Jenn often tells me that she feels closest to God when she is out in His creation. That’s one of the reasons she likes backpacking so much. So when we headed down to the Smoky Mountains, I was hoping to commune with God just like she does. I was wrong. That’s not to say that it wasn’t a fun trip. It just means that I see God differently than my wife does. I usually see God’s finger on clear nights where stars shine bright in the sky. However, there were no clear skies for us on this trip. Clear skies would have made a good trip a great trip.
The first day of the trip we aimed to be on the trail by 11:00 am, but a landslide forced us to take a three-hour detour to get to our starting point. And in the process, we got separated from the couple we were going with. So we didn’t get started hiking until 2:30 p.m., and it was a near 7-mile climb up the mountain! We had little time to spare if we were going to get camped and dinner before nightfall. Along the way we came across a rather large snake (it scared the crap out of me, but I’m glad it was not a rattlesnake or copperhead), some interesting insects, and at about five minutes away from our campsite we saw a big black bear that stared us down.
We got to our campsite at around 6:30 p.m. We immediately set up camp, and just as we were meeting our neighbors our partners in crime for this venture, Jeni and Darren, made it to camp. Jenn, Darren, and I went to filter water out of a rather nasty water source, and then we all ate dinner before crashing for the night. The one special part of the evening, besides me getting scared by that snake, was the young deer wandering into our campsite. It walked up to about 10 feet from us. It was just a beautiful sight.
The second day started with an early climb followed by about 7 miles straight downhill. While this was easier on the cardio, it was harder on my knees. There isn’t much to say about this day except it was just a lot of work. Jenn and I couldn’t decide if we were going to camp the night or just hike the extra two miles back to our cars and start the trip to South Carolina. I wanted to finish it and go, and she wanted to stay. In the end, we stayed and it wound up being a better idea, except that whatever I’d eaten that day had made me a little sick. That and my legs were really just done. They were sore and swollen. Thankfully, Jeni and Jenn saw how much I was struggling and let me be. Jenn and I took a “bath” in the stream we camped by, and we had a nice night with Jeni and Darren around a campfire.
The following morning, mostly due to Jenn’s mad problem-solving skillz, we broke camp in the rain while staying as dry as possible. We made it to the car, drove to the Visitor’s Center, got cleaned up, and put some nice fatty food in our systems. Overall, it was a fun and challenging weekend. The only thing I missed was what Jenn usually finds: a moment with God that says He’s there. It was nice to see her bask in God’s creation. For me, it was a reminder of how different we all are, and it has me thinking that I really need to seek God’s face to figure out where I best hear His voice. Seeing Him in the stars is one thing, but learning to recognize him in everyday life is another.
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