To the Place, Where We Belong

Hey Ya'll!  Another exciting week as our adventure has taken us south.

We started the week in West Virgina doing some rafting with New and Gualey River Adventures.  First, we did the Gauley, which is one of the top whitewater runs in the world.  A lot of huge drops and big waves, with five class Vs and many more class IV rapids.  Our guide, Brian was an excellent guide and very entertaining.  We had exciting and very clean runs through all the rapids, which isn't always the case on the Gauley.  If you want some entertainment, just google "Gauley Carnage" and you'll see all the ways not to runs the rapids.  Click on the links below to see some of our runs.

Lost Paddle Rapid Class V

Pillow Rock Rapid Class V

Shipwreck Rapid- Going through the overhang

Right before the first Class V Rapid: Insignificant on the Gauley River

The next two days we did an overnight trip on the New River.  It was just us and our guide, Jeremy, on day one.  The first day on the New was pretty mellow, but very scenic.  We also had an inflatable kayak with us that was fun to play around in and surf some small waves in the river. We camped riverside at a beautiful beach and then picked up a few more rafters in the morning to do the second day on the lower part of the New, which had some good rapids, but wasn't quite at the same level as the Gauley.

While we were hanging out on the New River we got to watch a standup paddleboard race that started off by going down a class IV rapid.  Great entertainment to sit on the side of the river with a beer and watch 30 paddleboards go down the rapid.  Check out the link for lots of carnage.

SUP Race on Fayette Station Rapid

We left West Virgina on Wednesday and headed to Ashville, NC for the night.  We'd heard a lot of good things about Ashville from people throughout our journey and it didn't disappoint.  The drive through Cherokee and Pisgah National Forests was beautiful and we had a great night in Ashville, getting beers at Green Man Brewing Company and eating BBQ at Luella's.  In the morning we stocked up on food and more Ashville beers (Ashville Brewing Company and Hi Wire) and headed out for Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

Driving through Pisgah National Forest at sunset

We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday backpacking along the Appalachian Trail, which is the dividing line between Tennessee and North Carolina in the Smokey Mountains.  For us, being used to backpacking in California, it was a bit of a different experience.  The biggest difference is that you have to stay in designated shelters along the trail.  The shelters are three sided huts with two wooden platforms, one on top of the other, so that 12 people end up sleeping on the two tiered 15 foot wide platform.  It's like the world's worst sleep over.  The first night we were with a group of eight professional snoring champions from Kentucky.  Not the best night's sleep.  The second night there were just five of us and we met some really cool guys from Knoxville that introduced us to Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire, which definitely helped with sleeping that night.

The other major difference was that we were in the trees for pretty much the entire hike.  It was beautiful, and we got to see some of the leaves changing color, but we didn't quite get the views that we're used to in the Sierras. We were also up on top of the ridge so we didn't get to camp near streams or lakes like we usually do in California.  Still a great trip, but just a little different than what were used to.

Straddling the border between Tennessee and North Carolina 

Slumber Party with eight Kentuckians 

Shelter on the AT

View from Clingman's Dome

Had to hike to the top of a cement tower at Clingman's Dome in order to get a view

The fog finally lifted

 The last day in the Smokies we did a day hike to Rocky Top and Thunderhead Mountain, which were the best views we'd seen in the park.  It was a pretty steep trail with about 3700 feet of elevation gain in the 7 miles up to the top, but the views were definitely worth it.  After the hike we left the Smokies and headed to Nashville, where we ate a tremendous amount of food at Papa Turney's Old Fashioned BBQ.  Ribs, pulled pork, brisket, catfish, baked beans, mac n' cheese, collared greens and pecan pie.  Staring to understand why Tennessee is the top five fattest state.

Hiking to Rocky Top above the fog layer

View from Rocky Top

So full after finishing a two meat combo plate at Papa Turney's
Still had room for dessert though

We had a relaxing night staying in a hotel for the first time on the trip thanks to a going away present gift card from EdTec.  Thanks, EdTec!  First shower in seven days, which as you would imagine after four strenuous days of hiking was much needed.  So we are now clean and refreshed and ready to continue our journey this week across Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas with stops to try to catch the Giants and A's win their wild card games.

B and G