keshore trail at 8am. Within a 1/2 mile we started climbing up, and up, and up. Pyro knows lots about trail fauna too, so she showed me what wild strawberries looked like and we checked out blackberry bushes lined up along the trail. When we got to the top of the climb, we stopped for a water and snack break and within 10 minutes, Hemlock arrived, and 10 minutes after that Turtle and SHOE showed up. Pyro and I chit chatted a bit with everyone and decided to keep moving along. Well, according to the map and book (Hiking Trails of the Smokies), the climb on this section of the trail was over, we should be just coasting with little bumps to the next trail intersection. Um... no... that did not happen and on top of that, the map said it was only 4.4 miles to the next intersecting trail, but the book said it was 4.9 miles. hahha! So we climbed another big mountain and the entire time I kept telling myself the "
the book lied" and when I saw the look on Pyro's face, I tried telling her that the book lied too, but she wasn't having it. hahha! Oops. But we get over it and finally catch a glimpse of campsite 88, where we had thought about hiking to last night. There was no way we would of made it to this campsite last night in the daylight. The last two big climbs we had were beasts. Thank goodness we all agreed to stay at site #90 yesterday. As we round a bend, I see a side trail, unmarked, and wonder if this is our intersecting trail. I tell Pyro to take a rest and I'll scout up ahead to make sure. Well, 1/2 mile later, I decide to turn around when the trail starts climbing up. I start to worry and decide that we should wait for everyone before we move for
ward. As I walk back I'm reminded of how I really hate walking the same piece of trail twice. To take my mind off the extra mile I'm walking and to cheer me up, I decide to pick a pretty wild rose from the abundant rose bushes along the trail and stick it behind my ear. As I round the bend, I see that everyone is there already.
ward. As I walk back I'm reminded of how I really hate walking the same piece of trail twice. To take my mind off the extra mile I'm walking and to cheer me up, I decide to pick a pretty wild rose from the abundant rose bushes along the trail and stick it behind my ear. As I round the bend, I see that everyone is there already. Well, when I get up to everyone, SHOE asks what are we doing. I tell her we weren't sure if the unmarked trail was where we had to turn off or not. But before I can finish, she yells, "the trails are marked with signs! You don't stop! why are you stopping!" Not sure why she was so upset, so I try to explain, but then she snidely whispers under her breathe to me, "you're not suppose to pick the flowers". That was all it took. If you push me, I push back. I was already frustrate at not knowing what to do with the unmarked trail, I was hating the extra mile I walked to scout out up ahead and now I was being talked to like a 5yr old. 
So I yelled back. In hind site I should of kept my cool and just let SHOE rant, but it would of eaten me up if I didn't speak up. I let my Latin temper flare up and I spued out that "I wasn't a effing 12 yr old and there was no need to talk to me like that." Well, she got pissed off and walked away mumbling something. I hiked with the rest of the group and I apologized to them for having to witness that. That was such an unlady like display of behavior and I'm embarrassed that it happened. I made a mental note to talk to SHOE later when I saw her.
So I yelled back. In hind site I should of kept my cool and just let SHOE rant, but it would of eaten me up if I didn't speak up. I let my Latin temper flare up and I spued out that "I wasn't a effing 12 yr old and there was no need to talk to me like that." Well, she got pissed off and walked away mumbling something. I hiked with the rest of the group and I apologized to them for having to witness that. That was such an unlady like display of behavior and I'm embarrassed that it happened. I made a mental note to talk to SHOE later when I saw her. Within 5 minutes I was fine and over it and Hemlock and I hiked the last couple of miles to the Calhoun house, where we stopped for lunch. This was the creepiest looking house I had seen in a while. From the o
utside it looked nice and well taken care of, but when you walk inside, it was full of rat or bat droppings, major water damage, old fixtures and just has an all around creepiness to it. Hemlock loved it! haha! As we are eating lunch, we see a couple of park maintenance guys working. They are clearing up an area and mowing another. I spot an older gentleman and he walks over to us. We find out that he actually lived on Mr. Calhoun's property, went to school just across the creek, and lived just a few yards down the trail. He sometimes catches rides with the maintenance crew to come out here and visit his family's cemetery. This guy was a true Smokies historical relic! If I had more time I would of loved to have sat down and talked to him about his life here in the Smokies. I bet he had such an interesting story. 
After lunch, we hop onto Hazel Creek trail for the last 4.5 miles up to our campsite, #83. Pyro and I take up the rear, at least I thought we did. Seems as if Turtle went to check out campsite #86 and comes up behind us. So the three of us are walking together when Hemlock catches up. She was taking some photos of some plants. We all walk for a bit together and that's when they ask if SHOE and I will be OK. I tell 
them it will, that it wasn't a big deal, just a misunderstanding and that I was fine and over it. I can sense that they seem a bit uneasy, so I make the effort to ensure that the group is comfortable and I tell them I'm going to hike up head to catch SHOE and "hug it out." This seems to make them feel better. So, off I go, hiking like a bat out of hell to catch up with SHOE. Thank goodness the terrain is so easy. Just a gradual up hill the entire way up on a nice wide path. About 30 mins. later, I spot SHOE's backpack at campsite #85. I figure she went to use the bathroom so I plunk down and take off my pack and that's when I see her. She's actually sitting along the creek, wading her feet in the water. I hop down to her and when she sees me I say, "are you ready to hug it out yet?" Then at the same time, we both say we are sorry. We sit and talk a bit, realize we just let our tempers get the best of us and we are grown up enough to get over it too. We discuss the whole Flame and Coal analogy, (inside joke/story) and I tell her that the rest of the girls were worried about us and we both laugh. We are too good of friends to let a small scrap get the best of us. Shit happens, and what hap
pens on the trail, stays on the trail. We are back to normal again. We walk back up to our packs and find everyone else trickling in. We break for a bit then get back on the trail to find out campsite.
them it will, that it wasn't a big deal, just a misunderstanding and that I was fine and over it. I can sense that they seem a bit uneasy, so I make the effort to ensure that the group is comfortable and I tell them I'm going to hike up head to catch SHOE and "hug it out." This seems to make them feel better. So, off I go, hiking like a bat out of hell to catch up with SHOE. Thank goodness the terrain is so easy. Just a gradual up hill the entire way up on a nice wide path. About 30 mins. later, I spot SHOE's backpack at campsite #85. I figure she went to use the bathroom so I plunk down and take off my pack and that's when I see her. She's actually sitting along the creek, wading her feet in the water. I hop down to her and when she sees me I say, "are you ready to hug it out yet?" Then at the same time, we both say we are sorry. We sit and talk a bit, realize we just let our tempers get the best of us and we are grown up enough to get over it too. We discuss the whole Flame and Coal analogy, (inside joke/story) and I tell her that the rest of the girls were worried about us and we both laugh. We are too good of friends to let a small scrap get the best of us. Shit happens, and what hap
pens on the trail, stays on the trail. We are back to normal again. We walk back up to our packs and find everyone else trickling in. We break for a bit then get back on the trail to find out campsite.Hemlock and I make it to campsite #83 first and scout around for a good spot to set up our backcountry homes. I find two good trees for my hammock, and she gets a great private spot along the creek. Soon everyone is there and setting up their tents. We filter water, relax and just enjoy being at camp. SHOE decides she wants to hike the 3.6 mile round trip out to the Bone Valley trail and cabin. She asks if I feel up to it and I say sure. I actually had plenty of energy. Besides the two big climbs this morning, today was a nice terrain day. So off we go, with our crocs, cause there are 5
river crossing we have to wade thru. After our first crossing, we decide to just hike in crocs, which works out great cause the trail is flat. We make it the 1.8 miles out to the cabin spur trail and I decide that I need to water the leaves before I head over. I tell SHOE to go ahead without me and I'll catch up. So I walk behind a tree and I am in mid stream when I hear SHOE scream and run back in my direction. Scarred out of my mind, I quickly pull up my pants and find out what's going on. She said that when she was walking along the boardwalk over to the cabin, she heard a rattle and hightailed it back. We decide to try one more time. After all, we hiked all they way out here and if we ever want to see this trail again, we would have to backpack in another two days just to get to this point! So we were going to try it again. This time, SHOE is pounding on the 
boardwalk with her trek poles and I am right behind her. Well, we get the very end and are about to step off onto the high grassy area, when we hear this loud rattle and see movement. We both do a 180 and run down the boardwalk. The rattlesnake is still angrily rattling at us even though we are on the other side, a good 25 feet away. We decide not to be stupid and just take our pictures of the cabin from a distance. Damn snake. We head back the 1.8 miles back to camp. and after our last river crossing, we start to pick up some firewood for Pyro's fire tonight. 
As we pull into camp, Turtle, Pyro, and Hemlock tell us they saw a bear! and that the bear went down the trail we were just on! We didn't see it and lightly tease them that there wasn't a bear at all. haha! We did tell them about our snake adventure though. Later on that night, a group of rangers come by and warn us about a BAAAAR (bear, don't you just love the mountain folk accents? haha!) in the area. We thank them and continue making dinner. About an hour later, guess what we saw? A BAAAAR! Another bear was loping down the same trail that SHOE and I had hiked earlier! We all grabbed our camera's and started snapping away. Pyro and Turtle actually moved up closer to try to get a good shot and poor Hemlock didn't move at all. She doesn't like bears. After dinner, we de
cided that if a bear did come, it would get Pyro first, cause she was the closest to trail. haha! Turtle even moved her tent, which was set up on a nice seculded piece of creek front property, to be closer to us. haha! After relaxing around the fire, we decide to call it a night. I slinked snugly in my hammock and played trivial pursuit til my eyes couldn't stand to stay open any longer. I think I conked out around 10pm.
cided that if a bear did come, it would get Pyro first, cause she was the closest to trail. haha! Turtle even moved her tent, which was set up on a nice seculded piece of creek front property, to be closer to us. haha! After relaxing around the fire, we decide to call it a night. I slinked snugly in my hammock and played trivial pursuit til my eyes couldn't stand to stay open any longer. I think I conked out around 10pm. Todays events were alot like a trail. It had it's ups and downs, but through it all we persevered and all made it to camp safely, and most importantly, together. By the end of the day, I had calculated I had walked 13 miles. Not a bad day, and I still felt like I could walk more. All in all it was a good day. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!
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