Camping!

Finally! I know, right? This is the post you have been waiting for all of your life.

Or maybe not and you've just been thinking, "Hey, I wonder if Emma has said anything lately. Oooh, she went camping in the Smoky Mountains!"

Anyway, I just got back from camping in the Great Smoky Mountains. There were just five girls and all of their moms so it was a really nice mother daughter trip. We stayed at the Cosby campsite. The bathrooms were really really nice with flush toilets. Although no hot water and no showers. There was a bathroom lady who cleaned it everyday!!! Which was nice because the bugs were really attracted to the light at night and the millipedes crawled in through the drain and vents.

There was a nature trail right by us and also an amphitheatre where Ranger Richard led a talk about the history of the park.

But the food had to be packed back into the car every stinking night (bears).

We went rafting, not whitewater but just more of a float trip. We didn't even paddle. That was the chosen special thing that cost extra money.I think we chose well. Extremely fun.

The name of the creek right across from our campsite was Cosby Creek I think. We did a creek walk up that which was fun and refreshing. Except for the Great Laurels, with their branches all spread out and low right through the path. There was also a swimming hole which was FREEEEEZZINNG.

One day we hiked 4 miles round trip to Grotto Falls, very beautiful. That one was cool because the path actually goes behind the waterfall. It was beautiful. The hike wasn't too tough either and not even that long. Also at the top of the mountain it was much cooler than at the bottom probably by like 15 degrees.

The rest of that day was spent at the Cades Cove auto tour loop but trust me, we weren't the people there who just drove around loops and never got out of the car. When we stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor's Center (air conditioned!!!) my mom got me a GSMNP t-shirt, a GSMNP pin that I put on my Girl Scout sash and some things for my sisters.

On the loop it was cool but also sad to see the cemeteries at the old churches. There were lots of babies and young people buried there. The saddest one was twins, I can't remember the names, one lived to be old and one died the day she was born. There were lots of Olivers buried there and there were also some very new additions to the cemetery like in 2011. You could really tell who was poor because the headstones were very home-made.

Also on the road by our campsite was Gunther Cemetery. It was reeeely ooooolld. Most of the headstones you couldn't even read but the ones that you could were from like the early-mid 1800s. Old.

Also something sad was all of the dying Hemlock trees. Stupid foreign bugs that are bad for them. The only way to save a tree once it has them is to either inject it's roots with tree medicine(too expensive to do every tree so they only use it on the really old ones) or cover every single needle of the tree with dish soap to smother the bugs, only for small saplings.
One night there were barred owls. They say who-cooks-for-you and its sooo freaking annoying at 2 in the morning. They don't even sound real. Then the crows came and were almost equally annoying at 6 am.

Then it rained alllllll night one night and stormend and stormed. Our tent was collapsing and leaking and thank goodness my clothes didn't get wet because I would have been so mad. Poor Clarity and K who moved to the bathroom floor and then to the truck. My mom and I moved to the van at 3a. Uhh in the morning everything was wet. I'm glad that I didn't go on the 10-mile hike that day with Bridgett, Fiona, Zelda and Bree. I didn't sleep at all the night before so Ann, Trudi, Clarity, K and my mom and I all stayed behind and hung everything out to dry. Everyone on the hike was pooped when they got back. I can't even imagine hiking up a "three mile staircase."

Clarity read Anne of Avonlea to K almost every night. It was adorable because she was making different voices for all of the characters and it was just really really cute.

Even through the rain and no sleep, the trip was still really fun and I can't wait to go again to another national park. Thanks to my wonderful troop leaders, all the moms, and everyone who bought cookies and helped to fund the trip. It was really awesome.