We hiked the West Prong Trail near Treemont. It began rough. For starters, Lukas did not want to be in the carrier. Also, the carriers were a bit uncomfortable for the adults. Then there was the heat (nope, we couldn't escape it), the bugs, and the up hill climb. After 10 minutes I told Randy I was done :) Well, we kept going anyway (I decided I needed to "suck it up"). Lukas fell asleep right after that, which was good and bad because his complaining stopped, but he was dead weight. Another problem was that we took on a bigger hike than we should have for our first time out. It was six miles... needless to say, we didn't make it to our destination - a river campsite. We got half way there and decided to turn around. While we did not make it all the way, we did make it to the top of the mountain we were climbing. On the way back down we had a surprise. We came up on a bear! It was the first I have ever seen on a trail in the Smokies. It's only the second I've ever seen in the Park. He was a smaller bear, not quite a baby, and he was more scared of us I think. When I saw him, he took off up the terrain. We scooted by and listened to him rustle around on the ridge above.
After our hiking adventure we changed into swimsuits and headed to the popular swim hole - The Y. We found a shady spot, ate our lunch, and swam in the cold river water. It felt great! and was a perfect way to end our trip. Can't wait to do it again - really!
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