Les Jones

Home Life > Gone Camping in the Reverse Zoo

Melissa and I are taking advantage of the long weekend and great weather to go backpacking in the Smokies. I'll post again Tuesday. Meanwhile, there are some posts below from this weekend.

We're taking Melissa's cousin Charla and her kids, 5 year old Joseph and 8 year old Lorissa. (That's them cleaning out the pumpkin prior to me carving the Jack-O-Lantern. We toasted the seeds to take on the trip as a snack.) Charla and the kids have never been camping, so this will be a treat. The hike in is about two miles, but it's a very mild grade. It's a perfect distance to feel a sense of accomplishment, but not so far as to be difficult.

We're spending the night at one of the backcountry shelters in the park. The shelter has three stone walls, with the fourth wall made from a chain link fence with a locked gate to keep bears out at night. It's sort of a reverse zoo, with people locked up in the cages, and the wild animals roaming free on the outside. There are two wooden sleeping decks, one above the other, so you don't have to sleep on the ground.

Shelters are great for new backpackers. They offer more reassurance than a nylon tent, and there are other people there. I've always had the good fortune to meet really nice people in the shelters. If you camp at shelters along the Appalachian Trail you meet through-hikers going from Georgia to Maine (or vice versa), and they tend to be interesting folks.