The Smokies, Part 2: Marines lessons, beef with Bill Bryson and Treasury Injuries

Doing crazy travel logistics work is a kind of specialty of mine. Always interested in going to a new place, seeing something different, and especially being there for those I love (something I learned from my dad), I delighted a lot to perform travel gymnastics when an occasion arises. It was no different since I tried to find the moment and the correct locations and the details to get out of the way in the Smokies to be able to reach the graduation of the infantry training battalion of my son for the United States Marines’ body in Jacksonville, North Carolina. When I was going to Newfound Gap to meet my transport service, I had met three other hikers who also looked for a trip to Gatlinburg that day. The transport service left us in the local outfitters where we proceeded to take care of some tasks and make accommodation arrangements. I booked a room that night in Gatlinburg and collected my tour rent and headed to the east the next day. Before separating, our group of tired and smelly to hikers enjoyed delicious tacos in the city. I cannot in good awareness say that they were the best tacos I’ve had because my local neighborhood taco truck contains that distinction, butThey were really good.

Marines body and through hiking: more in common than you think?

My trip to see my son was a success. I could spend a few hours with him during the Family Day and then met my sister, brother -in -law and nephew for graduation. We even made a little time to visit the beach! I rested and found the writing. I was also able to make a quite extensive refueling since I had access to a car and Walmart. I decided to change some things regarding nutrition. As I still had some food aversions, I decided to concentrate on soft foods. This was not too difficult, and I could even get some proteins with things like Granola Kodiak bars and instantaneous carnation breakfast with extra protein. I also decided that I was going to try a little protein powder to help complement what I was not eating in tuna or chicken packages and typical protein sources. I found some individual packages that would be excellent to pack, and began to use them to make protein smoothies in the morning. I also discovered that they had no pleasure, and I could mix them with a mixture of flavor electrolytes for a lighter drink.

My son and I in his ITB Graduation in Camp Geiger.

Something unexpected that has come out of this adventure is the ability to share «war stories» with my son. There is a surprising number of similarities between their field training and my hiking. And since he is training in eastern North Carolina, we have both been very wet. I thought it could be useful and interesting to share some of the things you have shared with me. Here are tips for hikers of an American sailor:

1. Remember that hard and shit conditions make a sunny day or a shower or restaurant food feel luxurious vacation.
2. When you are fighting, think about what I would be doing instead, and not only in good things. Think about the time you are wasting social networks, binge shows, etc.
3. Remember the marine motto, DBAB: Don’t be a dog.

In Gatlinburg defense

When I returned to the path, I was ready and recommended. I decided to stay on Friday night of the weekend of the day of the fallen in Gatlinburg since I entered later in the afternoon, and because I knew that the shelters would be full and potentially full, especially the new closest spaces. Before leaving the path, a night backpack showed me how to consult the Smokies refuge reserve system, and a quick check showed several completely reserved shelters all weekend. It seemed that farther from the main paths, the less full the shelters would be.

Before my story comes out of Gatlinburg and returns to the path, I want to pause a moment while I get something out of my chest. Many, many years ago, someone recommended the book by Bill Bryson, «A walk through the forest.» The book is fun and intelligent when the author recounts his time walking along the path of the Apalaches. The only part of the book that I did not like was his admonition of Gatlinburg. I took a particular crime in his opinion of tourists who could participate in the kitsch and commercial aspects of the city, or to summarize Bryson, Tourists who say they want to visit the mountains and nature, but that they really just want to play miniature golf next to the mountains. He rubbed the wrong way because I could have been describing my family. And my family included five children, parents who worked in multiple jobs and a father who loved hiking and beautiful landscapes, but did not enjoy camping. Then, yes, when we visit Gatlinburg, our visit included hiking and viewing in the smoked mountains, along with pancakes of everything you can eat, Go-Kart races and cheap memories that nobody really needed, but that brought our little young hearts anyway anyway. With limited resources already overloaded, this was the best way that my parents could create an experience that served us all. With my dad now missing, these are good memories, although as an adult, I could prefer a different vacation experience. There is no correct way to venture and enjoy the outdoors, provided that respect is shown and care for our wild places; To say otherwise is, in my opinion, elitist and exclusive and presumptive about the value of different experiences.

Okay, let’s go back to the regularly scheduled beads programming.

Bears, Blue Injuries and Views from the new gap to the Foot Bears

The hiking of the newly discovered gap to Davenport Gap (the northern limit of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park on the Sender of the Apalaches) was one of the most beautiful and crowded. This section could have been a bit easier if it is not by one foot and then the knee pain that began to explode. Throughout this section, I met a Main hikers and a hiker from my native state of Kentucky. There were also several weekends in shelters.

Views from the Smokies section between the new GAP and Davenport Gap.

Views from the Smokies section between the new GAP and Davenport Gap.

I think this waterfall was just before the path passed under the I-40.

In a shelter, I saw a black bear at the water source. I was at a safe distance, but it didn’t seem to be upset by my presence. A little later, this curious bear approached the shelter. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem upset by twelve of us applauding and shouting. He took some marijuana blows before he finally scared and not returned. Speaking of bears, I made the mistake of reading a steering wheel that hung in one of the shelters. The steering wheel had numerous reports of horrible attacks of bears that occurred in the smoks. It was a mistake to read them, since I developed a more intense fear of bears, especially at night. More about that in a later publication.

A black bear near the shelter.

I started experiencing a quite severe standing pain in the last part of the day I followed again. This slowed me a lot and caused hiking to be painful. I worried that I could develop plantar fasciitis, so I investigated a little about what I could do. Most of the Council was about stopping the activity that causes pain; As I could not do that, I decided to try first with my heel to see if that would relieve part of the discomfort. He helped a little, but I’m afraid he may have contributed to a new problem: knee pain. I developed a pretty acute pain that ran from the outside of my knee cap and was worse in the descents. Unfortunately for me, I was descending from the smakies for several days. When I arrived at Davenport Gap and continued towards Standing Bear Farm, I was limping and trying sideways when I could, which seemed to reduce the pain temporarily. Standing Bear Farm is a hostel to which you can walk, since it is just a distance a short distance from the path. I sent a text message to Martini just before arriving just to see where he was on his way, assuming he was probably very much, it turned out that he was in standing Bear Farm! He was grateful to arrive early in the afternoon and take a bed in the bunk to spend the night. I left the tiles! Next stop: Hot Springs, North Carolina.

Before finishing this long blog, I wanted to recognize that weeks after leaving this part of the path, the area was reached by a microburst storm that caused extensive floods and damage, even Standing Bear Farm. If you want to donate or help in the recovery effort of this iconic shelter shelter of the Apalaches, it seems that the most up -to -date information can be found on Facebook in https://www.facebook.com/nishbearfarm/.

Happy paths!

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