Last weekend, my 15-year-old son, Cooper, and I found ourselves in the Great Smoky Mountains. We’d planned a short hike a few days before, and I was grateful we didn’t find an excuse to cancel, as we so often do with our busy schedules. We settled on Spruce Flats Falls, a short 1.7-mile trail that the GAIA GPS app rated as “easy.” The trail began at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. As soon as we parked, Cooper’s eyes lit up. “Dad, I’ve been here before!” he exclaimed. It turns out he came here for an overnight field trip…