| Smoky Mountain Trip |
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| This is on the Appalacian Trail as it runs through the Great Smoky National Park. The terrain was very hilly. We were either going up or down, not much level ground anywhere. We experienced elevation changes of 5,000+ feet. The trail was also covered in ice and snow. We had,crampons, spikes that clamped to our boots for better traction. The shuttle guy that dropped us of at the trailhead, beginning of the trail, told us of a fatality in the park less than a week before we arrived. He died of hypothermia. That set us in the right mood for hitting the trail! |
| After a long hard first day we were releived to see our first nights shelter. We had the place to ourselves except for a few mice that tried to snuggle with Jon in his sleeping bag. The visitors also attempted to get our food supply but were foiled by our custom food bag. Made by my mother and I. The shelter is closed on 3 sides and has a "fire place" that fill the sleeping area with smoke. |
| This is typical of what the trail looked like at the high elevations. We were above 5,000 feet for over 95% of the trail. Note the top of Jon's backpack in the lower right corner of the picture. |
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| Here we are on the last day of our 4 day excursion in the Smoky Mountains. It was our first real winter backpacking experience. We had a great time except for the first day jitters. We were always warm and never hungry. Who could ask for anything more? As always we were sad to leave the trail but knew that all good things must come to an end. Fortunately, there are many placed to explore. We are currently planning a desert trip in Texas. |