Episode 6: 90’s Backpacking

February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In Episode 6, Kirk (aka SoulGlo) and John (aka Hawkeye) talk about their introduction to backpacking in the early 1990's. In the show, we discuss trips to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and hikes from Newfound Gap to Ice Water Springs Shelter, Charlie's Bunion, Peck's Corner Shelter, Mt. LeConte, n2backpacking.com/hikes/north-carolina and Kephart Shelter. Kirk's fear of bears is quickly diverted to fear off the aggressive Smoky Mountain shelter mouse and he offers some strategies for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Backpacking Discussions, Backpacking Trails, Humor, National Forest, National Parks, Podcasts, State Forest, Wildlife

Winter – Once Again – At The Grand Canyon

February 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Mrs. and I just returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon, and if you haven't seen it - the winter is a great time to go.  There are fewer people, there's no summer 100+ heat, and it's fairly easy to book a room at the last minute - even on a weekend. I made my first trip to the Canyon in 1996 during a three month cross-country roadtrip that put 17,000 miles on my car and had us touch all four corners of the Lower 48.  We arrived on the North Rim in mid-summer with 104 degree heat and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Backpacking Articles, Backpacking Trails, National Parks

Great Smoky Mountain National Park – And The Machoists Got Pelted

January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Since the early 90's, some Appalachian Trail thru-hikers that I know have continued the tradition of an annual winter hike. As I detailed in "40 at 40", the trip is never easy and is typically booked within a few weeks of the MLK holiday. After a four year absence, I made a guest appearance during their three-day ramble of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park this year. It was mid-way through their hike when we met up at the Mt. Collins Shelter after the machoists got pelted by hail for 30 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Appalachian Trail, Backpacking Articles, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Winter Backpacking

Great Smoky Mountain National Park – 40 at 40

January 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Five to ten years ago when I was younger and in better shape, I joined a group of former thru-hikers for a multi-day and often strenuous winter backpacking trip. The hike was appropriately dubbed the MLK trip since it usually occurred on or around the three-day Martin Luther King weekend. The "M.O." of the MLK trip was (and continues to be) a 30-38 mile mega-hike, preferrably in snow, and always spanning four days. Typically we left town after work, fought traffic to some Mexican … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Backpacking Articles, Backpacking Trails, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Winter Backpacking

Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Kephart Shelter – Trip Video (December 2010)

December 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This video is of a short in and out backtrack hike in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It starts at US 441 on the North Carolina side of the park (and just north of the Oconaluftee Visitors Center) near Cherokee. The trail follows the The Kephart Prong which is a stream that runs down from Kephart Shelter to the Newfound Gap Road - also known as US 441. The shelter sleeps 10-12 and is situated in a valley at the junctions of the Grassy Branch and Sweat Heifer Trails. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Great Smoky Mountain National Park, National Parks, Videos, Winter Backpacking

Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Mt. LeConte – Trip Video (February 2005)

December 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This is a video of a backpacking trip we did through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in February 2005. The 32.2 mile hike has 29,000 feet of total elevation change, so make sure you are in good shape before you take it on - especially in the winter time. On this hike, we started at US 441 and climbed to the Mount Collins Shelter via the Husky Gap and Sugarland Mountain Trails. Once on the ridge, we followed the Appalachian Trail across Newfound Gap and up to the Boulevard Trail which … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Appalachian Trail, National Parks, Videos, Winter Backpacking

Grand Canyon National Park, Phantom Ranch – Trip Video (December 2002)

December 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This is a video slideshow of a three day backapacking trip in the Grand Canyon that I did with Charlie (aka the Operator) back in December 2002. We hiked two of the corridor trails, the South Kaibab Trail and the Bright Angel Trail, on our trip. This is a popular and heavily traveled route through the canyon but the frequent rest stops, access to water, and other amenities make it a very user-friendly overnight route suitable for all ages. Phantom Ranch is located a short distance from the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: National Parks, Videos, Wildlife
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