Great Smoky Mountains National Park
July  31 - August 4, 2003

Here are some photos from my trip to the Smokies with my friend Paul.

We got started late on our first hiking day, but we packed up our backpacks and headed out after lunch from Cosby Campground on a 5 mile hike on the Low Gap Trail to our backcountry campsite.	Paul check's the map to make sure we're on the right track.
Our route took us over the ridge and we stopped to rest where the Low Gap Trail meets the Appalachian trail at the top of the ridge line.	Then we started heading down into the valley toward our camp site at Walnut Bottoms
Paul has his rain gear on to keep his backpack from getting wet.  It rained 3 of the 4 nights we were in the park and a few times during the day.	Our rain gear kept us mostly dry and the tent held up nicely.  Mostly it was just unbelievably humid and felt like hiking in a rain forest.  It made for a very lush green landscape.
It also made for big swollen creeks that were beautiful to hike along.  This is Big Creek where we camped in Walnut Bottoms.	Paul filters water for our gourmet meals.
Lots of freeze dried food made it easier to pack in. Hint:  Red beans and rice=good. Curried rice and vegetables=bad.	I don't have a picture but we hung our food in a bear bag 30 feet off the ground to keep away any "friendly" black bears.  We did see a bear later in the trip but we were in the car.
The humidity just hung in the air the whole trip.
On day 2 we did a day hike to the top of Mount Sterling.  The 11 mile (round trip) hike along Swallow Fork Trail and the Mount Sterling Ridge Trail took us from 3200 feet elevation at Walnut Bottoms to 5800 feet at the top of Mt. Sterling.	A gap in the trees offers a view and a break from the steady climb.
This old fire tower stands at the top of Mt. Sterling, the third highest peak in the park.  It's not used any more but offers a great view for hikers like us.  It's hard to see, but I'm at the top and Paul is taking the photo.	The view from the top of the fire tower.  This was our one relatively rain free day so we lucked out with the view.
A handy bridge to cross a stream on the way back down.
Back at Walnut Bottoms it was time for a little dip in Big Creek.	This was our only "shower" on the trip and with 50 degree water was definitely not worth it.
Paul and I have an ultimate frisbee tournament right after we get back so of course we brought a disc to keep us amused.	After another thunderstorm we decided to not risk the weather any more so on Day 3 we hiked back out to Cosby.  Here we are again at the Appalachian Trail.
From these photos you can again see the humidity hanging in the air.
We drove through the park and stopped at Newfound Gap for some touristy photos.
We challenged ourselves to a 0.3 mile hike to this waterfall.  Birkenstocks, shockingly enough, are not ideal hiking footwear.	Speaking of footwear. We decided to go whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River.  With class III and IV rapids the one requirement was shoes that would stay on our feet.  All we had were hiking boots so we stopped at Wal-Mart to buy these matching wanna-be Adidas.  Since we couldn't bring the camera on the river and were too cheap to buy the photos from the outfitter this is the only photo we have from rafting. But...
This is what we would have looked like.  This is my mom, sister and Ms. Linda rafting in Colorado just a week before our trip.	If you noticed a terrified look in Ms. Linda's face in the last photo it's for a good reason.  Michele and Mom had to grab her leg to keep her from going overboard.
Hope you enjoyed the photos from our trip!

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