I thought I'd share a trip my friends and I took and filmed back in March in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee/North Carolina).
We had a plan where we'd all start from different trailheads and hike solo overnight before regrouping the next day. Well, I think I ended up having the hardest of the three trails. The first day's hike was about 4.8 miles of fairly constant uphill, and it just felt like there was switchback after switchback, never ending. It wasn't the steepest, but when you're alone it can be pretty draining. But there were some incredible views of the mountains here and there, which really helped keep me going.
At my first campsite, I had realized I'd forgotten a lot of things. It had been raining on and off much of the day (which didn't help the toughness of the hike), and I was too tired to try and start a fire. I also didn't bring any fuel for my alcohol stove (haha, whoops), so all I had to eat was some home-made kimchi (Korean-style pickled cabbage) and some dried ramen.
I'd also realized I didn't bother to bring any stakes for my tarp, and I only had 4 ropes attached to the grommets rather than 6, so I wouldn't be making an A-frame shelter. I could have carved sticks, but the ground seemed like it'd be too tough and rocky for the wood. Instead, I made a diamond-shaped shelter, tying one end of it to a tree, and securing the other three corners by tying the ropes around big, heavy rocks that I had shifted around.
It ended up being a pretty secure shelter. The next day, I hiked out and started a ~9.2 mile hike along the AT to rendezvous with my friends. I had to hike 1.6 miles uphill just to get out of the campsite and back to where the main trail had ended. Then it was another 0.7 miles uphill, which for some reason was really tough to do.
But then the trail flattened out more or less for the next 4.5 or so miles along the AT. This made me feel much better. I also ran into several people, including some awesome volunteers who were maintaining the trail. Then, I came to the final stretch of the trail, which was about 2.1 miles uphill.
This hike was tough, but the past few miles of relatively flat trails had renewed my energy. It was raining quite a bit, and it's especially hard hiking in the rain with glasses, because they get all wet and fogged up. I finally got to the next junction and reunited with one of my friends. The junction was sort of up in the middle of a cloud almost, and everything was misty. We hiked together down the trail, and finally met up with my brother.
We still had about 3 or so miles to our shelter for the night, though. We hiked through the rain and the dark along these rough, rocky trails until we got to the Davenport Gap shelter. It was a huge relief - there was a nice fire going already, and there was plenty of space to dry off.
The next morning, it was finally clear, and the sun was coming out. It was really beautiful. We met a bunch of cool people at the shelter - a couple of guys doing a dayhike, and a couple of guys doing the AT thru hike. I've always met really cool and friendly people hiking in the Smokies, and just out and about in nature in general.
And after that, we hiked back down the trail in the sunlight to where we had started.
For those interested, my two friends and I filmed and edited together a video trip report:
[video=youtube;sektSfl0vdw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sektSfl0vdw&list=PLIuN82hcBpY13us_Gly95Qg_ph6Zlmi4G&index=2[/video]
We had a plan where we'd all start from different trailheads and hike solo overnight before regrouping the next day. Well, I think I ended up having the hardest of the three trails. The first day's hike was about 4.8 miles of fairly constant uphill, and it just felt like there was switchback after switchback, never ending. It wasn't the steepest, but when you're alone it can be pretty draining. But there were some incredible views of the mountains here and there, which really helped keep me going.
At my first campsite, I had realized I'd forgotten a lot of things. It had been raining on and off much of the day (which didn't help the toughness of the hike), and I was too tired to try and start a fire. I also didn't bring any fuel for my alcohol stove (haha, whoops), so all I had to eat was some home-made kimchi (Korean-style pickled cabbage) and some dried ramen.
I'd also realized I didn't bother to bring any stakes for my tarp, and I only had 4 ropes attached to the grommets rather than 6, so I wouldn't be making an A-frame shelter. I could have carved sticks, but the ground seemed like it'd be too tough and rocky for the wood. Instead, I made a diamond-shaped shelter, tying one end of it to a tree, and securing the other three corners by tying the ropes around big, heavy rocks that I had shifted around.
It ended up being a pretty secure shelter. The next day, I hiked out and started a ~9.2 mile hike along the AT to rendezvous with my friends. I had to hike 1.6 miles uphill just to get out of the campsite and back to where the main trail had ended. Then it was another 0.7 miles uphill, which for some reason was really tough to do.
But then the trail flattened out more or less for the next 4.5 or so miles along the AT. This made me feel much better. I also ran into several people, including some awesome volunteers who were maintaining the trail. Then, I came to the final stretch of the trail, which was about 2.1 miles uphill.
This hike was tough, but the past few miles of relatively flat trails had renewed my energy. It was raining quite a bit, and it's especially hard hiking in the rain with glasses, because they get all wet and fogged up. I finally got to the next junction and reunited with one of my friends. The junction was sort of up in the middle of a cloud almost, and everything was misty. We hiked together down the trail, and finally met up with my brother.
We still had about 3 or so miles to our shelter for the night, though. We hiked through the rain and the dark along these rough, rocky trails until we got to the Davenport Gap shelter. It was a huge relief - there was a nice fire going already, and there was plenty of space to dry off.
The next morning, it was finally clear, and the sun was coming out. It was really beautiful. We met a bunch of cool people at the shelter - a couple of guys doing a dayhike, and a couple of guys doing the AT thru hike. I've always met really cool and friendly people hiking in the Smokies, and just out and about in nature in general.
And after that, we hiked back down the trail in the sunlight to where we had started.
For those interested, my two friends and I filmed and edited together a video trip report:
[video=youtube;sektSfl0vdw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sektSfl0vdw&list=PLIuN82hcBpY13us_Gly95Qg_ph6Zlmi4G&index=2[/video]
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