I went with two kids on a 50 mile hike in the Smokies earlier this summer. One was a former scout and the other his friend. They are very smart, having made straight A's through high school and college. I guess I am there for comic relief. Anyway, the other kid wrote a newspaper article about our hike. It is at
http://seviercountynews.com/sevierco...?id=8&a_id=219
He wrote about a tough hill. It took me about 4 hours to go 3.6miles but the elevation change was over 3000 ft. I got to the top and there were some horseback riders there. I said, "Hello, fellow backpackers!" A guy on one of the horses said, "We're not backpackers." I said, "I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to the horses."