the Smokies

The summer season for the Great Smokey Mountains Institute at Tremont begins Memorial Day and ends in late July. I could work here one summer....

The road past GSMIT quickly turns into pothole gravel. It was at the end of the gravel that I parked and started hiking upstream. After four miles and a drenching thundershower, I picked up the Greenbriar Ridge Trail, and those next four miles were my favorite of the loop hike I did. The trail followed the invisible contour lines, in and out of coves, nice grade. It was summer lush.


I slept at the Derrick Knob Shelter on the AT with several friendly section-hikers. They had a fire going in the shelter to dry out socks and boots, and it filled the shelter with a comforting wood smoke smell. Apparently, I was the only one that slept well. The temperature had dropped to a perfect snuggle-in-sleeping-bag temperature. The next morning, I was the first to leave. The sun was going to shine.


I took a short side trail to these falls...


...and I got in! Matt's not going to believe me, so here's the proof: my hair's wet.