Car Camping at Elkmont

Last month I took my grandson on his 2nd. camp out. We spent the night at Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains and a blast. The weather was still warm, but an evening shower cooled things off. Car camping isn't my favorite thing, but he's 6, so we're not quite ready to head deeper into the woods yet. We worked on some basics, like setting up the tent, preparing the wood needed for starting the fire, and then basic fire building. 

Once the fire was going, we  started preparing the ingredients for our "Hobo Stew". A chopped onion, ground beef, sliced potato, liberally soaked in mustard and ketchup, is cooked in a cast iron skillet over the fire for 30 minutes. Harry declared it a success.

   

Before bedtime, we read a little Tom Sawyer by the fire. 

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, bacon, and coffee.

After a good night's sleep (for Harry) we packed up, made sure the site was clean, and hit the road for home. 

How I Spent Spring Break 2011

I hadn't been on a trail since last fall, so the prospect of hiking 17 miles over 3 days didn't exactly thrill me. Being on the trail with Will Bukkock and Bryan Kerr on their spring break was too good to pass up though. Will picked the trails and so on St. Patricks Day we headed to Bryson City to begin our journey.

We parked outside the tunnel on the Lakeshore Trail and started for campsite 71 using the Whiteoak Branch Tr. to the Forney Creek Tr. It was about 5.2m and not a very difficult hike. We arrived after about 2 hours and pitched camp in the old CCC work camp beside Forney Creek. There was plenty of wood, which the guys gathered, and the weather was in the 70's and sunny. In fact the weather was perfect for the entire trip.

There was good conversation along the trail and the campfire, covering all sorts of topics. That's thing about hiking, it lends itself to talking about life one minute, then whatever pops into your head to keep one foot in front of the other the next.
The guys are 21 and I'm crowding 50 so they weren't working at keeping there feet moving quite as hard as I was. At least not on the first day out.

That night the moon came out and was the brighest it's been in 20 years (I believe that's what I heard) at any rate it was HUGE. Will loves to take photos and the ones pictured are by him. He shot the moon and the old chimney at about 10pm and you can see how bright the moon was. They're really great shots.

The guys had given me a hard time about bringing some winter fleece and longjohns during such warm weather, but that night I was glad that I had them. The temps dropped down and I was quite comfortable as far as warmth goes. I tossed and turned all night as I usually do when sleeping on the ground, but since I started using a full length pad, it's been better.

The Death March

The next day we packed up around 11 and hit the trail after breakfast at 11:30. Thus began a 4 mile journey that felt to me like what hiking in Tibet would feel like. We made about a mile an hour for those 4 miles. It was one on those hikes I hadn't had in a long time. The kind I would have turned around and scrapped if I'd been alone. The kind I didn't know if I would finish. I really try to avoid those these days, but like life, you can't always avoid the unpleasant, nor perhaps should we. It's amazing what you can do if you have to. I wasn't turning back, I knew it would end at some point and I thought of what it would be like in a new camp, eating dinner and enjoying the rest of a cigar by the fire. I prayed, I ran through the eucharistic prayer service, quoted some movies to myself, and prayed some more. hiking in pain is very much like life sometimes. You're just not sure how it's going to work out, but it will. This was the Springhouse Branch Tr. to campsite 64 and at the 4 mile mark it levels out and begins a 3 mile descent. I have these great water proof shoes by Merrill that I love. Love on flat ground that is. On long hard hikes the left shoes rubs a toe and the pain really detracts from the enjoyment and for some reason I keep forgetting that. I'd hiked this trail with some other masochists a few years ago, and the memory of that hike hike flooded back. My bag was too heavy, my shoe hurt my toe, wah wah wah, I know, but still these are the thoughts rattling around in my head while plodding along. The guys were out of sight for long stretches, which was fine. A hike is what it is. It isn't a competition, those days are behind me. I just want to finish well. AND THAT is what I began thinking about. As a pastor I too often find myself comparing what I do with what other pastors are doing. Who is more effective? Who's getting faster results? It's not a competition, it is life and the object is to glorify God and finish well. Along the way you will hurt, you will laugh, you will cry, you will get distracted by all kinds of thoughts and activities (just as my thoughts while hiking unfold), and by God's grace you come back again and again to who you really are because of Him and in Him. I want to get to that fire. I want to relax with friends over dinner. One foot in front of the other. Stop. Take 5 minutes, unshoulder the bag. Drink some cold water. Eat a snack. Okay, up and away.....and so the miles stack up behind me.

Now that line of thinking took me over some rough spots last Friday. They aren't new thoughts, just thoughts that need to be reminded of. That's why I hike with guys and sometimes alone. The physical activity of hiking to experience the views and the time around the fire, mirrors my life in other places. The space created by going creates space to think, pray, encounter God and people in a new way.

We reached the site after about 6 hours and set up the tents. here I have to thank Zach Stone for my Big Agnes tent. It's 3 lbs of home on your back, and room to stretch out in. He gave it to me before he left for England and it is a great tent.
We built a huge fire, had dinner and talked about all kinds of things as we unwound. My shoulders were killing me and I was starting to stiffen up. If I didn't feel better the next day I really didn't know how I'd get my bag back with me.

I spent the time before bed finishing The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, which is a very small lightweight book (not theologically) and then it was time to sleep. I slept GREAT! I think I woke up once and the next day felt ready to go. Shoulders were better, legs felt good, and nothing in front of us except 4.2 miles of wide flat trail. The Noland Creek Tr took us less than 2 hours and brought us up 3/4 of a mile from th truck. The guys shucked their packs and ran to get it while I sat watched folks unloading their horse trailers. I would have liked a rocking chair, but all in all it was just fine.

While many students head to the beach for all kinds of activities, these 2 guys spent 3 days with an old guy talking about, among many other things, life in Christ and asking what it means when we say we will follow Jesus, that we might love well instead of just looking to be loved. I'm not knocking those other kinds of trips, I've gone myself and had a blast, but I'm thankful for trips like this one.

Thanks to Will Bullock for letting me use his photo's for this article!

God Showing Off

Part of what I get to do with college guys as a campus missioner is take them on journeys into the mountains. Today some students from Knoxville College went with me to see the mountains as the leaves continue to explode in colors. It was good for these guys to get off campus. They don't have cars, so all they see of their home away from home is their campus world. Wayne is a freshman from London, Bobbyson is from Haiti, and Joram is Rwandan. I was wondering how they would enjoy a drive in the mountains. Would it be boring? I mean when I was kid (granted I was a lot younger than these guys) my folks would take me for a drive in the mountains and all I remember is begging to go to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The trees and the mountains just did nothing for me. I needn't have worried. These guys were hungry for new sights and God just plain showed off today. We saw Newfound Gap and Oconoluftee Farm, which is a museum of what a 19th century farm would look like. After the farm it was over to Cherokee NC for a lunch at Garlic Knotts in Maggie Valley. We didn't have any deep spiritual conversations, we just drove and looked, and drank in what God was doing in the leaves and trees, the valleys and peaks and I was told by each that it was a perfect day, the best day ever. It was some time, a little gas, and basically just each of us showing up. God did the rest.