I'd love to visit Glacier, Yellowstone, Yosemite, or one of the other Western parks. I have visited Rocky Mountain National Park and was duly impressed. But for the time and funds I had available for this trip combined with an already arranged vacation in North Carolina, it made sense to see our country's most visited National Park.
Great Smoky Mountain National Park sees around ten million visitors a year. Supposedly most of them see it from their car. Well, that sounds pretty lame to me.
I didn't have any experience with any hike-in camping, or backpacking, as they say. I was ready to give it a go however.
Once I made my list of items I'd need I realized that camping gear is expensive and my list was quite extensive. I called my friend Jim Watkins who knows a little bit about almost everything and seems to have had every hobby known to man at some point in time. Later that day, while we were looking through boxes in his massive garage, I happened to pull one down that had a full fox hunting outfit. No kidding.
I just took a pack and a few other items I'd need.
So I loaded up with some freeze dried meals, a small plastic shovel and the rest of my gear. I set out with a friend from the Big Creek campground in the northeast part of the park on a Tuesday for a nice twenty-ish mile stroll.
For the first mile and a half or so of the trail, we had a lot of company. The trail ran alongside a beautiful creek that had a few nice swimming holes. Many of the locals were taking full advantage. Jumping from rocks, yelling, and splashing were the order of the day.
I'm glad they were having a good time, but honestly I didn't miss them when we got a little further on along. I like my solitude when I'm on this sort of endeavor.
After about six miles, we arrived at the campsite for night one, Walnut Bottoms.
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| Lots of things came out of those packs. |
There was one family there. Their campsite was about a hundred yards away from where we settled. Not so far that they couldn't hear our screams in the event of a bear attack in the night.
I'm not sure what religion they were, but the men wore some sort of long shirt/night gown looking thing and the women basically dressed as if they were Amish. I'm pretty sure it was a religious thing and not a fashion statement. They were one of two groups of people we saw for two days. The other was a father and son who were doing the same loop as we were, Mount Sterling Loop.
The next morning, I spent a few hours wading and fishing down a cool Smokey Mountain stream for native Brook Trout. They were tiny, but beautiful. It was a fantastic morning.
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| I actually photographed this one before, |
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| and after I caught him. A first for me. Him too I'm guessing. |
Then it was time for the ascent up to Mount Sterling.
Four miles up to the Mount Sterling Trail, then a couple of more to the campsite. It was a tough walk with the pack, but quite beautiful. Late July deep in the forest with a cool mist and wildflowers and butterflies. There was some really beautiful scenery. My photos can't do it justice, but here's an attempt anyway.
Once on the top, there was still tree cover, so there was really no view,
until you see the tower.
Speaking of photos not doing things justice, this doesn't come close to capturing the fear and apprehension I walked through the first time I climbed up the steps on this puppy.
Although it got easier each time I did it. And over the course of the 14ish or so hours I was on top of Mount Sterling, I went back several times. For this:
Sunset was reason enough to go back up the tower.
God is everywhere. Sometimes and some places though it seems just a little more obvious.
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