Great Smoky Mountains National Park 9/5 - 9/7/15 (Labor Day weekend)

[wsp_scott]

I decided it was time for the oldest kid (6.5 years) to do a "bigger" backpacking trip. The previous summers we had done a short overnight trip at the Red River Gorge, but never walked more than a mile from the trailhead. This time we were going to go for 2 nights and and do about 3-4 miles each day. Unfortunately, my work schedule is very limited right now so we had to go over a holiday weekend (Labor Day). I was afraid that the Smokies would be packed but as we got closer to the weekend, the weather forecast got worse. There was a high chance for afternoon thunderstorms all weekend and I think that scared some people away. I crossed my fingers and hoped that it would not rain too much and we headed out on Saturday morning.

More at my blog http://backpackandbeer.blogspot.com/...ckpacking.html

Short version- camped at site 74 one night and site 67 one night. 67 is not very good for hammocks, lots of really big trees (need long straps) and lots of skinny trees. Site 74 is bigger and lots of hanging potential, plus it is closer to the lake.

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[Roche]

Nice. The road to nowhere - did your daughter enjoy the scary tunnel?

[wsp_scott]

Nice. The road to nowhere - did your daughter enjoy the scary tunnel?

We had done a dayhike through the tunnel this past summer, she was very excited to go through again. In fact after we got back to the car by way of the tunnel bypass trail, we had to take another trip through the tunnel