503. Hike the Smoky Mountains

 When I was planning our trip to the Smoky Mountains, there were a few things I knew I wanted to do. A couple of them involved "hiking" and that is not the hubby's cup of tea, especially of late. I knew I had to keep hiking to a minimum. I don't know why when I wrote the original bucket list almost 25 years ago, I thought it was a great idea to include all these hikes on the list. I enjoy a good, easy hike but I probably thought I'd have all the time and money to go hike, camp, and do outdoorsy things. Now it's baseball and road trips. 

One of the hikes I wanted to do was hike the Smoky Mountains. I didn't need to a strenuous or even moderate hike. Something short and easy for the hubby would suffice. Initially I found a nice short boardwalk nature trail hike to do. Somehow in my planning, I forgot to write down where said hike was in the park. I saw a sign for a nature trail from Sugarlands Visitor Center but it was .7 miles and listed as moderate. That was not my hike.

Also on the sign, it said Cataract Falls was .5 mile hike and easy. The hubby and I decided to hike to Cataract Falls. So we went chasing waterfalls. 

The hike to Cataract Falls from Sugarlands Visitor Center is about .5 mile round trip. It is a super easy, pretty flat hike. Part of it is across a parking lot partially due to construction. We did the hike in flip flops. Did you expect anything less?

Cataract Falls is a small waterfalls but has some height. I like waterfalls of any kind. 

The hike to Cataract Falls is a popular hike since it's close to the visitor center and short. It also meets up with the Gatlinburg Trail which does take you into Gatlinburg. No I didn't cross the water to the get to the Gatlinburg Trial. I'm sure the hubby would have had a heart attack if I attempted that. He's so not adventurous. 

Everyone needs to hike the Smoky Mountains at least once even if it's a super short trail. There is just something about being out in nature and mountain air that makes life all better.

If the hubby can make it to Cataract Falls, there's a good chance you can too. Visit the Smoky Mountains, get out of the car, and explore a trail. It's worth it. 

2931. Explore the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising

 When we got our National Park Pass this year, the hubby decided we should get as much use out of it as possible as well as try to knock of the two sites in Wisconsin. After a bit of a research, I learned that Apostle Islands National Lakeshore was 5 hours away and required no park fee while Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising, MI was only 3.5 hours away and had a park fee. Based on this, the hubby agreed it made most sense to head to Michigan this fall. 

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore spans the shores of Lake Superior from Munising to Grand Marais which is 47 miles. You can drive or hike the North Country Trail to explore the park. The park fee is $10. It is open year round so you can explore ice caves in winter.

There are plenty of options to view the National Lakeshore from without much hiking. 

Our first stop was the Munising Visitor Center which is currently under construction. We showed the park pass and got our map. Then we walked a very short trail to Munising Falls. I figured the hubby could handle the 800 foot paved trail to see the falls. 

The 50 foot waterfall was stunning. We viewed it together from the main view platform. 

I then walked up to the middle platform and view it from there. I decided not to walk the stairs up to the upper viewing platform. The views were gorgeous especially in early fall.

Since we had some time before our boat tour, we drove the 10 miles to Miners Castle Overlook. This is another easy hike. We walked to the overlook from the parking lot. It was about 200 feet. The view was again stunning. It was one of those iconic Pictured Rock billboard pictures.

I did walk 10 feet on the North Country Trail just to say I "hiked" the North Country Trail.

That is all we had time to explore before we had to head back to Munising for our boat tour. Hopefully we will make it back to Pictured Rocks to keep exploring the lakeshore. There is plenty more to see including more overlooks, waterfalls, and museums. I will gladly pay the $10 to see more of the Lakeshore.