...backpacking.

This past weekend I went backpacking with my nephew, Blake and my friend Jacob. We left out after work Thursday, and after driving through the night and taking turns at the wheel, we decided to go ahead and hit the trail around 4:00am(with little to no sleep). It was a pretty rad sunrise but we ended up unknowingly facing the hardest uphill in the smokys...super. Later that day we reached the summit and had an amazing view from the fire tower there.
After a stupidly long hike to the Laurel Gap shelter we met some funny guys from Alabama and had a good night's sleep and awoke to the smell of pancakes, cooked in many heavy skillets, backpacked in by the Alabamans who carried huge packs and practically brought a kitchen AND living room.
We had planned on a short hike that day and allot of 'goof off time' but once we arrived to an overbooked shelter we realized that our failure to registure at the trailhead kiosk had resulted in our reservations being voided. Therefore, we had a long way to go and only illegal camping to do.
We saw some AMAZING sights and was gifted with a stupidly cool camping spot right before dark(granted that 60+ MPH winds beating me up and bending overhead trees to the ground was less cool).
After a tough hike, more awesome sights and seeing a few bears on the trail we arrived at the car...ooooonly to find the the whole park was angry about our double parking. Olive Garden made it okay.
Though the majority of the trip was filled with sore legs and small talk, there was plenty of time to get lost in the wind gusts and peaceful evenings and make contact with God without all the distractions that we consider to be modern comforts. Incredible.

Here's some rockin' pics: