I’ve always enjoyed camping. I grew up with an active Boy Scout troop that went about once a month. Back in 2009 my mom and siblings decided to go on a trip to Kentucky to do genealogy research. We had a lot of fun and decided that we should have another family trip like that. I got it in my head that we should backpack in Great Smoky Mountains National Park the following year.

For our first trip, in 2010, we found a guide with A Walk in the Woods. It was really the only way I could convince everyone else to go. We geared up and headed down to the park. We met with the guide company who had chosen our route and was providing us with some backpacking gear.

We headed up to Clingman’s Dome parking lot and walked up to the overlook at the top. From there, I first set foot on the Appalachian Trail. It was only a short distance down to Double Spring Gap, but a very nice hike. We stayed in the shelter that night.

The next morning we backtracked about a mile to the Goshen Prong trail. We descended along the trail as the river grew in strength. At first we could only hear it in the distance, but soon, it was in full view. There is something serene about a mountain stream. After a good day’s hike, we camped not far from the water. This night we used tents. We had plenty of time left in the evening to play in the river. We had a camp fire that evening and enjoyed sitting around it.

On our final morning, nature called. This was the first time I ever had to poop in the woods. It’s quite a different experience from sitting on our modern porcelain contraptions. Surely though, there was nothing traumatic about it. The only weird thing was the lack of perceived privacy. Shortly after breakfast, we continued on down Goshen Prong and met up with the Little River trail. We followed this the rest of the way to Elkmont, our afternoon pickup location. Along the way we saw some cool waterfalls, a black rat snake and a puddle with dozens of butterflies stopping for a drink. The butterflies were a bit surreal. I’d never seen so many at once.

We had a blast, with no real snags. It was perfect weather and nearly bug free. I was hooked. I was now a backpacker.