The Hike that Took 30 Years to Finish

It took 30 years to finish, but we conquered the Ramsay Cascades Trail.

The cascades were in full flow after all the rain in the park this week.

As mentioned in my previous post, the main reason we started our trip with a visit to Great Smoky Mountains National Park was to cross the Ramsay Cascades Trail off of our "to do" list of hikes. We aborted our first try in 1982 and never made it to the trail in 2000 because of a washed out bridge. Today, we were at the trailhead by 9:30 this morning and figured we had until 3:00 PM to finish before the predicted thunderstorms hit. The trail is a steady uphill climb (from 2,250 feet elevation to 4,400 feet) over 5 miles (10 miles round trip) and follows the middle prong of the Little Pigeon River. We reached the cascades in time for lunch with a few fellow hikers before heading back down the slippery trail. Just before reaching the truck, the skies opened up in true Smokies fashion and we were drenched for the second day in a row. But at least we made it to the cascades and we consider our trip to the Smokies a rousing success.