Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Sugarlands Valley Nature Trail

It was a much needed family adventure day today. We hit the road early and stopped for breakfast in Newport, before continuing on to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Our first stop was a short but pleasant walk on the Sugarlands Valley Nature Trail. We hiked the half mile long trail,

stopping frequently to stand on rocks, and

look at things like a beetle,

bear tracks in the hardened concrete walkway, and two old chimneys that are still partially standing along the trail.

After our hike we continued our visit to the park by driving the Newfound Gap Road. It was Noelle's and Sierra's first time driving the road. There was snow up in the higher elevations and it was interesting to see how the visitors from Florida and Georgia reacted to having snow to play in. We stopped at Newfound Gap

and looked around a little bit,

then started to descend down the mountains.