Scott’s Blog Experience

Terribly sorry it’s been almost a week, since I have last blogged. However, the lack of Internet in the Mountains is ridiculous.

Actually, it was a great trip. I have pictures posted on Flickr.com.

Day 1: Richard and I got into Gatlinburg, TN Sunday afternoon around 3:00PM. After checking into the Motel, we decided to drive up the Moutain on 441 (the only road that goes over the Smokeys) to Newfound Gap. The Temp in Gatlinburg was 55 degrees. We arrived at Newfound Gap and quickly learned the Temp was 35 degrees, and freaking windy. Then we drove up the Clingmans Dome which is 6,000 FT, yea, colder, very windy, and foggy. I’m pretty sure the thought of “What the F___” are we doing crossed our minds at that time.

Day 2: We had breakfast around 8:30 AM and heading towards Cades Cove to park my truck there. (Cades Cove was are ending place) We then drove the 40 minute drive up the mountain to Elkmont. Elkmont is an old logging town where houses are still there today, it’s at 2,500 FT. We parked Richards jeep there, and started on Rivers End Trail. Oh, by the way, it was freaking snowing out when we started out. Our hiked started at exactly 10:30 AM

Hiked for 6 hours where we met 3 other men hiking to the same camp. We even passed an old Civil War Cemetary, where the grave markings were from the 1800’s. Very cool. We finally made it to our first camp site. We were sore, tired, and cold. But we did have a good fire going. Went to bed at 8:00 PM. (Thank you Ambian)

Day 3: Broke camp at 8:30 AM and was on the trail by 9:00 AM. We made good time to Tremont, where the Great Smokey Mountain Institute was there. Cabins and such, where camp groups can camp. We decided to take off our packs and hike a couple miles to see Spruce Falls. No big deal right? It was the worst freaking trial ever. It was all up hill, straight up. I wanted to throw myself over the mountain to instead of taking another step up hill. The Falls however, (once we got there) was really worth it. Got back down the trail from hell, and we had another 3 hours of hiking to do before the next camp site.

Got to the camp site around 4:00. Right next to a roaring river which was awesome. Great site to camp in. Again, we had other people there, lit a great fire, and listened to the river. Very cool. Went to be around 8:30PM. (Thank you Ambian) It was much colder that night. Got down to about 35 Degrees.

Day 4: Broke camp early because we had a long day ahead of us. We would have to climb from 1,600 FT to 4,000 FT. Yea, OUCH! We hiked up the mountain for 4 hours straight. It was almost cruel. Not to mention all the trees that were down because of the wind storm a week prior. We climbed over, under, around trees all throughout our hike. Sometimes the trees make the trail unpassable. In some instances the tree, uprooted the trail. We got to the top of Bote Mountain around 12:30 PM had lunch and then started a very steep decent down the mountain to Cades Cove.

We got to Cades Cove around 2:30 and our hike was over.

Quick stats: We hiked over 33 miles in 3 days. I officially lost 6 pounds. Saw around six loads of Bear poop. Hiked over, under, around, 50 trees that had blown down on the trail.

Technorati Tags: Smokey Mountains, Hiking, Elkmont, Cades Cove, Journals