Lunch on the Bunion

As a follow up to Fr. Christian's post, I'd like to say that one aspect that I consider crucial to hiking is going with friends! At least, for the Humdinger Project, the more the merrier.

FC and I have been way behind on hikes, but I'm glad we picked Charlie's Bunion to restart the project. It is a fun trail that offers several spots where you can take a "beauty break" and soak up all the awesome. Since the hike to Charlie's Bunion is on the Appalachian Trail, I can finally be christened with a trail name.

Starting off in the Newfound Gap parking lot offers you a chance to people-watch, if you're into that. Newfound Gap is a popular GSMNP tourist/drive-by/stop and take the traditional picture spot. Some people are adventurous enough to walk along the trail for a bit, but most turn back before they even get a 1/2 mile in. Basically after the first mile traffic clears up. If you're a peepee princess like me, you'll love having bathrooms right at the trailhead.

On the way to the trailhead, we drove out of the cloud bank. There was something like a 60% chance of spotty showers the day we went hiking, so we all packed our rain gear. Luckily, we didn't have to don the rain gear and were able to see the sights along the trail.

Hiking to Charlie's Bunion and back is a total of 8.1 miles. For some reason, I didn't notice the elevation change as much on the way to the Bunion as I did on the way back, and if you look at the elevation profile on Hiking in the Smokys (they totally spelled it wrong), I'm sure you can see why. I'm a weenie, but I'm also way out of shape. I felt the burn, but it's always a good burn. So if you're a brave tourist looking for a great view, I would suggest this trail. If you don't regularly hike and/or walk or whatever, you may find it a bit difficult.

If I remember correctly, we did the entire hike in almost 4 hours. Of course, hiking with Fr. David Boettner and Fr. Christian means the pace is faster than most normal people, but I love them anyway. Hope Feist and I did eventually take the lead and slowed things down. But hey, we all made it back to Knoxville and Lenoir City in time for the beginning of the Holy Week liturgies.

We all ate our subs and chips while sitting on the Bunion, and I've got to tell you, it was awesome. Simply beautiful! I feel like hiking to Charlie's Bunion and eating lunch there should be on someone's bucket list. Eating lunch on the Bunion may very well have been my favorite part of the entire hike. I even made a new friend.

For me, this hike was a chance to hang out with people I love who I don't see very often. It was also a chance to be outside and enjoy a gorgeous day that was supposed to be rainy. The hike to Charlie's Bunion was also a nice reminder of how good it feels to just go outside and walk, I mean, really walk.

Here Comes The Sun

This morning I awoke to the sound of rain outside my window. Usually this would be a soothing sound, especially on a holiday when I could sleep in. Today it was the last thing I wanted to hear as I prepared for the second hike of the Humdinger Project. Not to be discouraged, I decided to wear a hat from Sundog Outfitters in Damascus, Virginia. It seemed like a good way to inspire the sun to come out to play. As Ashley and I drove toward the Smokies the rain continued to fall. The closer we got to our destination, the harder it seemed to rain.

One lesson I have learned from both the Smokies and the Appalachian Trail is that you can't control the weather, you just have to accept it. The other thing that I always try to keep in mind about the Smokies, even on days when the sun is shining at home, is that it is a rainforest. There is always the possibility of rain.

Oddly enough today, the vast majority of rain was what we experienced on the drive to the park. All the trails were damp from earlier rain, but there was really only about five minutes of actual rain on the hike today. Almost as soon as the rain had begun, it stopped and out came the sun and blue skies. The power of the Sundog showed forth clearly today.


We began the hike with a short section of Jakes Creek Trail and continued on to Cucumber Gap Trail. Cucumber Gap is a fairly easy trail with gentle ups and downs with one moderately difficult stream crossing. The majority of our hike today was on the Little River Trail. The Little River is actually pretty big when compared to many other rivers and streams in the Smokies. This trail too is a relatively easy hike that follows the river closely. The only difficulties we encountered on our hike of the Little River Trail were the several stream crossings, which were especially difficult near Campsite 30.


Rain did not discourage us today and as a result we had a sunny hike on soggy ground.