Backpack #73 is in the books and we had a great time! The weekend kicked off around 7:00 PM Friday night when John’s nephew, Will, arrived. We initially planned to take him to Barley’s in the Old City for pizza and beer but, based on John’s calculations, he would not arrive until after 8:00 PM. As it turned out, we were picking up Barley’s take out about the same time Will exited the interstate in Knoxville. The three of us arrived at the house within minutes of each other, spot on to my estimate of 7:00 PM!
Friday night was a hang out and relax night. I still had a bit of packing to do as I never seem to get it done ahead of time, Will and John talked and talked. We went to bed a little later than usual and were up Saturday morning a little early than usual.
The excitement level in the house increased significantly when Daniel and Lee arrived to have breakfast with their Huntsville cousin. John prepared a breakfast of country biscuits, nationally famous but “just down the road” Bentonsbacon and country ham, coffee and juice. The “boys” ate and talked while John and I finished our last minute preparations.
Country biscuits
Benton’s bacon and country ham (sorry about the awful picture)
The guys, from left: Daniel, Lee, John and Will
Finally, about 30 minutes later than planned, we were ready to head to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Aside from an accident just outside Townsend which delayed us some 15 minutes or so, the drive was uneventful. As anyone who has backpacked in via Anthony Creek Trail knows, there is no overnight parking in the Cades Cove picnic area so I waited with the packs at the trail head while John and Will parked the cars near the Cades Cove camp store and walked back.
We were amazed at the size difference in Will’s pack (right) and our packs. Will’s pack is new, light weight technology. Our packs are circa 2001 expedition size, purchased to carry 12 days worth of supplies for our Brooks Range, Alaska trip in August 2001. I will purchase a new, lighter weight pack for our Glacier trip, John is considering a new pack.
The trail is a steady climb toward the Appalachian Trail and the guys quickly pulled ahead of me. I maintained a decent pace and fell only about 10 minutes behind. John knows I have a fear of water crossings so they stopped to be sure I made it safely across this bridge and tree carnage. We saw several recently downed trees and attributed it to the heavy winds and rain that passed through the area in the last few weeks.
John and Will on the trail
We arrived at Campsite #9 around 1:00 PM and immediately began the tasks of setting up camp. In prior conversation, Will had expressed interest in a future backpack across the Smoky’s section of the AT so John was in a hurry to get him back on the trail. His mission, to hike the additional 4.4 up and back to catch a glimpse of the AT and Spence Field Shelter. Me, I was just interested in hiking toward the AT, taking in the views and snapping a few photos.
Part of setting up camp included hanging our packs on the pulleys provided by the NPS. No sense in tempting the bears by leaving them around camp.
This was our home for the night. Although we have several lighter tents, John brought the heavy tent, which weighed a full 5.25 pounds more than Will’s tent (below). No wonder he had such a small pack. John and I have been backpacking together for 11 years and have developed two specific tent criteria: 1) enough head room to sit up and change clothes comfortably and 2) enough body room so we each have a little space for our stuff. We admired Will’s tent but were not envious.
No sitting up here!
The views on Anthony Creek Trail to the AT are spectacular, especially without the summer foliage. Below is a picture of Cades Cove (brown area in the valley) surrounded by mountains. Behind the Cove is the ridge top we hiked last weekend.
Anthony Creek Trail connects to Bote Mountain Trail, which connects to the AT. Sections of Bote Mountain Trail are a bit canyon like. The trail walls in the picture below are taller than my 5’6″ height.
Dress for dinner on Saturday night was backpacker semi-formal. The temperature was cool and the atmosphere was a little damp so hats were required. John wore the very latest in lightweight down jackets (Xmas gift!) providing maximum warmth with minimum weight. His hat had a South American influence in both styling and color.
Will wore the popular fleece fabrication in both his jacket and hat. He sported fall’s neutral color pallet of gray and black, with neutral pants. These guys are such outdoor fashionistas!! 😉
After dinner, Will struggled to start a fire. Everything was damp from rain earlier in the week. With some effort and a lot of huffing and puffing, the flames finally caught and we had a great fire for several hours.
Morning brought an overcast sky and the threat of rain. Will was on Central Standard Time so we let him sleep while we enjoying coffee and sweet potato pancakes. We kept thinking we should get him up before the rain, but we were in no rush and the morning was so relaxing. Then we heard thunder.
Will woke up in just enough time to get most of his stuff in the pack and down a small cup of oatmeal before the sky opened up. John had not quite finished packing (thanks to me, but that is another story) and he had to scramble to get his pack closed. Not much fun in the rain.
The rain stopped long enough for us to hike out but as we reached the cars, it started again. We drove into Townsend for an early lunch at the Front Porch (not particularly good) and Will headed back to Huntsville.
