A geek walked into the woods..

LyttleBryan July 27th, 2010

This weekend I finally had the opportunity to see one of the staples of the Smoky Mountains: Gregory Bald. It still surprises me that after a hundred or more trips to the Smokies, I still haven’t seen some of the most commonly visited parts of the park.

Our trip wasn’t just a hike up to the Bald, but was actually a two night, three day backpacking trip. I had Friday afternoon off work, so we left around noon to head to Cades Cove. Our trip took us up Rabbit Creek Trail to Scott Gap. From there we took Hannah Mountain Trail to Campsite #14 where we stayed the night on Friday. Saturday we got up and continued on Hannah Mountain and then up Gregory Bald Trail to Campsite #13 for the night. We got up early on Sunday and made our way up to the Bald itself where we had breakfast and watched the sun come up. After that it was all downhill (literally) to the road. From there we hitched a ride back to Cades Cove Loop road and finally to our car. It was a really fantastic trip with a lot of neat things to see and experience.

If I had to pick a theme for this trip, it would probably have to be the heat. It was hot this weekend in the Smokies. Like, really, really, hot. I think there were a couple of times while climbing up to the bald that I could be found sprawled out on the ground with a bandanna over my head. Looking back it was fun, but I can remember some points of pure misery during the trip. Couple this with water sources that were few and far between, and it made for some tense moments. Julie and I were both out of water by the time we got to campsite #14, and by all signs, we weren’t expecting to find any at the local sources. Fortunately the last spring we looked at had enough that we could filter it. The same thing happened on the second day too. It wasn’t until we were within a 1/8th of a mile from Campsite #13 that we came upon the spring. It definitely makes me rethink the 2 liters of water that I carry. I may have to invest in a new three liter bladder.

If I had to pick another theme for the trip, it would be that Julie hates hammocks. You see, this trip Julie decided that she wanted to try hammock camping as well. So I loaned her my spare ENO Doublenest with rainfly and away we went. By 11:45 pm on Friday night, she was pretty darn miserable. So miserable in fact that she spent a good 10 seconds screaming at the cicadas to be quiet. I’ll leave the profanity laden content out of this entry, but needless to say I was both happy no one else was in the campsite and trying hard not to laugh at the situation. Fortunately she was a good sport and made it through the rest of the weeknd. Either way she’ll probably be getting a new single person tent in the near future…

I think one of the most exciting parts of the trip for me, aside from the bald, was the number of campsites we passed on the trip. I enjoy knowing things about the Smokies, and knowing what the campsites look like is great when someone says “hey, where should I go?” I got to go past 5 different campsites this weekend: 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. I can say without a doubt that campsite #13 is one of the coolest sites I’ve ever seen in the Smokies. The grassy ground, the old trees, and the bald are just amazing! Campsites #12 and #15 were also very cool sites. They’re much easier to get to and have large creeks flowing directly past them. I would gladly go for one of those when I’m looking for a nice easy site. Site #14 was also a nice site, though very small. It definitely couldn’t house more than 2-3 tents, though it can handle quite a few hammocks. Site #16, well, I can’t really think of a good reason to stay here. With site #15 being only 1.1 miles away, I can’t think of a reason not to go there instead!

Though one thing of note about site #16, is that Hannah Mountain Trail, which goes right past it, is absolutely amazing. It is easily one of the nicest trails I have hiked in the Smokies. It doesn’t have a lot of amazing views, and there isn’t anything special about it like waterfalls, but it’s just an enjoyable trail. I can understand why it’s referred to as “the softest trail in the Smokies.” It is!

Another thing probably worth mentioning was some of the wild life we saw on the trip. Not once, but twice we got a little too close to a bear we didn’t know was there. Just outside Campsite #16 on Hannah Mountain Trail we came over a ridge and scared one in the middle of the trail. It was about 30′ away when I saw it. Fortunately it was just as startled as we were because it immediately started running up the ridge. The other bear was about 25 yards from campsite #13. It was just off in the brush and we didn’t see it until we were about 10′ from it. Both times we were too close for me to safely get pictures. Unfortunate, but I’d much rather remain a safe distance from bears!

Overall it was an amazing trip. Pictures are below. If you’re wondering which campsites are which, the order we passed them and the order with which they’re shown in the photos are: 15, 16, 14, 13, 12.

Enjoy!

Gregory Bald Backpack 7-26-2010

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Tags: Campsite 12, Campsite 13, Campsite 14, Campsite 15, Campsite 16

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LyttleBryan July 16th, 2010

Man, where do I even start a post like this? I guess the beginning is as good as any! Right before the 4th of July, I had a big change in my life. The company I work for offered me a full time position. I’d been working there for well over a year, and this was going to be a big step up for me. To celebrate the new position, and take advantage of unlimited vacation one last time, I decided to take a nice long vacation in the Smokies. Our plans start originally as an AT hike from one end of the park to the other. Unfortunately a rock slide on US 129 forced us to re-evaluate. We decided on a large loop around the Eastern half of the park. A picture is worth a thousand words as they say. Below is the route that Julie and I covered over the course of the 5 days:

I don’t blame you if reading all of the routes we took is too hard to follow. It took me about 15 minutes to figure out all of the trails we touched when I was writing this up. In order, the trails we covered were:

• Baxter Creek Tr
• Mount Sterling Ridge Tr
• Balsm Mtn Tr
• Beech Gap Tr
• Hyatt Ridge Tr
• Enloe Creek Tr
• Chasteen Creek Tr
• Bradley Fork Trail
• Dry Sluice Gap Tr
• The Appalachian Tr
• Hughes Ridge Tr
• The Appalachian Tr (again)
• Low Gap Tr
• Big Creek Trail

It was an experience, and I learned a lot about what I’m capable of. I also learned a lot about some different parts of the park I’d never been to before. For instance, I learned that if you’re going to be going up to the AT ridge multiple times on a trip, don’t plan to do 13 miles a day. that was an important lesson. Another important lesson was that Baxter Creek Trail is the most awful trail in the entire park. Bastard Creek Trail was the name we ultimately decided upon for it. I’m sort of glad we got that one done on the first day, but it did kind of start us off on a rough foot.

Our favorite part of the trip was definitely the AT. There’s something so great about being up on a ridge like that being able to look down both sides. Not to mention the views that seemed to stretch forever. It was truly amazing.

I won’t go into the day-to-day of the trip. I’ll let the pictures do that. Some thoughts I will add though. The Eastern side of the park could really use some TLC. In a few of the photos you’ll see what just looks like weeds/plants and sunbeams. Believe it or not, that’s actually what the trail looked like. Some maintenance is definitely needed, and needed big time! Laurel Gap and all of the AT shelters were in great shape. The campsites we saw and stayed at were pretty nice, and mostly empty. Definitely less trafficed than “my side” of the park!

I’m really looking forward to my next big backpack in the park. Currently it’s scheduled for Labor Day weekend!

-LB

4th of July Backpack 7-4-2010

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LyttleBryan May 25th, 2010

This weekend I had the opportunity to venture into the most dangerous section of the park. An area that’s so unnerving, parlous, and ruthless that only the truly hardened adventurer would dare go. So with ice flowing through my veins, I took Julie and we ventured out. That’s right folks, we went into Cades Cove ON A SATURDAY!

In all seriousness though, I now understand why it’s been well over a year since I went to Cades Cove. The traffic, the tourists, and noise is more stress than I want to put up with. Fortunately we got there just as the gate was being opened from it’s standard Saturday morning closure for cyclists. It still took us over an hour to go the 7 miles to Abrams Falls trail head, but at least that’s all it took. Our route consisted of going up Cooper Road Trail, down Hatcher Mountain, and up Little Bottoms to campsite #17. Sunday we would hike out Abrams Falls trail to our car after stopping for some pictures and leisure at the falls themselves.

Cooper Road from Cades Cove was the only portion of the trail that was new to me. I have to say, at this time of year, it was a great trail. The condition of the trail was excellent, it was just physically demanding enough to get a good exercise, and the amount of wild life was unparalleled to anything else I’ve seen in the park. In fact, I want to rename it Critter Road Trail. It may have been the time of year, but there were a lot of animals.

In no particular order we saw:

• Bear(s)
• Dear
• A Blacksnake
• A Lizzard
• (a TON of) Butterfly

Most of the sightings aside from one young buck, and the snake, were from a safe distance. There was an incident at our campsite involving a bear outside our tent at ~10pm, but a little loud talking and some headlamps and it vamoosed. I think the only thing we were missing of the major animals was bobcat and boar. I’m glad I didn’t see any boar.

 

The falls were quite enjoyable, and was a nice cap to a wonderful weekend.


Cooper Road & Abrams Falls Backpack 5-23-2010

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LyttleBryan April 24th, 2010

Yes, yes, I know. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything. I assure you it’s not for lack of wanting to, but more because my time is limited lately and I have chosen eating and sleeping over other options. I did want to write about my trip last weekend, because it was so cool. It had everything from awesome wildlife, to me finally knowing what it’s like to be the one in the back who someone is waiting on!

I had originally posted this backpack as a group event, but only 4 people signed up, myself, the-woman-who-currently-puts-up-with-me (TWWCPUWM ), and a couple of guys from the hiking group. For various reasons others dropped out until it was eventually just my girlfriend and I. The backpack was down in the North Carolina side of the Smoky Mountains, in the Deep Creek Area near Bryson City.

The backpack got off to an amazing start when there, not far from the trail head, sat a little baby black bear. A small group of people had already begun to gather, and it was obvious that they were creeping closer, and closer. My first thought was “where’s mom?” After a few minutes I grabbed my camera out of the car and took advantage of my nice zoom lens to get some pretty good shots of the little guy/gal. After a few minutes we went back to the ranger station to let them know what was going on. It was kind of fortunate we did all of that, because we had actually been at the wrong trail head!

With all of that excitement we started our backpack. Since I knew we would staying the night near Deep Creek, and it was just the two of us, I had decided to pack my tripod in with my good camera. As such my pack was about 8 lbs heavier than it usually is. Of all the hikes to pack in extra weight, I would pick one as insane as going up Noland Divide!

Truth be told my pack was relatively light even with the tripod. I know I’ve carried far more when backpacking, so i don’t really know why I felt like I was dying the entire time. I couldn’t go more than a 1/4 mile without having to stop and catch my breath. Maybe it was allergies? The pollen has been rather brutal this year. Either way, the 11+ miles it took to get to the campsite took us just under 7 hours, which is certainly not my usual pacing, even on exceedingly hard terrain.

All-in-all though, the hike was enjoyable. The views from the ridge were quite impressive, and it was nice seeing the birds of prey floating on the wind. The area suffered significant damage to the hemlock population which was quite sad, and the bridge from Pole Road Creek Trial to Deep Creek Trail was out which made for an exciting (AND COLD!) crossing in Deep Creek. It was all worth it though because we had a beautiful campsite right next to the river (#56) completely to ourselves. Actually not completely to ourselves, there was a little field mouse that kept popping up occasionally to say hello and search for crumbs. It was very peaceful, and very relaxing!

The next morning we took our time getting up and going. TWWCPUWM enjoyed some morning yoga by the river while I got to play around with some slow shutter speed shots. Unfortunately the morning sun was a little too bright to get many good ones, but with the help of some deep exposure, I did manage to get a few nice looking shots. Before setting out for the day we rearranged our packs so that I would carry more of her gear, and she would take my tripod. Despite equivalent weights, my pack felt much better and I was able to handle the terrain with no problems. I can only conclude that the manner I strapped my tripod to my pack was causing me to be lopsided. At least that’s what I’m telling myself. After we got back to the car we stopped in Bryson City at a little place called Anthony’s Italian and Pizzeria. It had a nice front porch that looked out over an historic train yard. Their pasta was divine! I had spinach manicotti, and TWWCPUWM had Chicken Parmesan. Her’s was much better than mine, but they were both very good. With that, our weekend was concluded and we made our way back home. I did discover something interesting during the drive. We calculated the mileage from my apartment to the Deep Creek parking lot going through Sevierville on the way there, and going via Little River Road/Maryville on the way home. Sevierville is 99.3 miles, and Maryville is 100.7. There’s less than 2 miles physical distance between the two routes. Definitely handy to know in the future!

Lotta pictures, I hope you enjoy them.

Nolland Divide 4-17-2010

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LyttleBryan March 21st, 2010

This is part of a series of posts from my Mt. Kilimanjaro journal.  The contents may, or may not, have been affected by serious altitude delusion.  I’ll leave that for the reader to decide…

2/13/2010

Well, we’re here!  We arrived in Tanzania at 11:30 last night.  The flight was probably the roughest flights I’ve ever been on.  I guess it wasn’t too bad, but after 26 hours of airport/airplane, I was ready to be done!

Our driver from the airport to the hotel was a native by the name of Joe.  I got the feeling that wasn’t his real name, but who knows.  I did notice something odd about driving in TZ.  They use their blinkers to signal the cars behind them that there are cars coming and it’s not safe to pass.  they also do something with their brights, but for the 45 minute drive, I couldn’t figure it out.

Anyway back to my internal monologue.  I was a little disappointed we got in at night because I couldn’t see the mountain from a distance.  Adam had echoed the same sentiment.   For now it’s time to see what exploring we can do.

(later that day) Our hotel in Arusha is pretty cool. It’s decorated in traditional African decor. Actually I wonder if it’s just designed to look like what foreigners expect Africa to look like. Adam says it looks like a Disney style hotel. Like the Disney Safari what’s-it-called. Maybe he has a point. Anyway, time will tell I guess. Soon we’ll be out of the tourist town of Arusha, and into the trail town of Marangu. I guess that’s still a tourist town, just a different kind of tourist town.

P.S. I had liver for breakfast. I don’t know what animal it was from, but we’re calling it elephant liver.

(later that night) Well the days about to end and the most physically demanding thing I’ve done so far is wander around the hotel between our room and various areas. We tried to walk out into Arusha to explore, but we got a lot of attention. it wasn’t negative attention, and I never truly felt threatened, but when you’re a people-watcher like me, it’s disconcerting to be the one being watched.

Since our exploring Arusha failed, Adam and I found ourselves with a few hours to kill. It didn’t take long for us to find a few comfy chairs and a list of African beer! The beer we had was rather cliche in name (Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, etc.), but it was pretty good. I preferred the Serengeti as it was a little darker and richer while Adam liked the Kilimanjaro. We passed the time with good beer, good conversation, and Chinese food. The Chinese food in our African hotel was a very, very, good. Don’t ask me!

After lunch we were in the lobby with our KE Adventure duffel bags when a woman noticed them and inquired. It turns out she and her boyfriend were on the exact same trip. They had arrived in town the night before on a slightly later flight. We sat in the lobby for a while chatting and waiting for our ride to Marangu. Eventually our guide and KE representative arrived and we began the painfully long 3 hour drive. It was on the drive that I got the first glimpse of “real Africa.”

As far as I can tell there is no middle class in Africa. you either live in a walled Plantation, or you live in a shack. This may be generalizing a bit, but it’s what I saw in the areas between Marangu and Arusha. I’ll be honest, some of the things I saw made my heart ache. i simply cannot fathom what living in these conditions must be like. It made the fat wallet I was carrying feel like all the wealth in the world, and that left me feeling more than a little guilty. No matter how much I told myself my presence there supported the economy, I know that tourists are not what these people truly need. My religious opinions aside, I have a new found respect for Missionaries.

We arrived in our hotel in Marangu around 5:30pm. The hotel was in a walled and gated area that reminded me of a compound. It is an AMAZING hotel. Everything except the rooms were open air. This was especially awesome as the sun went down. Now I’m sitting in the open air sipping a glass of tonic water listening to bugs and enjoying the breeze. the hotel has a beautiful garden out back and I got some great pictures of various flowers. I’m hoping I can stump Maya with these foreign flowers. Now it’s off to get some (hopefully) good sleep before another long drive and our first day of real hiking.

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LyttleBryan March 19th, 2010

This is part of a series of posts from my Mt. Kilimanjaro journal.  The contents may, or may not, have been affected by serious altitude delusion.  I’ll leave that for the reader to decide…

2/12/2010

I’ve now been either in an airport or on a plane for 26 hours. It’s not been as bad as I would have expected, honestly. I slept for 5 of the 8 hours of the transatlantic flight from Detroit, MI to Amsterdam, NE. The Amsterdam airport isn’t that remarkable an airport really. Though they do have good coffee. It was here while waiting for the connection to Kilimanjaro International Airport that we met a fellow American by the name of Jack Stagge. Jack is a missionary from Washington state who runs the faces4hope mission. I spoke with him for quite a while about the things he does. His primary goal, that I could gather at least, is increasing the social placement of women in the rural parks of Tanzania. Their social status is below cattle and only slightly above children.

Some of the more traditional missionary things they do include education, health, general life improvement and of course spreading Christianity. I was impressed with the amount of stuff his mission has accomplished, and it was an excellent start to my trip. It was also an excellent start to the information gathering tasks my girlfriend, Julie, had assigned to me on behalf of her Public Health class. Anything in the name of education, right?

I’ll pause there and complain that I’m sitting on a plane at the gate an hour after we were supposed to leave. The captain is on the intercom informing us the gate switch was caused by another planes flat tire blocking our original gate. At the end of the speech though, I just can’t help but smile because he gave the speech in 3 different languages! I love international travel. For the first time on thi8s trip I really feel like I’m on vacation. Maybe it’s because this flight takes me over the snow covered peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

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LyttleBryan December 29th, 2009

I’ll never forget the night I first heard about Virgin Falls. You can probably relate to the situation. A bunch of friends sitting around a campfire swapping stories, talking about the places they’ve been and the places they want to go. It was then that my friend Nick first mentioned Virgin Falls. A relatively unknown (compared to the Smokies) waterfall on the Bridgestone/Firestone Centennial Wilderness. At the time I was more or less a complete newbie to both the area, and to outdoor adventure in general. Well, a lot has changed since I first heard of Virgin Falls over a year ago. Things change. It’s what they do, right?

I won’t go into a great deal of depth about each of my adventures to Virgin Falls. If you’d like, you can read about them throughout my blog where I’ve chronicled most of my adventures. When I first traveled to Virgin Falls in March of this year, I never imagined that I would return there 3 more times throughout the year. Well I did, and as it worked out, it was for each of the seasons. I decided to write this post when I noticed the way the falls changed throughout the seasons. I’ll not do it any justice describing it with words, no matter how long winded I am. Instead I’ll let this picture speak for itself…

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LyttleBryan December 26th, 2009

It’s been over a week since this post, but I’ve been busy with work and traveling for Christmas, so I put it off. This was the fourth and final trip of what I have begun to call “4 Seasons at Virgin Falls.” It got this name in the Fall when I realized I’d been to Virgin Falls 3 times this year, and each one corresponded to a different season. I’m going to put together a different post to talk about that, because the differences in the seasons is actually an interesting topic unto itself. So for this post I’ll keep the information limited to the backpack last weekend.

Unlike the three previous trips to Virgin Falls I decided to post this backpack for the Great Smokies Hiking and Adventure Group. When people first started RSVPing for it, they indicated they were really only interested in a hike and not an overnight. I decided that since so many people wanted to hike, that I’d have it be both a hike AND a backpack! I was planning to hike out with the group after I dropped my backpack off, but fortunately the group named a new Assistant Organizer, Denita, and she volunteered to lead the day hike portion of the trip. Unfortunately a slight typo on my part resulted in much confusion for those that didn’t actually read my emails. Fortunately I can blame them entirely since they didn’t read the emails! Plausible deniability, Aint it grand? I’ll spare the details but in one place I listed the leave time for carpooling as 9am. Everywhere else I’d listed it as 7:30am and so some people weren’t there at 7:30. Fortunately everyone got to the trail head. We just had to hike in at different times.

So aside from everyone showing up at different times, everyone got their without a problem. The trails were muddy and cold from long weeks of rains, freezes, thaws, and everything else Mother Nature tends to throw you during the winter. That’s okay though, because it’s all part of the fun. What wasn’t part of the fun though was the insanity that was the Laurel Creek crossing! In the other time’s I’d been to Virgin Falls I’ve never seen that crossing so complicated. The flow and power made it so difficult to cross that most people opted for simply taking off their shows to cross. I knew at that point that the falls were going to be something remarkable that day.

We continued on the trail stopping occasionally to take in the marvels that were Laurel Creek and allowing people to catch their breath. Originally we had planned to stay at the Overlook for the night, but due to imminent freezing we decided climbing frozen ladders was a safety hazard I wasn’t willing to put the group through. I’m always more willing to do things when I’m not responsible for multiple people. Well that and the thought of having to carry someone out is not my idea of a good time! So instead of staying at the overlook we decided to setup basecamp at Big Laurel Falls, an area we have never stayed at before. And after staying there for the night, I can say I don’t want to do it again outside of the hottest of Summers! More on that later though.

One we got to Big Laurel Falls we stopped to have a break. Everyone from the day hiking group ate lunch while the backpackers staked out their claim for sleeping spots. Since I was hanging, I staked out trees. Fortunately there are quite a few REALLY nice trees in that area. Once we got everyone setup we continued on to the hikes namesake, Virgin Falls. I can honestly say that in all of my years hiking I have never seen anything like Virgin Falls on that day. The raw strength, power, and volume of the falls were amazing. I actually couldn’t even get a clean shot from the “usual lookout” because the spray from the falls was that powerful. Man just thinking about it right now gives me chills.

We played around the falls and explored the area for quite a bit before I decided it was time to head out. I was a little concerned about the day hikers having enough daylight to get back to their cars. Fortunately enough people had lights that I wasn’t too concerned about them. Once back to Big Laurel we bid farewell to the hikers and began preparations for an evening of fun. Actually there wasn’t much preparation to make because everyone had carried in firelogs and I’d already setup my hammock! it was nice. So instead of doing any work I got out a flask of Crown Royal I’d packed in and ate some dinner. Over all it was an uneventful and enjoyable evening. The only downside was the falls we were staying next to. Just like Virgin Falls, Big Laurel was in rare form. The spray from the falls was hitting us a hundred yards away. Additionally the only place to get water was next to the falls themselves! This was quite unpleasant because it was a rocky climb down and the spray was ice cold. Definitely not something I want to deal with again in the Winter time. Fortunately I’d switched to chemical treatment so i just had to fill up a Platypus instead of standing there pumping. Definitely points for the chemical treatment department.

After dinner, drinks, and general campfire fun, we all retired to our sleep areas. And sleep we did! I slept for almost 14 hours. it was glorious, especially considering that it was in the 20s out! I don’t sleep that well in my bed in my apartment! I fully give credit to the new Warbonnet Blackbird and Warbonnet Winter Yeti. I have a review written up and will be posting it soon. Brand, at Warbonnet, is definitely a homegrown shop, and he’s doing amazing things!

Below are some pictures from the trip, enjoy!

Virgin Falls December 2009

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LyttleBryan November 20th, 2009

This last weekend I took a trip to Mt. Rogers, VA. to bid farewell to Fall and welcome Winter. It was quite possibly the most perfect backpacking weather anyone could ask for. The sun was shining, the ponies were naying, and a giant black lab stole my spare pair of Ex-Officio boxers. All-in-all, it was an absolutely fantastic weekend!

We had originally hoped for an early Friday afternoon departure so as to make to camp before dark. Unfortunately after a late departure and a 3 hour drive we were already well into dusk before we set foot on the trail. Luckily everyone was experienced and prepared for some night hiking. We left from the Elk Garden Parking area on the Appalachian Trail (AT). I always enjoy hiking the AT. It’s fun knowing that the trail stretches for thousands of miles. It really staggers the mind if you think about it. The hike wasn’t too bad, even at night. there were occasionally some pesky rocks and roots, but nothing that wouldn’t slip us up during the day time. We got into camp around 9:00pm that night. Adam and Guen retired almost immediately while Jessica, Bode, and myself stayed up to have dinner and enjoy the relative piece. There were a fair number of folks in the area (there always seems to be). After a while we all retired for some sleep.

Saturday morning saw everyone awake and refreshed for another day of packing. We tore down camp and set out to explore the peak of Mt. Rogers. I can say with complete honesty that the peak of Mt. Rogers was about as boring as you can get. There’s absolutely no view, and you can barely see the sky. If it weren’t for the fact that it’s the highest point in VA, then it really wouldn’t have much going for it! Still it was enjoyable, and the woods surrounding it are actually quite neat looking. We all agreed that if an elf or a dwarf popped out from behind a tree none of us would bat an eye lash. It had a very Tolkien feel to it. After the trip to the summit we made our way back toward the look out near Rhododendron Gap. I don’t know if this rock has a name or not, but I keep calling it the “Lion King Rock.” If you have seen the Lion King then you know what I’m talking about. It’s the rock that the primate holds the baby lion over so everyone can see. Anyway, I digress. I personally love the rock because you can see forever. It’s also very convenient because it’s the spot where many of the trails in the area converge. There are always people around and it makes for a generally nice experience. From there we stopped for lunch and mutually decided that we would back track and find a spot to setup camp for the night. Fortunately we found a good one and claimed it as our own.

As we setup camp Adam and Guen left to find water. And as Adam and Guen tend to do, they got lost. Fortunately they found water and their way back. The rest of the night passed pretty peacefully with a wonderful campfire (thanks to a 5lb firelog we carried in), and plenty of good food and drink. We we retired at around 9pm for the night. Well, we thought it was 9pm. Unfortunately the person who’s time piece we went by hadn’t adjusted for DST yet so we actually went to bed at 8pm. I guess that’s why I was WIDE awake at 5am. I wasn’t the only one either. Everyone was up before the sun. This actually worked out to our advantage as we had time to hike back to the “Lion King Rock” and watch the sun rise. I think those pictures are some of the best I’ve ever had! After the sunrise we tore down camp and began prep for our departure. While putting my sleeping base layers in my pack, my spare pair of underwear fell out of my clothes bag. Without hesitation Bode, jessica’s dog, runs over and steals them. He spent the next 5 minutes running around camp with my underwear hanging out of his mouth. I’m just glad they were a clean pair! After everyone had a good laugh and plenty of pictures were taken, Jessica was able to tackle him and I was able to get my (now not-so-clean) underwear back. It was one of the funniest things I’d experienced.

We had a nice hike out and were able to get home with some daylight left. I look forward to going back and exploring this area again. It really was quite beautiful!

Also a quick note, I’m moving away from direct image uploads. I’m trying to get a picas plugin working, but for some reason it won’t put the pictures directly in the post. I’ll keep working on that, but for now just click the link below to see all the images! Later all

Mt Rogers November 09

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Mt. Rogers

Backpacking and camping on the Appalachian Trail through Mt. Rogers, VA

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LyttleBryan August 25th, 2009

This weekend I got the chance to spend a few days in the Deep Creek Area between Cherokee, NC and Bryson City, NC. I’d never been to this area so everything from the drive to campground was new to me. I love exploring new places and I was really excited to spend the time with my very good friends Tim, Maya, Guen, and Adam. Several others had been invited, but do to extraneous circumstances had to back out. The purpose of this particular backpacking trip was two fold. The minor point was that I celebrated my birthday this past Tuesday. Much more importantly my very good friend Maya will be leaving Knoxville next week. She will be pursuing a dream moving to New York City, New York. As much as it thrills me that she’s doing something she’s always wanted to do, I can’t help be feel incredibly sad that I’ll be losing her. Oh well, enough of the sappy stuff. The Google Map below pin points where we picked up the trail head. The trail is directly off the campground which made for easy access.

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The trip in Friday afternoon was just Tim, Maya, and I with Guen and Adam joining us later. We were originally going to take Deep Creek Trail directly to number 60, but once we started looking at the signs we decided to take the Deep Creek Horse trail so as to see Juney Wank Falls. the Falls themselves were nothing spectacular, but the trail offered much more than Deep Creek itself. It was a little longer and much more strenuous than Deep Creek. Since the hike was only ~3 miles we had time to stop and enjoy the sights. Deep Creek followed the trail pretty closely and offered some absolutely gorgeous views. We made it to camp around 4 in the afternoon and immediately setup in a very pretty little spot right along the creek. The night went by uneventfully with Mother Nature showing signs of an impending thunderstorm. Around 11 we decided that Adam and Guen must have decided to hike in on Saturday morning so we all retired for the evening. Much to our surprise we heard their voices coming down the trail around quarter to midnight. They had decided to night hike in and got in just before the storms started. Tim and I helped Adam set up his tent and then retired for the evening after a little small talk.

From what I could tell Mother Nature opened up around 12:30 that evening and rained for most of the night. Fortunately for me I was nuzzled up in my Marmot Nyx tent deep inside my Outdoor Research Exped Wall Creeper. It could have been a monsoon outside and I’d have been sleeping like a baby. Love it! We all got up around 8:30 that morning and began preparing for a long day of hiking. Our hike for the day consisted of finishing Deep Creek Trail and then following Martin’s Gap up to Indian Creek. There were quite a few campsites along Deep Creek so we had a wonderful opportunity to scout out some new sites. The trails offered a lot of variety ranging from beautiful views, to horrible gnat infestations. Overall the hike was really great! But by the end of the day though we were all ready to be done. One thing of note was a horrible amount of trash that we found along Martin’s Gap Trail. There was a spot that looked like someone had emptied their trash bag on the trail. The only thing the group could reason was that a critter had made off with someone’s trash bag and ripped it open on that spot. Either way it was more than a little disheartening!

After we got back to the campsite that evening we all took the opportunity for a quick swim in the creek. Once we got over the initial shock of the cold, we enjoyed cooling off and getting some of the grimy hiker funk off. After our swim/bath we all put on fresh clothes and relaxed for a little bit before dinner. Fortunately every single one of us had hammocks to relax in. If there’s one thing to know about me, it’s that I do love my hammock! The nap(s) left everyone refreshed which made us realize how hungry we all were. Fortunately for all of us Guen is COMPLETELY AWESOME and brought a bunch of Fresh Market snacks for us to munch on. I’d never had chocolate covered soy beans before, but now I have and I can say they’re awesome! The rest of the evening passed with little activity as we enjoyed our dinners and Maya heated us away from the fire ring with a roaring fire.

With Sunday morning came the end of the fun and we all packed up and started making our way out. We decided to take Deep Creek back so to see the last of the waterfalls in the area. Overall it was an amazingly positive experience and an absolutely wonderful time in a new area. It was great getting to spend some last quality time with Maya. We all love you, Maya, and wish you the best in your move to New York.

-Lyttle Bryan

• Backpacking , Hiking
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