Mt Cammerer

Mt Cammerer
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
12/17 - 12/19/18 (2 nights)
2018 bag nights: 37

Big Creek is a great way to hike 6ish miles and gain ~1000' of elevation. I love hiking next to a raging Smokies creek

Mouse Creek Falls across Big Creek

There was a patch of smooth water that was catching the light off the trees above that I spent time trying to photograph, this was the closest I came to capturing the light.

Then up to the AT and a nice ridge walk on a gorgeous day

Mt Cammerer Fire Lookout high on the ridge

Waiting for sunset, I spent a little time reading the graffiti. I don't understand why people and especially AT thru-hikers feel the need to leave there mark everywhere they go, but all the AT shelters are covered with this crap.

Quoting Edward Abbey in graffiti seems a just a little bit wrong, especially this quote "I promise you this, we will outlive the bastards"

Troop 65 from Morgantown WV needs a little bit of Leave No Trace training.

And snapchat user ilynnstevens just plain sucks

The beautiful sunset reset my mood after the stupid graffiti

Almost full moon over the fire lookout

Amazing sunrise the next morning

Interesting group of pine cones

A couple nights in the Smokies was a great way to get ready for holiday chaos

Pickett State Park

11/21 - 11/24/18
Thanksgiving Weekend

We rented a cabin at Pickett State Park in TN for the Thanksgiving weekend. A couple hours drive and getting set up left a little bit of time for a short hike near the lake and then back for dinner.

Thanksgiving morning we woke up slow and then loaded up the car for a little bit of driving exploration and some hiking. I had never been on this side of Big South Fork so I was happy to drive and check out some of the stuff that appears on the map.

First stop was Buffalo Arch. A nice ~1 mile hike to the arch with very little change in elevation.

This cell phone photo gives an idea of the scale, this is a big arch.

And then a some driving to check out a couple small campgrounds in the area and then we went to find a waterfall I had seen online.

About a mile on the Sheltowee Trace got us to Mark Branch Falls

After that, it was time to head home for dinner.

The next day I got to do a longer hike on the Hidden Door Trail in the actual State Park. In an 8 mile loop, the trail has some great views from high up and passes a couple nice waterfalls.

Crystal Falls

Double Falls

Small falls/drops along Thompson Creek

Pickett State Park was a great place to spend a weekend and we will definitely be back.