Smokies report

“This past Friday 4 friends and myself left home at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m. heading for Bryson City, NC. Dropped a vehicle off and headed for Elkmont. We started off at the Little River Trailhead at about 1 pm. After 7 beatiful miles we arrived at campsite 23 at about 4 pm. After setting up camp we played in the creek for a little while. Did anyone see the Seinfeld episode on shrinkage? That water is COLD. We hit the trail at about 8 (all times are central) and arrived at the AT at about 11. We did 4.4 miles and 2500' in 3 hours. I thought that was pretty good. It took another 3 hours to crest Clinman's Dome. We took lots of rest breaks. Since we still had about 6 miles to go we decided to eat our big meal for lunch. There were 3 benches across the road from the restrooms so we sat down and broke out our stoves. It seemed like every tourist who walked by asked us if we were camping. You think? Anyway we now know what the animals at the zoo feel like. We were the camping exhibit. After eating we raced to the Noland Divide trail and down the mtn. The trail must be impressive in May. We went through one rhoddodendron(sp?) tunnel after another. When we arrived at the Noland Creek trail intersection the 3 guys I was with took off to our campsite while I waited on a staggeler. He pulled a muscle early on the climb and didn't have a fun day. 2 minutes later the bottom fell out and I sat in the rain under a poncho for 30 minutes. Since this was my first trip in bear country I suddeny became aware that I was awfully alone. My compadre showed up and off I went. His tent was being set up by one of the guys who went ahead. About the time it gets dark I get to a stream that was just difficult enough to need water shoes. The heck with it, I'm in a hurry. I wound up with a wet right boot. 50 yards later I come to another stream. Did I learn my lesson? Hell no! This time I wound up with a wet left boot. It turns out I was at the campsite and had just enough time to put up my tent before it was pitch dark. We ate real quick and then went looking for our buddy. Luckily he as at the edge of the first creek. We had hiked 14 miles with 3400' of gain and everyone one of us is a rookie. Sunday was a pretty hike of about 7 miles which we did in a little under 3 hours. My next trip will be a loop with much less elevation. Overall a great trip.”

“Awesome.. but we want pictures, pictures, pictures!”

“Ummmm....
Sorry dude I forgot to mention the VERY wet stream crossings on Noland creek last time we spoke. My bad.

Sounds like y'all were hauling! I prefer to do half that in a day.”

“thats a bit of a haul up and back down again! but it sounds like you had a good time and thats what its all about.”

“We did have a great time. If a little water in the boots is all you have to complain about then you're in pretty good shape. I was able to shave my pack wt. down to 25#'s, so that helped.”