Day 9...Great Smoky Mountains

We decided to sleep in Saturday morning, since the weather was supposed to be a bit iffy in the morning, but become nicer as the day wore on.  We packed our backpacks with lunch and other hiking necessities and headed back into the park (the redneck bonanza was just starting up again, but traffic wasn't too bad) to Trillium Gap Trail, home of Grotto Falls.  The trail was listed as moderate and fairly short, so we planned to do another short trail after this one, with lunch at a picnic area in between.  As with all the best laid plans, we found ourselves feeling incredibly old and out of shape as we headed up the steep, rugged trail, only made better by the happy, peppy people on their way back down to the base.  What the heck, Trillium Gap??  Finally, after over an hour and half, we heard the falls...Rainbow Falls.   Yeah...not Grotto Falls.  Turns out, we accidentally went in the wrong direction and wound up on a 5.6 round-trip strenuous hike.  And, I hate to say this about any waterfall, but it was kind of just not impressive enough to warrant that hike...but, we took it in stride and high-fived a bunch of times, since we wound up exerting a lot more effort than we had any intention of and we survived.  It was time for the best turkey and cheese sandwiches ever and the much quicker trip back down.  It was our turn to be the happy, peppy people, letting everyone else know they only had a "half hour" left and that it was "so worth it!"  :)

From there, we decided to forgo another trail and instead drove to the point in the park where North Carolina and Tennessee meet...some monuments and a beautiful view.  It was on our way back out of the park, towards that lovely condo, where we encountered trouble...insane traffic crawling slowly along the mountain road...and an almost empty gas tank.  We eeked along until we came upon what looked to be our only option...Gnatty Branch Road from the day before...a road so narrow and windy that you have to honk your horn ever four seconds to avoid getting into a head-on collision...this time it was Andy driving, so I just closed my eyes.  We made it out and naturally traffic was just as terrible in Pigeon Forge, so we headed out of the area to try to find gas as soon as possible...now the gas light was on...this lead to a trip to the Dollywood parking lot and eventually, miraculously, finding gas before it was too late.  I celebrated at the gas station with a Snickers bar.  We finally made it back "home" and spent the rest of the evening relaxing after a crazy day.