Post 900 Hike #77: Trillium Gap to Grotto Falls

Trilium Gap Trail to Grotto Falls

Today’s two hikes were relatively short but commemorative of Margaret Stevenson, the late founder of the Wednesday Hiking Group (a special event following each was to be held at Mynatt Park in Gatlinburg at noon). At our Food Lion meet-up I elected to do Otis’s group hike because I planned to take our Vicar and his wife on much the same hike on the way to Brushy Mountain tomorrow. Although I had planned to drive, I rode with Ron Edlund; his other passengers were Glenn Marshall and TJ Tolnas. I only knew Ron as a fellow member of Vikings of the Smokies; I had hiked with the latter two previously.

After our caravan of vehicles stopped at a trailhead-parking lot a bit sooner than I had anticipated, I soon realized that we were going to take Trillium Gap Trail on ~2.6 mi. trek to Grotto Falls rather than the shorter more direct trail. Because of my pectoralis strain from weight lifting, I did not use my sticks. After ~1 mi. at a relatively slow pace, I decided to go down to the road to ensure that I had well in mind the parking area and trailhead for my Thursday’s hike since it had been a few years since I started a hike at that location. On the map the trailhead for the “short” Grotto Falls hike appeared to be anywhere between 0.25-0.5 mi. until its junction with Trillium Gap Trail; when I arrived at this junction I was uncertain if I was ahead or behind most of our group. After going more my typical speed I soon realized that I was ahead of most everyone; since it was 1045, I knew that there was no way that those behind me could get to the Falls, return to their vehicles, and get to Mynatt Park by 1200. Thus I upped my speed a little more to get to the Falls, thinking that those behind would probably decide to turn back; near the falls I found that BJ Perlack was the only one from our group ahead of me. I had also run into Bob Elliot and Bob Mysinger; they had taken the shorter trek to Grotto Falls.

Perhaps ~0.5 mi. below the falls we met remnants and a progression of our group still treking to the falls. I hiked at a leisurely pace with the two Bobs on the way down, and forgot if BJ was ahead or behind me. When we reached the junction where Trillium Gap peels West and the Bobs were going North to the nearby parking lot, I stopped and talked with them a bit. Because BJ had not arrived I knew that she was ahead of me. As she and I hiked together we came to an unmarked trail junction that I assumed might lead to our vehicles; she said that she went on it a bit and it did not. I should have prevailed; we ended up walking to the Rainbow Falls parking lot. When we reached our parking lot via the road, no one had yet returned. Then TJ, a couple with Otis’s vehicle, the rest from BJ’s vehicle, and then the rest from Otis’s vehicle arrived; all but TJ had missed the turn-off. TJ and I became concerned about Ron and Glen; I started to leave the parking lot when they arrived in a vehicle—to make a long story short, they had made a much longer hike.

Individuals from at least two vehicles missed the commemorative program; however, we all had some cake and were able to touch bases with a few whom we had not seen for sometime.