Great Smoky Mountains

We split our Asheville trip into two parts: The Woods and The City.

The Woods was a 20-mile stretch backpacking trip through Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Now, of course I’ve backpacked around the world, gone on various camping trips with the fam, and hiked all kinds of features in places like New Zealand, the Phillippines, and Cambodia, but I had never actually been on a down-and-dirty wilderness backpacking trip! Enter Rob, my boyfriend of three years and trained Wilderness First Responder, Wilderness Trip Instructor for Outward Bound, and general dirtbag (it’s a compliment in this realm) extraordinaire. I like to tell people that his college major was “outside.”

Rob gets his jollies from fresh air, any kind of mud, and general nature-frolicking (manly frolicking, of course). Needless to say when we decided on Asheville, he was stoked.

We started our hiking shenanigans on the Big Creek Trail, headed toward Campsite 37.

Rob at the trailhead, looking as jolly as ever. First stop: Campsite 37!

I’m smiling but this “bridge” was super sketch

Said super sketchy “bridge”

The Infamous Campsite 37