I had never considered myself particularly outdoorsy before moving to Chattanooga, TN. I was in girl scouts as a kid, and that’s when my camping experience ended. I enjoyed being outdoors, but couldn’t imagine sleeping on the ground and not having a bathroom. But since moving to Chattanooga, I have come to enjoy the great outdoors much more! It started with hiking (the gateway drug of outdoorsing), progressed to car camping, and finally backpacking.
Packing for this trip was awful at the time, but hilarious in retrospect. We really had no idea what we were doing. I read about how to pack in layers based on weight and bulkiness. I filled up my entire backpack and was still packing the bottom layer. There was a lot of sweating and a lot of swearing trying to fit everything into our backpacks, but we finally did it!
Kathleen, Mackenzie, and I decided to go backpacking for Mack’s last weekend in Chattanooga. Luckily, we are so close to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park that it was an easy choice. We started our trip at the Dragon’s Tail Cafe and realized that we were at the start of a popular destination – The Dragon’s Tail. It is 11 miles of roads through the Smoky Mountains with 318 curves – of course we had to do it! We tackled the dragon, and ended up a couple of miles into North Carolina (Mackenzie got to cross a new state off her list). We finished the epic drive and pulled into the gas station and cafe with Spice Girls blasting from the Mazda (surrounded by bikers!)
The actual backpacking trip started off a little rough – the hike I chose was very difficult. I didn’t really know how difficult it was. It was only 2.7 miles, but it was 2.7 miles of switchbacks all the way up the mountain. Then the last mile of the hike was straight down a stream bed. I don’t plan on ever doing that hike again.
The campsite we chose was very nice! We met a nice couple with a young son and a family of three (a step-father and two teenage daughters). The family of 3 ended up staying at the second campsite with us as well. The hike on the second day was quite a bit easier, thankfully, because we were still very sore from the previous day’s hike. Luckily, our second campsite was nice and flat as well – with a great water source nearby.
The hikes were really beautiful!
I think it’ll take a bit of a break before I’m ready to do it again. By the time we were back at the car on Sunday morning, I think I was the most disgusting I have ever been – and the food was terrible. But with some tweaks, I will be 100% ready to try it again next summer!
I wasn’t sure how much I enjoyed my trip, until now when reflecting back on it. Seeing the pictures and remembering the awful & incredible moments with my friend and sister makes the journey much sweeter.
My takeaways:
- Alcohol is not optional – it is necessary
- Don’t buy your packaged food from Walmart – I don’t know a good alternative yet
- Definitely look at a topography map before you go
- Next time, I will stay at the same campground for both nights and do day hikes
- The scenery was gorgeous – it may have made the whole trip worth it
Alex's 30 before 30 