Chimney Tops hike

Brian and I met up at 8am at his house in Maryville to head up to the Smokys for a hike. We got to the top with little struggle. It took me a while to get into a rhythm but I found it. We didn't pass one single person the whole time, that was sorta shocking. We reached the top and I was semi shocked. It's a rock face and you have to climb about 50 feet up. There were a few folks there climbing. One seemed to of run out of steam and was just hanging out. We started our climb, but only after Brian took his shoes off. Apparently it's easier for him to climb that way. Brian went one and I started. I got to the spot were the guy I spoke of earlier had called it quits. It was the toughest spot. Brian helped me a tad and off we went to the top. Once at the top we found a great spot on a rock and chillin, chatting about life, work and everything in between. I brought a small bottle of jack to celebrate as well.

We were there for 30-45 minutes and not a soul dropped in on us. We decided to descend other way then we came up. It was a tad steeper but a lot shorter trip. Once at the bottom we decided to "butchwhack" down. That means we made our own trail down. We found a stream and just followed it to the creek. It was quite a journey. Tons of fun. Once we carved our way to the creek which was not so easy we had to cross. I of course accidentally tested the water, yup defiantly wet and a tad cold. I also learn a valuable lesson as why one would wear boots instead of cross trainer shoes. Besides the obvious, when you get a shoe wet it has probably soaked into your sock as well. So when you take a step it forces water out causing a watery footprint. Why is this a problem? While have you ever tried to walk on rocks in a creek? Some dry, some wet. Well those ones that are wet are undoubtedly slick, making them super hard to walk on and defiantly not a place you want to jump and land. So with a wet shoe you make everything wet. So needless to say I had a hard time crossing the creek.

Brian had gone into the thick brush before I even tried to cross. Once on the other side the thickness of the woods was unbelievable and very jungle like. Of course I couldn't find him and yelling was hard due to the raging creek. I used a ton of energy climbing the hill in front of me and once there I heard Brian yelling for me. Long/short we reconvened and set our sights on the hills of thick brush. It drained us both just to go 30 yards. But at the end of that 30 yards was the pay off! The trail. We made it! Only half a mile from the car. What a feeling, great accomplishment. It's really hard to describe, one of those had to be there things but man was it fun!

adding pics soon