/win!