Avid primitive backpacker gets to teach his honey all things outdoors…becomes more civilized and loves every moment. 

Come share our adventure!

Let me celebrate! Now that I’ve shared what I learned to say and not to say, let me tell you a little about our first hiking/camping experience. We started early on a Thursday morning in July. We drove two and a half
hours of beautiful road to the Savage Gulf in Middle Tennessee. We stopped first at Greeter Falls and took the short trip to the beautiful water falls and had a fun photo shoot.

Then we drove a little further to the Ranger Stone Door camp site parking lot. The camp site was .3 miles from the parking lot so it felt primitive enough for me but was close enough for her. She wasn’t too far from a real bathroom and I could easily make a few trip to the car to carry enough gear to make our first night comfortable. We set up a large 6 man tent that I dug out of the closet and I fixed her a dinner of Packet Gourmet. I built us a fire and we enjoyed its sound, flicker and warmth. We slept well on a blanket pad and really enjoyed our time in the tent.

The next day we used out camp as a base and first hiked .9 miles to the Stone Door and climbed all over it. Then we hiked about 2 miles total out and back on the Big Creek Rim trail. We stopped at each over look and marveled at the grand vistas of green tree tops in the valley. Then we finished up with another short hike behind the Rangers station to Laurel Falls. 

This first trip was the result of much conversation trying to merge what we each liked about being outside. I got her and enough primitive camping features to feel like I went on an adventure. She got enough comfort features to sleep well and have fun in lots of beautiful settings.

Over the next few days I’ll share what we learned from that trip. Hopefully it will help you have some good times on the trail too.