Smokies Trip 2008

Loading Up

Loading Up

Where else would you expect us to eat?

Timbercreek Rental Office - Wear Valley

pictures don

The &quot;Cabin&quot;

all the conveniences

dining area - note rockers on porch to left

from the Loft where the pool table and other bedroom and full bath are

Hike 1 - Laurel Falls: one half of American Gothic

Hike 1 - Laurel Falls: the rest of American Gothic

Hike 1 - Laurel Falls: Lar in his element

Hike 1 - Laurel Falls: water and ice at the falls

Hike 1 - Laurel Falls: Mare bushwacking her way to the lunch spot

Hike 1 - Laurel Falls: note Leaterman tool substitute for the forgotten pot grabber

Hike 1 - Laurel Falls: the falls from below; note: climbing down here was illegal

Hike 1 - Laurel Falls: the Smokies in winter - looking South toward Elkmont

Hike 1 - Laurel Falls

from below by the pond

Mare always obliges Lar with a pose for perspective

Cades Cove - let

Cades Cove

Hike 2 - Abrams Falls: the tree is in focus and Mare is in the sun; temperature is 39F

Hike 2 - Abrams Falls: too nice, too perfect

Hike 2 - Abrams Falls: at the falls; it rained hard last night so there was plenty of water

Hike 2 - Abrams Falls: same lunch routine

Hike 2 - Abrams Falls: lunchtime

Hike 2 - Abrams Falls: Abrams Creek

Hike 2 - Abrams Falls: note the fair Wood Nymph that appeared in the distance

Hike 3 - Baskin Creek: can

Hike 3 - Baskin Creek

Hike 3 - Baskin Creek

Hike 3 - Baskin Creek

Hike 3 - Baskin Creek: Roaring Fork of Little Pigeon River

Hike 3 - Baskin Creek: Roaring Fork

Little River: 2.9&quot; of rain overnight

Little River: at the Sinks - it is really pouring through; 2.9&quot; of rain overnight

Little River: Meigs Creek Falls into Little River; bad day for the Meigs Creek Trail

Hike 4 - Schoolhouse Gap

Hike 4 - Schoolhouse Gap

Hike 4 - Schoolhouse Gap

Hike 4 - Schoolhouse Gap: private house at the park boundary - it is their table nicely placed for us hikers; the McClanahan

Hike 4 - Schoolhouse Gap

Hike 4 - Schoolhouse Gap: NP Boundary marker at the table

Hike 4 - Schoolhouse Gap

Hike 4 - Schoolhouse Gap

the grill was barely usable - it took a little creative engineering and a bungee cord

The Gloves are Found: another little miracle that proves tha God loves old people

Hike 5 - West Prong and Bote Mountain: West Prong of Laurel Creek blasts through Campsite 18

Hike 5 - West Prong and Bote Mountain

Hike 5 - West Prong and Bote Mountain

lunch - the usual, but in warm sunshine by the creek

we made a bench from the firewood

the fateful Lead Cove Hike bad decision point revisited

the fateful decision maker lives to tell about it

one of our 95 new duck buddies

we call him Red

who you lookin

Larry and his new buddy

Larry reads a passage from the Early Church Fathers to his newfound flock

Hike 6 - Old Sugarlands Trail: the requisite trail sign picture

West Fork, Little Pigeon River

the Sugarlands settlement cemetery; oldest stone that was legible was for someone born in 1824 and died in 1910

Larry reads the largest headstone

we found the trail as it left the park and here Larry is standing at its continuation after passing under I-40 near Waterville NC

the trail sign as it leaves I-40; the section that Larry and Will hiked in 2002 was too far north of this location to be on the sign; the Davenport Gap shelter is the last one inside Smoky Mountain NP