Smoky Mountain Climbing

Well, today was definitely an exciting day. We slept in a bit late and got a late start - but it was definitely necessary.

All of the students made their own breakfast and packed sack lunches for themselves. They even cleaned up after themselves when they were through.

We arrived at the smoky mountain trailhead around 10:45 and started out trek up the mountain. Our goal was to make it to the summit - 6.6 miles!! Everyone was amazing throughout the hiking. We were all in high spirits and extreme amicable. There were so many amazing sights to see throughout the entire hike. Nature truly is magnificent and it was great to hike with a group of students who have such a wonderful appreciation for nature. We stopped a few times on the way up to take pictures and eat snacks. But our first real stop was at the Falls for lunch. It was a much needed break and a great place to stop, eat, and hang out. Free eating we all climbed up to the falls and many proceeded to climb even further up, exporting the nooks and crannies of falls. Once everyone was sufficiently worn out we grabbed our bags and headed to the summit (which was still 4 miles away...)

The majority of the group made it to summit and I'm sure it was wonderful. Luke and I headed back with about 1 mile remaining to the summit. This is where the group split up and I am certain there are differing narratives as to what happened next...

Luke and I headed down the mountain and we knew we had some time to kill, so we took our time and walked down at a relaxing pace. But at one point I had a brilliant idea to take a short cut. It seemed like fun and I only saw positives coming from this choice. Well...I was wrong. We walked down into the creek and hoped we could go right across to the trail side, but that was not in the cards for us. Luke and I decided we would proceed down the creek and wait for a suitable place to head back up out of the valley to the trail. The first place we saw to climb up looked extremely promising. I went first and began to climb. There were plenty of strong roots to grab onto and the climb up was going really well. Then I grabbed for a root and tugged at it. It seemed as if it would hold my weight so I started to climb. I was wrong and I tumbled backwards, down the cliff, about 10-15 feet. It was a fun fall and one I won't forget anytime soon. No major bruises (except for my ego). W wisely decided to continue downstream and look for a more suitable place to climb up. After about 30 minutes we found another suitable place to climb - and this time is was a success!! We made it up and quickly found the trail and headed down the mountain. I, of course, quickly dubbed our time as an adventure cut instead of a short cut. I don't think Luke was buying it.

Luke and I are currently sitting in the van, recuperating and waiting for the rest of the group to join us. I'm certain they will have stories to tell as well and I cannot wait to hear them!!

Rob