First Day of Autumn 2013

Ranger Ricardo looks up to capture the colours of the forest canopy as the Alcoa Ridge Runners complete a three mile hike up the Crib Gap Trail to the junction at Turkey Pen and Finley Cane during the first day of fall in 2013. The Crib Gap Trail is an easy hike that takes folks 1.6 miles from the Cades Cove picnic area to the junction of the Turkey Pen Ridge Trail after crossing Laurel Creek Road near Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. If you retrace your steps after arriving at the junction, the hike is three miles long. It is an easy trek through some very beautiful woodlands, but it never strays far from Laurel Creek Road. Although it is a quiet walk, there are times when you can hear motorcars buzzing along the road.