Our November 2017 trip to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP) was an adventure like no other.
Despite 2/3 of us having forded the Maine Appalachian Trail water crossings on our thru-hikes, NONE of us had experience fording knee-to-thigh high, fast-moving creeks. And certainly not in the freezing cold.
After we reached our first crossing the first night in the dark, we had a better sense of what the next 14 crossings would be like!
Let’s get hiking!
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary.
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Much like life, I believe the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) is best understood and appreciated only after both the peaks and valleys have been explored.
The Park’s high country along the Appalachian Trail offers spectacular views and miles of knife’s edge ridgewalking. However, the lesser known (and lower elevation) trails explore the Park’s vastness, with massive trees, huge creeks, and large mammals (bears and boars) that dwarf the hiker.
We chose a nice weekend loop that offered a taste of everything. Let’s get walking!
In 2015, I hiked the 40 mile Chattooga River Trail and rekindled my passion for backpacking.
It had been too long since I’d seen that mighty River, so I knew I had to go back.
Let’s get walking!
Hey, ya’ll! Thanks for hiking again with Amber and I.
This is the last roll of pictures from our trip, so please check out the other 14 rolls of our Appalachian Trail hike if you missed any part of the journey!
Amber and I finished on Thanksgiving Day in 2005, 5 months (150 days) after starting hiking in Maine.
Thanks for joining Amber and I for the “second to last” roll of our 2005 Appalachian Trail thru-hike!
Let’s get on the Trail!
