This is a trip report from the Trail Dames fall backpacking trip written by our own SHOE. Thanks, Melissa!!
Finally…. back out in the woods. Starting back to work has really put a cramp into my hiking. But I finally made it out there.
We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend to hike. Not a cloud in site. Beautiful 60 degree weather during the day. Amazing.
We started at Tray Gap and ended up at Dick’s Creek Gap… a total of 12.2 miles. We camped at Addis Gap which was a perfect spot for our rather large group. There ended up being 18 and 1/2 at the gap. Jen from Mountain Crossings joined us with some of her family and there was a 6 month old in the group. That’s where the 1/2 comes in.
One of the coolest things of the trip was watching Jen cook steak over an open fire. I keep thinking that I can eat better while out in the woods. How much better can you get than steak and fresh veggies. I’ll be car camping in the Smokies soon and you can bet that I will be practicing in a controlled environment.
One of the most challenging parts of the trip was carrying extra weight. One of the hikers was carrying too much weight so I chose to help her out. I bet I was carrying almost 10 pounds extra which was pretty tough considerning my friend Crystal ran off with my lunch. I learned later that Buddy the wonder dog got eat it. NOTE: Always carry my own food.
=SHOE