Well guys, it's officially hiking season here in the Smokies! I've gone from hardly working to working HARD in only a few short weeks. While spring break was busy for me as a guide, now that we're inching closer to summer (okay, well the temperatures make it feel summer already!) I'm getting busier and busier. I "graduated" my training back in late March and have been out guiding hikes and trips on my own ever since. I'm also getting back to the one thing I loved the most about working at the hostel in Maine - shuttle driving! Driving people from point A to point B was one of my favorite things working in Maine. It gave me some down time when I was on the trip without the clients and it gave me social time with other hikers when I was with them. In the past two weeks I've spent countless hours in vehicles driving all over the Smokies and the southern Appalachians getting hikers to the Appalachian Trail in various locations. It's been SO MUCH FUN!
My birthday came and went pretty fast this year. Our friends from the AT, Steady and F-100, were driving through on their way to see their daughter graduate from college so we invited them to stay with us. We spent the evening having dinner and birthday cheesecake with them and got to see them off the next morning. It was so nice having hiker trash back in the house again!
F-100 and me!
Steady and me
F-100, NoKey, and Steady
With spring in full swing it also means it's time for spring cleaning and the annual purging of the backpacking gear. I try to go through our gear a few times a year and make sure it's clean, dry, and in general good working order. I was recently digging through our gear bin and found some stuff to toss and then some stuff that we forgot we even had! Enter these Alite 3-in-1 utensils! These were given to us after Trail Days a few years back and they made their way into our gear bin to be forgotten about. Since then we have purchased our titanium sporks and we haven't looked back. Since we have these hanging out here at the house and we don't need them, I figured I'd pass them on to you guys! Check out my Rafflecopter giveaway below!
