Raven Pointe Backpacking

I love to travel. I love the outdoors. I love seeing new places. I love experiencing new things. I love challenges.

 

This trip provided me an avenue to do all of those things. This was my first backpacking trip. We hiked a little over 10 miles between Saturday and Sunday. It was kind of a birthday trip for me. I wish I had just asked for a teddy bear. Kidding, a little. We set out with our fantastic friends for a fun weekend. Raven Pointe is a little outside of Chattanooga. Both places are awesome. You should go. You should not go backpacking if you are any of these: a wimp, your shoes are half a size too small, you don't like the cold or the heat, you don't like to sleep on the ground, you are scared of the dark. With that said, I am slightly a few of those things. But! We had a great time. We all made it to the top and back home in mostly one piece. We took the 'treacherous trail', so if you're ever there and have a LOT of time before sunset and you tend to run marathons or climb mountains using only your hands often, then take that trail. If you are a normal human take the normal trail, its easy, fun and has some great sights! The trail follows a stream and part of it looks like it was in old river bed. It is magically beautiful. Like it could be in a fairytale. My photos do not do it justice. Here are a few photos from our trip and some tips for Raven Pointe at the end!

Tips for Raven Pointe Camping/Hiking:

• Know what time it is. The sun goes down and it gets dark. Hiking some of those trails is incredibly dangerous in full daylight, so get to the top before dark.
• The 'treacherous' trail really is treacherous
• The campgrounds have no bathroom facilities or water sources
• The overlook is beautiful and you can drive, park and hike a very easy, less than a mile, to see it
• More than half of even the easy trail is over lots of boulders, so wear good shoes, use a walking stick and go slow
• Charge your camera battery and take a back up
• Most of these tips are really  just common sense and are reminders to myself because I didn't adhere to any of them....

Do you have an epic backpacking story? I want to hear it!

This post is a part of the National Blog Posting Month Challenge. You can see a list of more blogs participating in this challenge here and see a full list of my posts here.