About this ebook
From his very first steps into the Smokies, Ryan quickly learns the seventy-mile stretch of trail is far more difficult than he ever imagined.
The trio battles through torrential rains, lightning, snow, fatigue, multiple encounters with bears and a standoff with a timber rattlesnake as they march more than eighty miles from Standing Bear Farms, a small hostel north of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to Fontana Dam on the park’s southern tip.
Along the way, the group meets a colorful cast of hikers while experiencing the most physically demanding and personally rewarding nine days of their lives.
This story is a painfully honest, unadulterated and sometimes raunchy retelling of a hike that is definitely not suitable for readers of all ages.
About the author
Ryan Watkins was born in Athens, Georgia and is a former journalist for a variety of print and web publications. An avid outdoorsman, Ryan spends much of his free time hiking, exploring, writing and photographing the southeast's most famous waterfalls.
