Dad and son in the Smokies

 6/8 - 6/11/25

Fontana Dam Trailhead

The ladies are on a trip so the boys are going backpacking.

Weather looks somewhat standard for the Smokies this time of year, hopefully we will get lucky.

The plan is to hike up to Gregory Bald then take the AT and come down Jenkins Ridge to Hazel Creek and then take the Lakeshore Trail back to the trailhead. Caltopo says 38 miles and 8800' of elevation, should be fine over 5 nights. But, things did not go according to plan.

Started at Fontana Dam, nice walk and view of the lake and no need to pay the newish parking fee that the park implemented recently.

Then up the AT, it is steep and relentless

The Flame Azaleas are popping as we get higher which gives me hope to see them blooming on Gregory Bald. 

Weird growths on some of them, no idea what is going on

Shuckstack Firetower

Campsite 92

Gregory Bald looking down on Cades Cove. I had thought we would come back for the sunset, but storms came through right after dinner. 

Campsite 13 (near Gregory Bald)

We got to the intersection with the AT and my son said his hips were killing him. He was using a kid backpack and he has grown so much in the last year that the hip belt wasn't really wrapping around very well. He had a large bruise on each hip bone, no wonder he said they hurt. It was obvious that my original plans were going to work, so we called an audible and decided to skip most to the remaining trip and head down hill to what had been going to be our campsite in a couple nights. This would shave about 20 miles off the trip. So back down to where the creeks start flowing. 

We got to campsite 90 on Fontana Lake and no one was there, which surprised me since it is pretty popular. 

Home for the next two nights (Site 90)

The next day, we did a day hike over to Hazel Creek so he could see some of what we missed by changing plans. 

Hazel Creek from the bridge near Proctor

My son really wanted a campfire, so he dragged a couple perfect pieces back to camp where I could use my saw. 

Dinner time and almost time for a campfire. A solo hiker showed up and set up camp around the corner while we were hiking.

As I was getting the fire going, we heard the solo guy yelling. He seemed pretty stressed and it sounded like he had said bear. So, let's go see what's going on. We walk around the corner and a very large black bear is about 10 feet from the guy and not really moving away. This is weird since I've seen a ton of bears in the park and they always run from people. If I had had my camera, I would have got some great photos. Instead, we got some rocks and a couple bouncing off his head drove him away. I talked to the solo guy and he said he thought the bear had dragged some of his food into the trees and he was going to shoot it if it came back. That's when I noticed he had a pistol in his hand next to his leg. I told him not to shot the bear and it probably wasn't going to come back anyway and we went back to get a fire going. Less than 5 minutes and we heard multiple shots, thankfully he was shooting into the air and not towards us or the bear, but the bear did not care at all and just proceeded to wander around the camp. We all decided that maybe we would pack up and hike out tonight if the bear was going to be wandering around like this. 

So, 9pm pack up everything and load up for a 6.5ish mile hike in the dark after our 10ish mile day hike. We made good time and got to my car at exactly 12am and then drove the 4 hours home. It was a very long day. 

I called the backcountry office the next day to report the bear issue and they closed the campsite for a while. 

Great trip with my son, would have been better with a better pack and without a problem bear. One good thing was the realization that a new pack was needed for our planned trip to WY in another month. 

Virgin Islands 2024

Saint John, USVI
Virgin Islands National Park
12/24/24 - 1/2/25

We stayed at an AirBnB in Cruz Bay for 3 nights and then rented a car and moved to Cinnamon Bay Campground for 6 nights. This is not really a trip report, but just some of the photos I managed to get while we were there. 

Looking down on Cruz Bay, I hiked up by myself to try to get some sunset photos.

Another day, my wife took the kids to a swim up taco bar. I'm basically allergic to tourist stuff like that so I had her drop me at a trailhead along the way. I hiked down the Reef Bay Trail, taking a side path to check out the petroglyphs.

There were a couple groups of people there, but they did not linger and I had the area to myself for about 30 minutes. 

Nice waterfall

The petroglyphs are carved in the rock right at the waterline on the right hand rock in the above photo, but a little more to the right so you can't see them in the above photo.

Then down the trail to check out the Reef Bay Great House

And then the remains of the Sugar Mill which was crawling with hermit crabs

The beach at Reef Bay. There were a couple groups of people here and a couple boats, but it did not feel crowded.

Stars over Cinnamon Bay, no Milky Way so kind of boring. The British Virgin Islands are in the distance.

Another day we went to check out the Annaberg Historic District after dinner, unfortunately the bugs were terrible and we did not linger long. 

I think this is Trunk Bay

Rainbow over Cinnamon Bay, a very good way to start the day.

One day we got up early to get a spot in the small parking area for Salt Pond Bay. I brought my camera and a waterproof case to try to get some underwater photos. 

My oldest two and I did a hike up to Ram Head to check out the view while my wife and youngest swam some more. The trail was lined with these weird cacti

Looking down at Salt Pond Bay

Tent part of the campground map for future reference. 

St John is beautiful, but expensive, but totally worth visiting. 

The hardest part of the island is there is not a lot of parking at many of the beaches, so you need to get there early. This is not difficult, but it means bouncing from one beach to another is not very feasible. The other problem is specific to Cinnamon Bay Campground. Even though we were staying there, there is only one parking lot for campers and day trippers to share. This means if you want to leave early for a sunrise or just to go to the beach, there is no where to park unless you come back after 3ish. So you need to plan to be out all day. 

None of this is a deal breaker, but it definitely affects your ability to explore the way I had wanted to.