The fast-moving stream Roaring Fork gives its adjoining trail the unusual name, especially after a steady rainfall. It will first lead you to the Ogle farmstead, where a hand-constructed plumbing system and tubmill are the highlights. Beyond this landmark, the trail leads to two of the park’s most popular waterfalls, Rainbow and Grotto.
As the tallest Smoky Mountain waterfalls, these 100-foot cascades are a well-deserved reward at the end of a tough four-mile one-way hike. The rocky outcroppings and lush greenery form a dramatic showcase that might resemble waterfalls in your imagination. You’ll also view old-growth woods with birches and tulip trees along the way.
With a moderate 2.6-mile round-trip hike, you can view this 80-foot waterfall from the rustic wooden walkway that bisects it into upper and lower sections. The trail is easily accessible from the Sugarlands Visitor Center near Cades Cove, but take note that it’s quite crowded during the summer months and on the weekends.
On this moderately difficult hike, you’ll arrive at these falls that look like an inverted fan. The waterfall’s top width is just two feet, but it expands out to twenty feet at the bottom, ninety feet below. On the 4.4-mile round-trip trek, you’ll pass through shady rhododendron and hemlock forest. As with the other destinations, please avoid climbing the rocks surrounding the falls.
This Smoky Mountains waterfall trail has the easiest access of all listed here. It’s just a half-mile behind the Sugarlands Visitor Center on a smooth paved path that runs alongside Ash Hoppe Branch, then Fighting Creek