Hen Wallow Falls

I wanted to go for a hike sometime while we were in the mountains.  On the internet, I found a couple of trails near the Cosby end of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that were rated “easy to moderate” in difficulty.  So, on Saturday, we put on our boots , loaded our walking sticks, camera, rain jackets, backpack, water and a couple of packs of eat-a-snacks in the car, and drove to the Cosby campground and picnic area of the Park where the trails originated.  We drove around for a little bit trying to decide which trail to take.  We parked in the picnic area and decided to take the hike to Hen Wallow Falls which was 4.4 miles round trip (2.2 miles out and 2.2 miles back).

The beginning of the trail has a slight incline…

… and was like walking through a creek bed because of all the rocks.

Several places along the trail, we would see these red berries growing in the ground cover.

A short distance up the trail we could hear water rushing down the creek.  I walked a short distance off the trail down to the creek to take these pictures:

Because it was Saturday, there were several people along the trail.  Sometimes they would pass in front of us and sometimes we would pass in front of them.  A little boy in this young family hiking in front of us had a pop gun that he “popped” while hiking the trail.  It made a popping sound like when you put your lips together and go “pop”.  So every few minutes you would hear this “pop”.  Ah….the sounds of nature. :)

We continued walking up the trail and crossed the creeks via 4 foot bridges.  This was the first one:

The creek was very pretty here too and several people would stop to take pictures.

After we crossed this bridge, we headed on up the trail ahead of some of these people.  At one point we stopped when this couple called out to us from behind.  The lady asked me if I was wearing perfume.  I said no.  She said that someone we had passed coming down told them that they thought I was wearing perfume and I needed to be careful because there was a bee hive near the trail and they didn’t want me to get stung.  I thanked her and said it wasn’t me (or Chuck) but that we would keep a look out for that hive. 

We continued up the trail and came to this big tree that that fallen alongside the trail.

Then we came to another foot bridge.  We had to be very careful crossing the bridges because the bridges and the handrails were slippery from the moss and rain. 

The trail continued upwards mainly …

and became more “rooty.”

We came to what was the last bridge on the hike out to Hen Wallow Falls…

… which was more like just a foot path that had been built up with a culvert under it to divert the stream.

We had been hiking for about an hour when we came to a directional sign saying:

“Hen Wallow Falls – 1.2 miles.”

Are you kidding me?  Another 1.2 miles?  We thought surely we were almost there. 

We continued on UP the trail a little further and even stopped at this big rock that we labeled “Decision Rock.”  (Sorry, no pictures.  I was too tired.)  We sat there for a couple of minutes trying to decide whether to continue the hike.  I was pooped already.  The trail may have been “moderate” but you were continually climbing up, up, up over rocks and roots.  It was not nearly as easy as the Jordyn Pond trail in Acadia National Park.

We almost turned back but we both hated to not finish the hike. 

So we continued on.

And we finally got to the part of the trail where you start meeting people heading back and telling you “it’s not that much farther.”

The trail began a slightly steeper decline towards the falls.

And we even got a glimpse of the mountains through the trees.

Then finally we reached our destination:  Hen Wallow Falls.

And it was very pretty. 

We sat down on some of the surrounding rocks and ate our much-deserved package of eat-a-snacks and drank some water and rested there for a few minutes.

There were several people at the falls, some of them climbing all over the rocks below us.

We were content to rest where we were and watch the waterfalls.

After about 10 or 15 minutes, we started back down the trail.  I was dreading it because the rocks and roots seemed so difficult on the way up.  Chuck told me it would not be as bad going back and, thankfully, he was right.  The trail gradually went down the whole way back and it didn’t seem nearly as difficult.  That package of eat-a-snacks helped too!

Before we knew it, we were back where we started.  We didn't give up and made it the whole way out the trail and back.