AT 2010
It’s taken me a long, long while to get to this post. Our life is so ‘normal’ again that sometimes the Year Trip seems like a dream.
After arriving in middle Tennessee, we spent a few relaxing days with Troy’s mom in Lebanon. Then, Troy and I left TH and Gret with his mom and drove to the Smoky Mountains. We went to choose the route for a 4 night backpacking trip.
One of the highlights of our Year Trip was in July ’09 when we spent a week backpacking in the Washington Cascades with 20 youth and youth leaders from our church in Nashville. It seemed good to end our Year Trip in a similar way. I never got around to blogging about the Cascades trip. I tried, but I never found words that felt right. Perhaps that’s why I’ve stalled once again on this post.
Once we chose our route, we returned to Troy’s mom’s to finalize plans for the backpacking trip and to begin to move back into our house. My mother came up from Georgia to watch TH and Gret for us – the kids were so excited to be back in their rooms.
This backpacking trip ranks among the highest for heat, humidity, rainstorms, dirtiness, and difficulty. It also ranks high for ease of leadership. What a wonderful group of young people to spend time with! Phillip has been on all 4 of our youth group trips with us. We had three other veterans; this was Ryan and Jenna’s 3rd trip and Abby’s 2nd. Even the 1st timers, Lydia, and youth group intern, Emily, were complete naturals and stepped up to the challenges beautifully.
As expected in late summer in the Smokies, the views were lush, the blackberries were ripe, and the grass was high. It was a HOT week back in Nashville, temps hung around 102◦ with extreme humidity. Even with cooler temps in the Appalachians and highs around 80, we were terribly sticky. After 4 sweltering days, Troy and I were so excited about our last campsite along the banks of a cool, clear river. We were hoping this would come as a welcome and refreshing surprise. However, our cool-off came from a different source. As we were hiking into camp on our last full day in the mountains, a 2-hour rainstorm soaked us to the skin. Only a few of us were very interested in a dip in the river after that.
Our last moments on the trail were joyous, made even more so because of the soaking the day before, the odor of our clothes and packs, and the promise of a shower and restaurant meal.
It’s strange to try and remember this wonderful and intense backpacking trip and to look at the pictures as I sit in my comfortable chair in front of the television, stuffed with black-eyed peas, turnip greens, and ribs.
Abby, Emily, Jenna, Lydia, Phillip, and Ryan, thanks for travelling with us. Can’t hardly wait for next summer and for AT2011!
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