To say the least, we were totally blessed. The weather was perfect with only one evening of rain and 70 to 80 degree days throughout. The miles were easy most of the time with the beauty of the park making even the steepest hill seem flat. All in all, we had an absolutely great time.

We left Boston on Friday, May 17th after Shannon returned from being on call. We spent a night in Roanoke, VA to break up the trip. On Saturday at about noon, we arrived at the park after driving a total of 900 miles from Boston.

We started hiking that afternoon after a short break for lunch and a minute or two to get our gear in order. The total trip took 7 days and we covered just over 50 miles. We hiked at least 5 miles every day.

The route the first day on Gabes Mountain Trail was quite a shock. We were not expecting the level of greenery and beauty in the park. Most of that first day we walked with our mouths open experiencing sensory overload. It was quite a change from the long, grey winter we just experienced in Boston. The trail was thickly bordered by Rhododendron on both sides with 100' maple trees towering overhead. We hiked along a small creek and at about the 3 mile mark we came to Hen Wallow Falls which had about a 100' drop down moss covered rocks. It was well worth the entire trip just to see these falls.

That night we found a nice campsite near a stream. Our neighbors were some vacationing loggers (6 very nice guys) who filled us in on information about the trees in the park and told us a little history. As it turns out, the park was formed in the early 1900's and was originally home to many people. The park either bought their property or allowed them to live out their lives in the park and then turn over their property at their death. The last homestead was turned over around 1960 or so. The park didn't tear down the homesteads but allowed the forest to "swallow" them up. You can still see and foundations from some of these homesteads throughout the park.

In the 1930's the Conservation Corps built most of the trails in the park. The trails were very nice but with all the water in the park, we really appreciated the log bridges. Over half the streams had these bridges and it kept us from having to wade through streams most of the time. The foliage is quite different in the Smoky Mountains from Boston or even California. Because of all the moisture and the fertile ground, you see some interesting natural phenomenon that you cannot find anywhere else in the East or West. We saw birch trees growing out of a Chestnut tree stumps and Maple Trees with 6' diameter. All in all, it was quite impressive.

On the third day, after hiking just under 15 miles, we hit The Appalachian Trail for the first time and crossed from Tennessee into North Carolina. The Appalachian Trail follows a ridge line through the Smokies that originally starts near the White Mountains in Maine and ends in Georgia. On the trail you meet interesting people and have wonderful views. One particular view we immediately came across was of Mt. Guyot, a 6,000' plus mountain directly on the Appalachian Trail (second highest spot on the Appalachian Trail). For the remainder of the trip, we had hundreds of beautiful views of this mountain.

After hiking a little way down the Appalachian Trail, we came to Camel Gap Trail that led us to Walnut Bottoms and our Campsite for the 3rd night (and also our last night). Walnut Bottoms was a fantastic campsite for us, right next to Big Creek where we tried our luck at some trout fishing (but failed). We were even visited by a bear one morning but it wasn't really all that interested in us (probably because of the lack of shower units in the back country of the park).

After leaving Walnut Bottoms, we took off on Gunter Fork Trail, arguably one of the most beautiful trails in the park. For the first few miles of this trail you follow Gunter Fork Creek with lots of small cascades, full waterfalls and pristine watering holes. Even though the hike along this trail was only 4.0 miles, it took us about 6 hours to complete it because we were stopping all along the trail. A good thing too. When we got to the top of the trail (it was uphill the entire way) we ran into a group of park rangers that just finished clearing the trail from the winter fall-downs. Apparently, there were more than a dozed trees across the trail. We couldn't have time it any better.

A mile or so after the top of Gunter Fork Trail we arrived at the Laurel Gap Shelter , our 4th night in the park. We were well protected from the elements and the bears. Take a look at the picture . We were the ones in the cage (to keep the bears out but it felt more like a zoo for the bears to see humans without being in harms way). This was the only night it rained. Being in the shelter kept us dry and warm all night. It was the perfect evening to rain.

Leaving Laurel Gap Shelter, we walked along Mt. Sterling Ridge to get to Mt. Sterling. This campsite was our absolute favorite. We had the entire 5820' mountain top to ourselves in a small, but beautiful, meadow where we spent most of the day relaxing . Just 30 feet away from us was a old fire tower that we climbed six stories to get 360 degree views of the park. We took a sunset picture of Mt. Guyot (as seen in the photo at the top) and other photos of the ridge line of the Appalachian Trail.

The next part of the trip down Baxter Creek Trail coming off Mt. Sterling and then back up Big Creek Trail to Walnut Bottoms was one of the longest (11 plus miles) but also one of the most beautiful. Baxter Creek Trail was one of the best trails we came upon in the park. Big Creek Trail followed along Big Creek (obviously) and was the largest stream we saw in the park. It was way to big to find a place to cross without a bridge. We saw at least a half dozen waterfalls and cascades along this creek that were quite spectacular.

Finally, on Day 7, after spending another night in Walnut Bottoms, we headed out to Low Gap. To get to Low Gap we gained about 2000 feet in under 2.5 miles. Then we lost the same elevation down the other side in the same distance. Other than have a very close call with a rattlesnake along the trail (our second snake on this trip), we had a fantastic time. The next time we see you, ask us to break out the photo album. This was just a small selection of the 75 plus pictures we took on this vacation.

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