Hiking the Breathtaking Trails of Mt. Le Conte - Great Smoky Mountains 4K

when you look at distant mountains you begin to wonder what secrets they hide among their forests and atop their peaks [Music] amid the mountains nature's everlasting bounty of wonders becomes abundantly clear join us as we journey to explore the great smoky mountains [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] on a rainy afternoon we were off to another trip stopping to pick thomas up along the way i just punched myself in the face [Music] we headed south through kentucky and into tennessee on the way we explore a rest stop with some historical information and civil war dioramas [Music] as we drove south we saw more and more hills rising into the clouds in the distance finally we found ourselves in the great smoky mountains once again fog and clouds surrounded us on all sides as we drove through the mountains on our way to the smokemont campground andrew and i pulled into the smokemont campsite only a little bit later we saw robbie and thomas pulling into the area [Music] you guys get here uh just like five minutes ago yeah welcome what's up how's it going how was the drive it was good it was all right yeah i mean drives are never that fun unless you're thomas i need uh i need robbie drive this time really you don't have it because i would drive the whole time we quickly got to setting up our tents and grabbing food from our bags under a foggy evening sky we gathered around to eat and talk about our past trips to the smokies it's been nine years for me always campaigns like this are still nostalgic it was good to sit around and enjoy the open air we were also talking about how thomas was talking about getting like an rv at some point thomas was just like drivers we're back we're in the back playing cards cooking up a steak like on that episode we're like feeding it to thomas after a relaxing evening the rain started coming down so we retreated to the safety of our tents wow it is really starting to rain dude yeah yeah i don't mind if it rains all night it's as long as by the time we get up in the morning it is dry as a bone how you guys doing good how about you guys are you dry yeah yeah yeah me too thomas is pantless anyone else want to get pants so the rain actually started coming down pretty hard we're all tired anyway so i'm ready to sleep pretty soon man it's just so nice to sit in a tent when it's raining and you know you're sheltered from the rain and the sound and everything is like relaxing too it signifies the closure of a day even though it's raining though but it's just really nice the sun came out the next morning shining brightly through the moss-covered treetops as the sun rose higher the campsite and the electric rv generators started to buzz with life and we all got up to get an early start to the big day how'd you sleep uh decently i decided to forgo my air mat because i was like oh it'll save some weight and i may end up regretting the system i slept as good as i remember it being in a tent i would always wake up and like have to like roll it's like i wouldn't have to do this in a hammock i don't know i think that was the best night of sleep i've gotten a tent it was the right temperature it was the right back it was the right pillow it was the right tent buddy [Music] for breakfast thomas had a fancy new coffee setup he wanted to share with us so we got our full beans we got our coffee grinder as i say that looked like some sort of like steam piston or something aeropress and we're gonna make some piping hot good good coffee i had to catch myself making the coffee this way is a laborious but satisfying process and it has rewarding results [Music] it's good that's some good coffee here that is good coffee is it sour is it bitter it's good it's not great a crow scampered around camp looking for food while we had some down downtime i decided to check around for some interesting plants so all around this campsite there's beautiful trees i've seen like dogwoods flowering i've seen tulip poplar in eastern hemlock but down here this is actually a type of orchid wild orchid called a showy orchid you can see it's got these like really unique beautiful flowers kind of this lovely like purplish pink and white color it's like the height of spring so i imagine we're going to see a lot more wildflowers on the trail but it's really cool just seeing that there after that we broke camp packed up our bags and headed out to our trailhead on the way there we saw some amazing views of the distant mountains now we arrived at the newfound gap trailhead but brian and i still had to drop off one of the cars at the alum cave trailhead for the end of the trip as they headed out thomas and i explored around you know the funny thing is this is still lighter than the backpack i attached myself the first time i went backpacking this is pretty reasonable i'll be honest thomas is my sherpa while we waited a cold fog rolled through the entire area making us a bit concerned about the weather eventually we saw the others return and the fog cleared up revealing a beautiful view of the distant mountains with the crew reunited we would soon head out on the trail but first thomas filled us in on some of the history of the area so we're actually at the top of newfound gap you can see tennessee on this side north carolina on this side and the reason newfound gap is important is because settlers as they were coming this way this was probably the most easily traversable pathway through the smokies so that's why this is significant here but hey let me show you one thing here oh wow kata 1972 miles wait that's how long the appalachian trail is no it's more because it starts down in georgia oh god now we made our way onto the appalachian trail to begin our hike we would be headed north on the at camping at the ice water spring shelter then heading west into tennessee staying another night at mount le conte before hiking out on the alum cave trail do you guys expect it to be this cold uh no but we were just experiencing like i don't know 20 mile per hour winds at least but i think as long as the trail isn't that windy we should be absolutely fine [Music] so i'm seeing all along the trail growing out of this moss there's these beautiful blue flowers and these are actually called blue wets when i first learned them i thought they were called blue x's because like they have kind of this x shape with the flower uh there's also these trout lilies growing which have this really mottled pattern that kind of looks like the skin of a trout and then i've also seen uh rue anemone and may apples growing and may apples you know later in the season they'll have these really delicious fruits growing but it's super hard to find them because usually the deer eat all of them there were also spring beauties and wild violets growing from the hillside we continued hiking up the trail which rewarded us with a glimpse at the distant mountains [Music] we still had a long way up to go and there were more plants to identify along the way there's some really beautiful fiddleheads coming out and i don't think it's the edible variety usually so there's an edible version of these ferns that have like kind of a u-shaped cross-section like celery typically they're much thicker and bigger but it's really beautiful seeing these just popping up for the first time i feel like the imagery of that is just like so romantic and fantasy-esque there was also a flowering trout lily which unfortunately was closed up due to the cold wet weather [Music] we hiked past towering trees and large rocky patches of the trail along the way andrew saw another interesting plant so if i'm not mistaken i think this bush growing here is something related to gooseberries it's kind of got these rounded lobed leaves i've seen something like this before growing in a friend's garden and they grow kind of like these interesting little berries that almost look like green grapes but with like striations so i don't know exactly what species it is but it is in the current genus so you know currants like the fruits unfortunately no fruits to eat so i'm just going to keep going so right now we're kind of contending with every time we get into a windy patch it feels like the wind chills like in the 30s and then once we get out of it it's actually pretty warm this hike is just super nice because even though it's uphill all of us took the time to actually like reduce the weight of our packs and pack really smartly and it's definitely paying off man i feel so good right now water dripped from the liking covered boulders as we made our way higher up the mountain the higher we got the more impressive our views became the sight of the distant mountains open sky and sunshine had our spirits high [Music] but as we wound up the mountain the weather changed a misty haze rolled between the trees obscuring both our views and the sunshine [Music] so i will tell you one thing the smoky mountains is the most aptly named park in the world so every time we come out here this is what it's like all this land used to be owned by uh john smokey let's get some better commentary from brian actually he was owned by smokey bear we hiked deeper into the fog past fallen trees and up narrow bends water trickled from the moss covered rocks as we hiked through this damp foggy forest the trail flattened out a bit as we neared a small junction in the trail well i am super glad i brought my winter sleeping bag i thought it was going to be warm and toasty this is not when you're camping up in mountains it's important to understand what your elevation is going to be because the temperature of the elevation you're going to be camping at might be up to 30 40 50 degrees off from the nearby city part of the junction led to a little hilltop but there was too much fog to see anything what a view yeah i think this is our route over here this is appalachian and then this is a heifer creek or something let's eat in this nice little pine forest okay yes very welcoming oh this is nice stuff i love little pine forest like this it always feels like nice welcoming little alcove yeah so what do you guys think of the hike so far there's so much colder than i thought it would be yeah i was expecting like summertime sweating my hands feel like it's winter it reminds me of uh that first day at grayson highlands so far the up hillage is not nearly as brutal as our past smokey's experiences packing smart really helped a lot all in all though this is great so far i am looking forward to some sunshine oh yeah after our snack break we headed back out but we got distracted by something we saw just off the trail i see some uh weird cage or something out there what is that i don't know oh it's like a giant trap or something property national park service well i'm not going to get in there even if just for a joke i don't want any disastrous results yeah that would be a bad idea lost in lichen-covered trees surrounded us as the fog became even thicker the mist accentuated the mysterious ancient quality of these mountains eventually we came to another split in the trail where we stopped to check our progress so we are headed to the ice water spring shelter 1.3 miles away nice that's pretty yeah i think we'll be good taking our sweet time the hike so far had thankfully been fairly easy and enjoyable as we hiked the fog only seemed to get thicker i bet the view would be really superb if it wasn't so smoky and cloudy oh yeah yeah that would be amazing we continued on beneath overcast skies over rocky uphill trails and thickets of moss-covered hemlock trees [Music] okay despite the foggy weather we all still had a sunny disposition i think it's like an attitude thing but i'm just like not getting phased by any of this we're just having a good time today yeah i feel great i feel on top of things i'd have to say the same yeah i'm gonna for pull that and my pack just feels so much lighter today i think it's because thomas is holding the tent my pack doesn't seem lighter but i'll be honest i think i've always had a very it's like thomas is finally carrying his share of the weight okay i think you guys have over carried your share that's very true too before long we were getting much closer to our campsite is this a junction or should be getting close oh okay we're here we went to ice water shelter which is this way and it says 0.2 miles left so this is where we're going tomorrow we'll go down this way then come back up so tomorrow's 5.5 total we continued on finding potential campsites all around somebody had a fire out here so because of covid you can actually stay in a tent instead of actually being in the shelter normally you're not supposed to set up a tent around is that a bathroom i think it is hello yeah that's uh that's definitely the bathroom right there oh there's the bear hangs over there shelter's right there nice hello this is amazing i hope we have a really nice view tomorrow morning well what do we want to do because i mean we could scout and see if those places up there were still good there's some trails that'll lead you out too all right we scouted down the trail a little bit and it looks like maybe there's like one patch of dirt where we could camp but nothing really that great yeah i think we're gonna head up closer to the shelter and see what we can find in the end we decided to stay at the first campsite we had seen it's nice and pine needly yeah secluded soft ground be great pretty open yeah all right get some stuff set up yep we started setting up our tents on the flatter more open patches of ground we had put our tent down so that any roots sticking out of the ground wouldn't dig into our backs at night we wanted a good night's sleep for tomorrow's hike okay i think me and thomas are pretty much set let's go check on the other guys see how their setup is going how you guys doing there was a bit of rain that got in but i think we're good yeah it's looking pretty cozy over here yep we got a nice little cozy setup over there boy all in all i say this is a pretty good campsite man i feel very cozy and secure yeah it's a little bit windy it's gonna be windy tonight but i think once you get in the tent it's gonna warm up yeah it won't be anything we haven't dealt with before and i'm sure we'll all be comfortable yeah it is kind of surprising i don't know i mean we definitely got an early start we were able to wake up pretty early if you had to choose between being able to use the shelter or staying here what would you choose i i'd much prefer staying in the tent in the shelter if it were just me uh or maybe one other person i'd do the shelter try make some friends yeah yeah for the social aspect it'd be fun to do the shelter but with the whole but i'm not here to make friends the whole pandemic thing i'm i'm okay with it right now i've already got two too many friends right here [Laughter] do we think we want to fire tonight yeah this doesn't look like a state sanction fire i would also be surprised if you found wood drying up to make a fire i think if anything it'd be smarter to just get another early night and get an early start tomorrow [Laughter] what is this i thought these are cinnamon sticks this is where i'm storing my utensils we enjoyed sitting around camp but it definitely was a bit chilly man that is so warm yeah it's a might bit chillier than i expected yeah it's the wind man that wind chill yeah and honestly like when the wind dies down you literally just feel like complete relief yeah yeah we got to remember mohican remember the moji this is oh i'm not complaining at all this is this is totally magical i'm just saying it'll be nice you look like a volcano that's erupting a human after goofing around we hung up our gear on one of the pulleys specially designed for the many black bears that roam this area as many as two per square mile after hanging up our gear we took a quick gander at the shelter then we hit the trail for a little day hike with plenty of time to kill we decided to hike to charles bunyan a rocky outcropping with a nice view further along the appalachian trail on our way to charlie's bunion the trail took us down rocky trails and past trickling mountain streams but with a thick fog who knew if we would even have a view once we got there okay i think everybody should prepare themselves for this being extremely disappointing we might be hiking for absolutely no reason so i think just look at this as a nice warm up for tomorrow to keep your legs in shape the trail continued through the woods before opening up and we could see patches of sunlight on distant hills yo that sunshine looks so appealing yeah oh god hopefully it'll travel over here i mean the wind's blowing this way so hopefully it should now we hiked along ridge top trails with a clear view of mountains all around us the only thing that mars this great beauty it's the cold yeah there's part of me that thinks there's just gonna be a patch of warm sunlight at the end it's probably a false hope but the sky cleared more and more as we hiked bringing more sunshine up above there was a vicious wind but this little berm and these shrubs are like a perfect wind break right now my hands actually can feel things again the powerful gale pushed the clouds all across the blue ridge mountains down here though the air was clear and the sun was shining well this is definitely worth the hike yeah if you look up there that's exactly where we're camping up there and so all the clouds are getting pushed up to the top even though we're it's sunny down here when we're up there it's going to be perpetually cloudy throughout the night but every cloud is going to get pushed up to right where we're sleeping like in our face we took in the view a little bit longer before hiking on to see charlie's bunion [Music] so [Music] whoa there's an edge right here but it's not gonna kill me just yet if i were to take a jump yeah i'd be a donor but this is that's scary right there crawl like a lizard just stay completely prone oh man a little windy yeah wow holy cow yeah look at that drop off can't look down okay i gotta i gotta sit [Music] the views here were mesmerizing and the rocks seemed to emanate an ancient mystical energy the clouds quickly floated by overhead adding to the mysterious feel of this rocky overlook this is cool this feels like some sort of ancient ancestral land or something it's like a meditation point where people would come to do a pilgrimage and then they'd meditate atop the rock i'd be surprised if i saw like some you know ancient artwork sculpted into the side of this this mountain here yeah it's like a sacrificial altar back of the day this is a good climax for today's hike indeed now it's time for falling action what do they call that yeah the damien launcher yeah all right i'm gonna go right in my stomach now we headed back to camp retracing our steps along the magical trail which was now engulfed in warm sunlight [Music] we took one last look at the distant view before hiking back into the mossy wooded hills [Music] do [Music] that hike was it was strenuous because uphill but it was not actually that bad we're already more or less back and then thomas was talking about food the whole time so i've got a good hunger built up now oh there's thomas i thought that was our test oh yeah i probably could have called you hey that camera can capture that view that's pretty good what's up guys this is mtv crib back at the shelter the through hikers were much more lively in the evening's newfound sunlight as for us it was time to prepare our dinner of dehydrated meals sichuan chicken sounds too good and as we ate we ran across someone who had seen our videos go ahead hey i'm out here with uh adventure archives on the at and we're hiking and hanging out with all these people and i'm really happy to be here thanks guys nice well thank you good morning everyone was wondering about what y'all are doing over here this is szechuan chicken with rice from marie fisher it's got like a ton of vegetables in here which is really satisfying this is delicious thank you this has a wild boar in it apparently like somebody speared a boar in a forest and put it in this it dehydrated it [Laughter] all right i've got the real term at beef stew this is from ida where's this from again norway norway i'm super excited i when i tasted the spoon it tasted really good so looking forward to this it tasted really good on that there's a real term out from norway i like it i got that sad boy macaroni and cheese don't let the packaging fool you that's mac and cheese i really hope this tastes better than it looks because it looks really bad seven out of ten so this i feel like this is gonna be like a thanksgiving dinner but with wild boar there's apples in it too oh man what does boar taste like just like big at least yeah it's kind of like aren't really gonna pulled pork or something it's because that's good after eating we sat around and took in the calm scenery all around us as peaceful as the scenery was the whole area was abuzz with activity of other hikers so apparently it's actually the season for the at right now and it is packed tent's all over it feels like we're in some sort of like tent city it's kind of kind of cool yeah i wish having more people somehow meant there was warmer weather like our collective body heat yeah alas despite the extra people and the bit of sunlight we were treated to the evening became quite chilly yet again thomas is using his socks as gloves it is much colder than we anticipated dude i'm astonished how many people are hiking by 18. i did not know it was this many people that is incredible does it make you want to hike it more or less much less [Laughter] i could be totally off base here but when i was doing the pct i felt like yeah there were a lot of hikers here but they would scatter themselves much more because you could camp anywhere it was so much easier yeah yeah so you're just tired just camp where you are well what's interesting is they basically travel in groups and that makes sense when you actually think about if everybody starts at the same time you're going to be doing similar distances to the same shelter yeah so you start to recognize people like oh it's you yeah you pass me today i'll pass you tomorrow i'd be worried about like falling behind the group that i had gotten to know like eventually just slowly and slowly yeah see them less and less well i remember one time rob you were saying it's really cool to meet people that you know you'll never see again knowing that you're going to see them again that changes the dynamics it's a little early but i think i am ready to get i'm going in i already changed to my long sleeve shirt stuff so i'm doing okay i'll see you two in the morning all right we were treated to our tents for an early warm night how you doing thomas i'm doing all right finding my feet are pretty sneaky right now so i apologize okay yeah keep them in the keep them on that end of the tent i'll keep my head as far this way as i can already feeling better man [Laughter] my body parts are still cold it's just the uh the knowledge that i don't get warmer security security of the tent and the yeah actually the shelter from the wind is a big big plus i am regretting not having my air mat a little bit but it'll be okay though i'm not regretting having my arm out at all all right we have peaked in in camping luxury right now at night a super moon shined outside our tents the full moon was at its closest in its orbit around earth giving it a slightly larger appearance in the sky [Music] the next morning the golden sun cast light onto distant misty mountains the overlapping layers of the distant hills looked almost like an old watercolor painting [Music] as the sun rose higher it thawed the cold frost that had bitten the campsite eventually we all woke up and talked about our nights how'd you guys sleep i think i was like cold like really cold for like the first three hours i don't know if i was like dehydrated or if i didn't eat enough or something but like kept waking up and like it was kind of uncomfortable through the night probably should have brought my air mat i had a dream i got shot in the shoulder and i kept trying to take an uber to the hospital and i woke up and my shoulder really hurt because i was sleeping we all went to the shelter to take in the warm sunlight and the beautiful morning views before breakfast while we soaked in the morning sunlight i noticed a wild edible plant nearby so sitting here enjoying the sun and i saw this cluster of random leaves i realized that these are ramps if you give it a whiff you can kind of smell the onion smell but you can also tell the ramps because the bottom of the stems are kind of reddish a lot of people harvest these by like pulling off the bulbs because they want to use like the whole bulb like a thing of garlic but it's actually a lot more sustainable to just take the leaves and cut those up and use them like chives or leeks because that way they'll grow back and you're not removing the whole plant we boiled up some water for the morning's coffee and prepared a bit of oatmeal in the grass nearby a dark-eyed junko foraged around for food then we packed up our tents grabbed our bags and headed out [Music] so about one miles ahead we can turn right go up to mount kephart and then come back down and continue on our trail robbie mentioning mount kephart had reminded me of some national park history that i shared while we hiked in the national park documentary that i love there's a significant character horace kephart or lawrence kephart or something kephart was really good friends with a japanese man named uh first name masa they both had mountains named after them so this is mount kephart and then on the other side is masa knob there's also a style of bushcraft knife called the cap art based on horace's preferred knife it's kind of a standard looking knife but it's kind of like well-rounded this jump off this is mount kephart up here we hiked up the trail leading to mount cap heart which was incredibly steep and tiring to hike but it wasn't long before we reached the top where we had a snack break it's funny how like when you compare yourself to others like to through hikers you start questioning like oh man am i a real hiker but it's like no we've been doing this for like over 10 years and like it's just funny how like we're so trained to think that way i also think that anyone who wants to go outside and walk and consider themselves a hiker totally consider yourself a hiker when we first got started i mean people were saying you guys aren't hiking you know you're wearing jeans sneakers all that stuff the enjoyment of being outside has changed no more since you guys have gotten more professional sure you can do more miles yeah you're a little bit more prepared but you're just as much of a hiker back then as you are now or as much of a hiker as those folks are who are going a thousand plus miles yeah so for you out there don't be afraid yeah and don't compare yourself to other hikers yes except for season one adventure archives you can probably compare yourself today we sat around enjoying the view while andrew pulled out some of his new snacks me and brian both have a bunch of mini beef sticks why so many though because we're hiking like five miles today so that's why you better pack it now each tenth of a mile means one beep stick [Laughter] i must say that is a good beef stick you pack a fine beef [Laughter] now it was back down to the main trail and on with the main leg of our journey today the sun was shining brightly illuminating all the moss and greenery of the trail somehow it seemed like the beautiful weather was accentuating the beautiful scenery around us [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] as we hiked we saw a little outcropping that looked like a good spot to rest oh yeah let's take a break i think we're at the lowest point of the trail right now and then the next part of the trail should be pretty steady hiking a little bit of uphill but more or less flat after that for about two miles i think we're gonna go to probably the steepest uphill of the trail so that'll be a bit of a challenge but that'll be towards the end of the hike when we can get close to the campsite now we continued on our way the ground is so soft yeah take a nap right here hope our campsites like that so i can sleep easy without my airmen the trail took us along a ridge top which treated us to some nice views [Music] yeah so far this section of the trail hasn't been too bad there's been a few uphills but it's mostly just flat and along the ridge it's quite quite nice especially with this beautiful weather the hike had been relatively easy so far but every so often we checked to make sure we were still making good time it is a little after 12 and we've probably done about a mile we want to get to the lodge before five because there's a restaurant that you can get take out from but they close at five and you'd think that getting there by five would be no problem but for us that might actually be somewhat up in the air still well i think we could totally do it so we met a hiker at the shelter right before we left who said there's a section along this trail called the limousine and they call it that because it's supposed to be nice and flat and easy going i think this must be it [Applause] so along this hillside i've now seen a lot of flowers called spring beauties it's funny because yesterday all the flowers were all closed up because it was cloudy and cold but up here where it's sunny they've all opened up these have a really beautiful like five petal flower with some pink striations and it's also edible so you know if you were in a survival situation you could probably eat like a lot of the stuff growing here [Music] we continued on and the trail now began to increase dramatically in steepness yesterday definitely gave me a false sense of security this is much more in line with the smokies that i remember not only the steepness but also it's like every corner you turn you're like okay we must be at the top now right nope i don't exactly know what causes this but it's interesting there's all these rocks embedded in these roots and it's not just like shoved into the crease it looks like the tree's actually grown around it and i was at a park recently called flint ridge which was a major place where like paleo indians would harvest flint for arrowheads and stuff and you see a lot of trees that are just growing around these chunks of flint so there must be something similar here where there's just like a ton of rock in the ground and the roots just engulf and swallow some of them we all continued hiking along the mountain ridges but one of us was definitely outpacing the rest i feel like when thomas disappears that's when you know it's a real adventure archives trip if we haven't been into the trip long enough for him to disappear we haven't fully hiked yet so i think we're coming up on anakista knob i think there's still a little more sort of flattish trail and then a little bit after that it gets steeper but dang look at this view i remember when i first experienced trails like this just seeing all the moss on the ground and like having those amazing views i really felt like i was in the garden of eden the first time i came here the weather is perfect you enjoying this weather brian who wouldn't be enjoying this weather man we continued following the trail back into a wooded section before finding our long-lost fourth crew member we were saying that the way you hike is like after you complete a mission in a video game and the guy's like i'll meet you back at camp and you see him ride off but they just teleport him to the camp or just hiking for miles and we don't see you anywhere i'm not trying to do it because i want to be ahead of you guys it's just i get into i get enough flow and i can't stop that's good otherwise it just becomes more painful i can very much stop oh this hike is actually very reminiscent of like our first trip to the smokies in what way well the weather partly but also that pill but just like last time we're in the smokies it was mostly cloudy or the whole time but this has the same feeling that i remember welcome brian welcome [Music] we all took a moment to enjoy the quietness of the bend in the trail these are the best moments i mean you get to rest and it's nice out it's kind of hard to continue yeah you're at a good save point it looks like there's a bit of downhill at first but it's been a downhill it should be it should be a little easy for the next half a mile that's good that's what i like to hear you think there's going to be bathrooms up on top of the lodge oh definitely yeah i'm good that's why thomas is hiking so fast that's always why thomas hikes fast me and thomas are gonna like be in the bathroom and have the phone like at the top of the stall so you can both watch them or like hold it underneath the stall it's gonna be a 30 minute poop get us through at least an episode and a half king of the hill [Music] so now we continue down the trail climbing up strenuous inclines reaching higher and higher [Music] i think it's the beginning of the end of the hike to mount mccott this is where it starts getting a little steeper a little more uphilly i was just thinking earlier why is it like when your body it's slight uphill it just knows and then when it hits a level part it knows oh yeah it's so immediate it's the first step no matter how slight the uphill it's just like you can feel that slight exhaustion although this is more than slight [Music] we continued climbing up the hills stopping occasionally to take in the views and rest oh yeah i think thomas is gone now we probably won't see him until we get to the shelter he's gonna set the tent up and everything he's gonna take a nap and then he's gonna hike out like well i'm rested enough as we climbed higher the views of distant hills became more and more clear we trudged on and on feeling the heat of the afternoon sun bearing down on us this shade gives some much needed reprieve from the sun feels nice and cool i kind of want to just like stick my tongue under this moss and drink that [Music] water we climbed up a steep rocky hill and at the top we saw a surprising change in scenery this is like a completely different biomes that i'm like wow oh look at this there's some uh metal rope to hang on to oh oh geez up here the views were even more spectacular filling us with a sense of peace in spite of the treacherous trail [Music] [Music] it's so interesting as soon as we entered the super rocky area we started seeing all these different plants and there's this really unique looking one kind of has these like purplish green spiky leaves but it's called a cliff saxophoge it prefers to grow on rocky terrain like this [Music] we cross the precarious rocky part of the trail and we're soon enough back on more normal terrain we had hiked for a while getting closer to the campsite but we still had a little ways to go pretty steep drop off here still no sign of thomas i'm sure he's up ahead but oh this is a tough final stretch from here we could see the spring growth filling the distant valleys with bright green colors we still had more uphill to climb but soon we started hearing voices off in the distance i'm not quite there yet but i can hear people up there i'm almost to the myrtle point intersection i'm gonna wait there for brian and andrew doth mine eyes deceiveth me yeah i should have waited a little bit back there i thought you guys weren't that far behind you've probably been here for a good hour right 45 minutes wow we were thinking you'd probably already be at the shelter well depends if you wanted to do myrtle point i say if we do myrtle point we'll just do it when we're fresh yeah do it tomorrow yeah on my stream before i have been sitting for two weeks i've watched a ton of people just come by and then go back so we just ran into someone who said it levels out after this corner and i think i hear robbie and thomas or someone else robbie ended up gung-ho in it ahead but me and brian were taking our time but i think we are close to it at least leveling out all right yo yo thomas is here oh what a sweet sweet feeling we should probably go to lodge okay yeah we'll skip myrtle point for now we can go tomorrow morning yeah i am hungry i'm ready for this lodge food even if it's like a hard-boiled egg and an apple together again we hiked up one last little uphill before reaching the peak of the mountain welcome to high hrothgar king of the dragonborn it says hi top on the map i don't know if that actually means this is the highest point this has to be there's no way so yeah uh yeah i'm looking everywhere and everywhere is down finally at the top we could look forward to a downhill stroll to our shelter i don't think we need to go to myrtle i mean i see it right there but like there this is everything you need this is bananas that's where we started too you can see there's where your car is parked crazy dude so we went all the way up to there and came around down that side now we're all the way up here holy wow talk about saving the best for last yeah imagine going up this way and saying okay now we have to go all the way as we took in the view we ran into another hiker who had seen our videos it's a video oh it was a video awesome thank you guys what's your name my name is john yeah um the hike is great um myrtle point was definitely worth it um amazing view better than this view much better oh we might have to go yeah we were thinking maybe we could skip it awesome thank you guys thank you so much john all right take care and now we hike to the mount lakot shelter oh baby we've got it all to ourselves wow this is a sight for sore eyes or what wow this one's super nice super super nice not bad [Music] oh man good times i think i'm doing top buck today oh yes well i'm not getting on this bottom one oh it's kind of hot up here though might have to wait for it to well that might be good at night though [Laughter] a white-tailed deer passed through our camp as for us we headed down to the lakante lodge for some food oh public restaurants potable water this is exciting wow these are cool cabins man as we explored we wondered if we should have made reservations to stay here instead of the shelter can you imagine just sitting out on those rocking chairs in the evening we kind of missed out man we kind of missed out it's like we got to the shelter and it was amazing and then we get here it's like oh while we explored we saw a cute little squirrel that unfortunately had gotten its hands on someone's trash now we entered the gift shop to buy some take out lunch inside were also photos of people who had stayed here decades in the past we enjoyed the cabin's porch and the lodge's view before digging into the food all right so let's see what's in here oh wow a lot of gatorade packets yeah it's actually really helpful some fruit leather some cream cheese and bagel oreos this cookie looks really good i knew rob was gonna go for that first time i don't know if it's the fact that it's cut in a square but it's really appealing to me nothing like a square cookie man yeah yeah thomas is getting super creative look at this i'm gonna try and is that mayonnaise or cream cheese cream cheese oh that's kind of gross looking actually any good pretty good this is dope dude this is like a final fantasy village it'll be awesome to stay here but i am still pretty happy with the shelter though i know we've kind of said it ad nauseam but it's experiences like this that really hit home that you don't need a lot to be incredibly happy happiness is like a experience incremental to what you're currently feeling this is like ecstatic level happiness for me and it didn't require that much i got that orange drink the food was good but it wasn't the hot meal we had been hoping for although it seemed good enough for some of the birds around here wanting a hot meal robbie and i returned to the shelter to prepare some of our dehydrated meals we got our water boiling and enjoyed the solitude of the shelter as we waited for our meals to cook we reflected on the trip so far yeah dude just yesterday we were literally using these as warmth now that's like how many layers can i take off that was so perfect today but i'm also going to be making this this is from ida ida thank you so much very much looking forward to the beef stew here got to see if there's a desiccate packet in here though eventually andrew and i returned to the shelter as well hello now it was time to dig in first i would be having some chicken and dumplings needed a little bit more water very crunchy still so this is some sort of egg sausage skillet thing eight out of ten pretty high this this has to be this has to be done right now looks good get this filth out of my face yeah we were saying it was great to meet uh like a bunch of hikers yesterday but it's super nice to have this shelter all by yourself now and there's not a lot you could ask for to improve the conditions right now it was almost like culture shock yesterday there were so many people i didn't know that was even possible to have that many people out don't get me wrong we met some really cool people but like these three bozos is enough [Laughter] afternoon drifted off into evening as we enjoyed the warm sun and milled about camp with plenty of luxurious time to waste [Music] [Applause] [Music] as the sun started setting and brian and thomas continued resting andrew and i decided to hike to the nearby overlook to see if we could get a better view so there's an overlook up ahead called clifftop the view is supposed to be very nice and the sun's about to set so we're going to go check it out [Music] it's kind of incredible how quickly it got cold it was really really nice and then just like that hopefully it doesn't drop too much tonight i don't want to suffer sleeping on this hard wooden board and cold on top as we approached the overlook we got a sense for what it might have in store for us [Music] this could be another hanson's point situation i really hope you enjoy your rest thomas and brian because i think you're about to miss out in the sun's golden light the hills looked especially magical before long we found ourselves at the edge of the cliff tops from the tops of the hills we took in a view that to us was at once familiar and entirely unique [Music] we had seen hilly vistas like this many times and we had watched sunsets countless times before yet every time we are struck by how beautiful it is every time it is unique and fresh filling us with a childlike wonder [Music] we were happy we hadn't stayed at camp that we went out and ventured to watch the sunset but we were excited to get back to the others to eat dinner and to get into our warm sleeping bags how excited are you to eat that spaghetti right now i am a nine out of ten which is also probably how much of the heat has left it we got back to the shelter and shared our experience with the others it was incredible great we texted you guys but honestly even if you had came you probably would have been like it's too cold yeah yeah you look super warm look how bunched up this is really like a green caterpillar what we just need is one big uh uh quilt to put over all four of us it feels warm oh yeah okay it's not still warm but but it tastes good oh man that is good that's how i remember my mom making it it has this nice sweetness to it which i kind of like oh man that's the stuff should be more spaghetti after our late dinner we got into our sleeping bags to retire for the night you know it is cozy in here but it is very cramped at the head you don't want to look up bash your head think about that but that's how the bears eat your face this way the bears will only eat your toes you coming in andrew come in i hope this is comfortable watch your head brian warned me and i still hit myself twice there we go yeah this is a little bit cramped it's like reverse uh body snatchers like instead of people coming out pods it's like people going into pods this is like a bunch of caterpillars all right well good night robbie and i awoke at dawn and decided to brave the cold to catch him out in sunrise there's no way i was falling asleep anyway fall back asleep oh oh my god my [Music] we backtracked along the trail we had hiked in on making our way to myrtle point as we neared it the sun was just cresting casting everything in a brilliant red orange hue [Music] do [Music] the window of opportunity we had to see that yeah was literally within like three or four minutes and somehow we just made it exactly the right time i think about how like there's moments in life where it takes a lot of pushing to get yourself to do something but when you do it you know you you come away with like such a good memory if you don't do you kind of end up regretting it yeah like what's the right attitude about those things you know like because you don't want to constantly be living in regret or having fear of missing out yeah but you also don't want to like not see all these amazing things i think ultimately when you really boil it down like once you've had enough times where you've missed out or enough times where you've been like i'm okay you kind of find that balance yeah yeah because today i was like don't want to get up right now but if i get up at least within an hour of the sunset we should definitely go yeah yeah i was thinking that same thing as people i heard of people walking by i was like oh i wish i had the willpower they did but luckily we made it i also find it amazing how nature never stops delivering you can see this every day of your life and i don't think it would ever get old i think that's what's so appealing about views like this when you see these layers it gives you that sense of mystery again that you used to have all the time as a child you're like what is beyond these hills like what is in that land over there yeah perhaps the key at least in nature is to know that each sunrise moonset or mountain vista will be a unique wondrous experience maybe the key is to strive to experience as many new wonders as we can but to know that if we miss an opportunity nature will provide a new opportunity down the road to paraphrase thorough sunrises and sunsets are not solitary phenomena never to happen again but things that happen forever and ever an infinite number of times and that makes them more glorious still [Music] one thing i know for sure though if you're kind of on the fence about doing something always tend towards the side of experiencing something the other factor i think is if you don't succeed don't then be so full of regret that you're like paralyzed for the next time you know yeah maybe regret fuels new experiences eventually we return to our shelter all right we're back looks like there's two bears sleeping in our shelter in the lava form the caterpillar hibernates until it can grow its wings but if you gently nudge at its shell it might come out early you guys missed an amazing sunset an amazing sunrise you missed a great hour's worth of sleep we all made the right decision it's been a while since i've been like actually up this early but early morning always has such a nostalgic smell it's such a nice appeal to it yeah as the day got started we grabbed our food bags from the bear hangs and started preparing breakfast [Music] thomas and i woke up to join the others who had started boiling a pot of water we milled around the early morning waiting for the sun to rise and warm us up in the meantime i did some mountain top kung fu to get the blood flowing we chatted and joked around with some of our camping neighbors before packing up and heading out as we hiked out andrew and i decided we had to show the others the view they had missed last night okay so we're gonna go up to cliff tops thomas was a little bit reluctant but i forced him and he's gonna like it whether he likes it or not as we neared the top we saw more songbirds i've been seeing these birds everywhere but they've got a really distinct dark top and white bottom and those are called dark eyed junkos if you look carefully at the eyes they've got a little bit of a darker patch there and then we reached the cliff top overlook that's pretty cool yeah we took in the view of the hills in the late morning sunlight before hiking our way back down the trail took us back to the lodge and robbie sent thomas to see if the lodge still had any cookies unfortunately they were out so he continued hiking as we hiked away from the lodge we eventually came to a junction that said we had five miles left back to the car luckily the trail was almost all downhill it would be smooth sailing from here on out is this the downhill i think so i'll see you guys on the other side we'll see you at allen cave the trail led us along mysterious looking rocky cliffs on one side and beautiful mountain vistas on the other as we made our way down we were thankful to have an easy coast for the last day of our trip amid dripping rocky cliffs were precarious rocky paths flanked by incredible views so the route that we did this weekend if we had done it clockwise we would have done this all uphill on the very first day i'm seeing people trudge up this mountain oh it looks brutal it feels so nice for us we're just like [Music] you can't like enjoy the view while you're walking because you'll just like give vertigo [Music] as we made our way down we kept passing many different people who were all braving the long climb up to mount lakan really impressive seeing some of the older people hike up this mountain it's crazy they got some secret formula for life this was even more impressive after seeing just how far down we had hiked from the tops of the hills [Music] i don't know if you can see but up there there's a dead clump of trees right on the ridge and that's the part that we went through right before we went to the overlook we were just at we've made a ridiculous amount of progress it's all the way down right here best way to tell how close you are to the bottom is how well you can define a car down there and i could actually make out some windows so i think we've maybe got like an hour left you know one beautiful thing about springtime is like you kind of get all these different colors like this tree right here has all these red buds but that's a red maple sometimes in the distance you can see all of these colors like popping in the hillsides during the spring [Music] as we hiked we heard voices in the distance we were now approaching another major landmark the alum cave bluffs this is a trail that keeps on giving like it has so many amazing views and lookout points and like now there's this massive cave out of nowhere so cool this is a massive improvement over my last trip to the smokies that's from the smokies it was just couldn't see anything just fog and rain and just exhausted the whole time i feel like we've done it justice and we were separated last night yeah so we were doing it all alone suffering by ourselves this time we were like celebrating together glad you made the trip thomas very much it was bringing so much joy to me [Music] nine years ago we had visited this park all together for robbie and i it was our first serious backpacking trip and it left an impression on us that we would never ever forget for brian and i it was an amazing trip to visit all the major landmarks that make this park famous we each had different and unique experiences we each saw things that the others never got to but none of us regretted the experiences we had because we knew the future would bring many more opportunities for us to explore these mountains together it's so important to seek out moments in life that bring unprecedented wonder that give us new experiences and new perspectives that rejuvenate our souls and restore our faith in the universe but if you miss your chance to have an amazing moment in life don't let yourself fill up with regret like a sunset this world is full of incredible wonders that occur every day an infinite number of times instead of feeling regret fill yourself with inspiration to go out and experience nature's wonders at the next chance you get we live on an unfathomably beautiful planet full of amazing scenery vibrant people and incredible experiences [Music] it's important to take in these incredible moments but even more important is to recognize that the universe continues to deliver them day after day you don't have to go to the top of a mountain to realize this step outside during the sunset breathe the fresh air in deep eat a warm meal when you're hungry or drink deeply when you're parched the truth is the more time you spend on the tops of mountains the more you realize that every moment of existence can be a moment of unparalleled and exquisite wonder [Music] [Music] [Music] that flower was called squirrel corn there's another one with very similar leaves called dutchman's britches uh but squirrel corn as you just saw looks very similar to an ornamental flower a lot of people grow called bleeding heart which is similar in shape but it's just like a reddish pinkish color [Music] this here feels like quintessential smokies every time we leave the trail it always feels and looks exactly like this yeah hiking right next to the stream really green leaves sunny day this is good stuff so the greenery in all this area is mostly the rhododendrons but there's also this plant which is called mountain dog hobble which also describes how i feel right now i'm dog hobbling along what's the first thing you're gonna order i don't know i'm really feeling something with mushrooms like creamy mushrooms right now i don't know why like a steak and mushroom but if we can find some place that has frog legs like we did back in 2012 we got to do frog legs again okay we've entered the very final lake there's only about 10 minutes of walking left me and thomas have totally left brian and andrew except brian has the keys i just remembered that so we will have to go find them thomas this is your chance to shine set the pace as fast as you want i will keep up let's do it i will attempt to keep up have you noticed that everybody's gone i know like there's nobody coming in or out of the trail right now i wonder if everyone just kind of flooded in at the same time oh maybe or maybe the parking lot's full oh that's possible two nights i was gonna say three nights of camping but no really just two nights of camping man this is what adventure archives is this is what the four of us lived to do it was a great trip yeah well that map like makes it look so easy oh yeah yeah come on man look at that you go behind the mountain there yeah then you go up there so there's mount lakota and then we were over there and then all the way off we made it yeah cars are just up ahead it's great we just gotta wait for brian with keith [Music] if you want to like shout someone out or you have a shout out let's do a shout out to troy keener yeah my other hiking buddy um who's even slower than brian but um the most methodical person i've ever met uh and then a shout out to all the adventure archives guys those are the best and the most entertaining youtube channel that's ever been invented you guys are from columbus so that's awesome and uh go try go bucks go bucks thank you [Music] and what will you be changing into today [Music] should i get the spicy broiled catfish or the southern fried chicken livers catfish catfish yeah i could have known you would say that i'm gonna get the uh the homemade meatloaf let's do it i don't know what well it's amazing how they keep immediately you're like oh i'm ready to die i'm not looking forward to summer house peppies are like when someone didn't have anything else to make fried food with they were like i'm just gonna freshen though this is like maple butter yeah my country fried steak is alyssia also should have gotten the chicken livers would you say this was it's a maple butter [Music] [Laughter] i that meatloaf was very weird fried dough is uh good no matter how you do it i don't know i'm not remembering i haven't even tried my jamaican chick you tried your jamaican steak yet not yet are there like southern restaurants in ohio yeah i can't think of any oh pop up yeah i wasn't expecting much but thomas said was it you should look tiny man i know this one's a little disappointed you know oh you can have more of these mashed potatoes because i i spooned it with a um no no you i don't this is a fun time let's do this again gentlemen all right have a good one see ya have a good one brian yeah alrighty thomas let's blast that ac thomas has been real robby thank you so much for everything appreciate it i'll see you inside all right yo what's up hey how's it going um not bad yeah i wanted to talk to you about this idea i have for a shout out it's gonna be curb your enthusiasm themed it's gonna have like so there's a shout out to gen mobile or gen mobile is it mobile or mobile it's co-founded by a fellow asian american brother team also from ohio and then he also says happy asian american and pacific islander heritage month everyone which you know sorry that it doesn't apply to you but curb your enthusiasm shout out uh so if we're gonna if we're gonna do it if we're gonna do a shout out do we need to use the curvier enthusiasm music because i really really yeah it's iconic i really don't want yeah i really don't want us to get hit with a copyright strike though because that is to send up all the flags on youtube immediately i mean you can't have a curb shout out without the thing that's the whole point of it it's like the meaning you know they have some generic song like you could do like a you know a generic piano riff that's not really it's got to be done no come on you're always worried about these things you gotta do it i mean like we spent so much time on effort on this i don't want to be taken down for a stupid show look i'll send the shout out to you we can figure it out but for now i've got to go to brian's like we need to like exchange camping gear man he's going to want to be in the shout out too and he cannot improv so i'm really hoping to get out of that you know anyway now that you mentioned uh uh curb your enthusiasm there's something i want to talk to you about um i'm i've been looking at my hbo max account lately and it's been nothing but curb your enthusiasm you got anything to say about that these accounts are meant to be shared thomas you look like i use your oh i use i use brian's netflix you know we we got this when game of thrones was still on so that we could all it was really kind of just supposed to be like a social game of thrones thing but if you're really just going to take my hbo account hey what take there's no take this is cher you your mom's on there your dad's on there your whole family's on there why can't my we're basically family thomas you and i you know you know i i don't want to talk about it you know not only am i going to use your hbo account i'm i'm going to cancel my netflix account and use your netflix account and your hulu account these things are meant to be shared to us all right you can keep using my hbo max account just stay off disney i'm going to use it but i've got to go now so i'll see you later what bye hey uh do you have that tent yeah um i got right here okay hey so i heard uh you were doing uh what curb your enthusiasm started out yeah yeah it's gonna be really funny it's gonna be really funny uh yeah i'm gonna have like gavin ryan let's see quia giasari mary some cabbage jay rumundo sanjan's gonna be on there that's cool yeah yeah you think um i think you got part for me in there maybe i could like incorporate my shadows i mean yeah i just i don't really have time to come up here it's so much easier on the phone it's like you know oh yeah you know i totally understand there you go but i mean you know you are here right now i mean we could just yeah just film it right now yeah well i mean should i don't have the camera i don't sd cards batteries well i mean i got that camera in my room you know like quality you can just use that quality is not the same quality's not the same you sure yeah okay are you really too busy to film though yeah i've got like meetings and calls and other obligations oh obligations yeah you can't forget about those obligations hmm [Music] hey i was just wondering if you actually uh if you got around to filming that uh shout out yet no i haven't i haven't filmed the shout outs yet oh okay not yet i see it must be those um obligations obligations right right right obligations you know lots of stuff going on if you hadn't filmed it yet we could still you know i could still help you with it i mean i do have a shout out from richard frangiamore he said that he wanted to shout out jennifer for like all the good hiking trips and he wanted to you know look forward to seeing her at bear lake so how would that fit into the shadow it's a curb you're inducing shadow it's a shout out andrew i mean it's going to fit in somewhere i'll i'll think about it but i i'm getting a really important call another meeting i need to hang up so i'll talk to you later okay yeah hi could i get a two chicken fingers uh one double cheeseburger and fries [Music] hello hey robbie um i wanted to tell you about this shout out idea it's gonna be curvier enthusiasm themed i've got names like like arlo tj augustine john scott elena anthony uh john and lisa drew it of course um but anyway i want you to like play the character of leon black in the show because like in the show he's always eating and you know you're always eating because like if you don't you get hangry and wait wait wait what you know you you get hangry when you don't eat and then like it ruins the whole group dynamic wait wait wait wait wait what do you what what do you mean i get angry you know you get angry like you get impatient with people when whenever we're on a camping trip what are you talking about where is this coming from where is this coming from everyone knows you thomas knows you're hangry brian knows you'll get angry since when do i get hangry i'm the most calm one in the group you're calm if you've had six burgers come on robbie you don't get angry you're probably hungry right now okay well you can do the shout out you can do whatever you want but just make sure it doesn't get a copyright strike all right fine go go eat a burger hey thomas yeah i'm just calling to let you know i'm uh watching the episode now yeah it's done uploading i'm about to navigate to it now and yeah yeah yeah no it looks great it looks great in 4k listen uh let me give you a call back okay yeah bye [Music] eight lives down is the best cover band in minneapolis inconceivable evil mcphee you keep using that word i do not think it means what you think it means i guess this is the place uh expedition research llc okay and mcbride told me to come here said i would be able to find sanwar one but not sure i mean that guy looks kind of like jason bourgeois [Music] and that guy kind of looks like charlie joe [Music] yeah ann um i said i'm looking for sanwar one right does he does he like to dance or something [Music] um bye shout out today give a thumbs up i don't know i don't know there's some slow-mo shot where we're laughing and [Laughter] once

Channel: AdventureArchives

Views: 481,263

Keywords: bushcraft, backpacking, hiking, camping, wilderness, survival, outdoors, travel, outdoor recreation, prepping, nature, 4k, wild, survival skills, ray mears, les stroud

Id: KGuTxl7xNp0

Length: 90min 35sec (5435 seconds)

Published: Sun May 30 2021