Smoky Mountains 75th Anniversary Camp and Hike
LyttleBryan June 15th, 2009
This past weekend was the big huge mega ultra super fabulous campout at Elkmont campground. It was an event with my hiking group, The Great Smokies Hiking and Adventure Group so I was really looking forward to it. We’ve been planning this event since the beginning of the year, and it definitely did not disappoint! The event included excellent food, awesome hikes, wild animals, freezing swims, raging thunderstorms, lots of hammocks, and most importantly, new friends! Before I go into any details I just want to tell everyone that helped make this event possible, thanks! This is the kind of stuff that I live for and without the coolest people in the world, none of the events we organizers plan would go anywhere. Thank you!
The weekend started the best way it possibly could, with a half day off work. Okay, you’re right, I could have not went into work at all, but a half day off is better than nothing, right? Don’t argue with me, just go with it. I got down to the campsite around 12 on Friday afternoon and began setting things up. I was the 5th or 6th person there so I was definitely on the early side of things. I got my campsite setup and then meandered around helping folks. Unfortunately I managed to forget my brand new rain fly for my hammock so I was stuck using a ghetto tarp. Fortunately it didn’t rain on Friday night. After everyone was settled I decided to lay in my hammock while I pondered going for a hike. 2 hours later I woke up, I hate it when that happens…or not. By that time even more people were arriving and the fun was just getting going. I spent most of Friday meeting all of the new people and helping them get settled. As the night sky dimmed it was time for campfires and most importantly, Tim G’s amazing gumbo! I look forward to the big car camping event every year because of this gumbo. Thanks, Tim! I spent the rest of the evening quietly sitting around a campfire sipping on ice cold beer and relaxing. Since the big hike was the next day I hit the hay early and went to sleep around 11pm.
It was a good thing I went to sleep early because the sun wasn’t going to let me sleep. I wound up awake at 6:30am with more than enough time to get ready for the hike. As luck would have it my campsite buddy Guen was also awake. Guen is pure awesome because she suggested we drive 20 minutes into Pigeon Forge and grab Krispy Kreme donuts for everyone. It was far better than the Special K I had planned so I went along. I’m glad I did because on the way there I got to see the sun coming up over Gatlinburg. To anyone that’s not seen the sun come up in the Smokies, this is definitely a must, add it to your bucket list! Guen and I grabbed three dozen donuts and then donned the Donut Fairy role and distributed them randomly throughout the camp. Everyone was very thankful, especially the camping newbies! After that it was time to get ready for the big hike.
Each of the organizers was leading a different hike that day and I had chosen to lead a hike up Meig’s Creek Trail. I told my group ahead of time that I would be going past the end point to extend the hike and anyone was welcomed. The hike was a lot of fun and definitely a good day hike. Our “official” ending point was the Curry Mountain trail head, but I extended mine up to Meig’s Creek and down to the Sinks. The hike extension was absolutely awesome because about 2 miles into it I came 3 feet from walking on a very elderly and very ticked off timber rattlesnake! I had yet to see a rattlesnake in person and this was a little more up close and personal than I would care to admit. Luckily the rest of the hike was “uneventful” and the hike closed out pretty nicely. I realized why The Sinks was so popular because it’s really quite cool. I’d never been there before so it was a special treat, especially after coming in at the end of 10 mile hike! Guen was nice enough to pick us up and take us back to the campsite. Thanks, Guen!
Once back at the campsite everyone was waiting anxiously for the apple pie contest. The contest was a lot of fun and it was interesting to see all the different takes on the traditional dessert. Congrats to Susan for winning, hopefully she likes the lodge pot! Once the contest was over Tim, Guen, Kristina, Adam, and I decided that taking a dip in the always-cold Little River sounded like fun. You can tell from the pictures below that it wasn’t just cold it was COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD! Never the less we endured and had some fun. Unfortunately a storm rolled in toward the end so we were forced to evacuate. The Summer killed much of the plans for the night so we just hung out under Tim’s giant tarp and munched on good food (mmmmm hummus!) and got to know Kristina and Adam, two relative new comers to the group. It was a good Saturday night and once the rain cleared out it was quite peaceful!
Sunday morning saw the event of the awesome weekend, but it was a good morning. We started with a mega breakfast. We had pancakes, bacon, southwest egg burritos. Food always tastes better at a campsite! Once breakfast was done we strung up all our hammocks and relaxed until 11:30. After that we got up and got made our way home. It was a really awesome weekend and definitely how it should be done. Thanks again all, I had some fun!
