Andrew's Bald

We took Carter hiking today in the Smokies for the first time. We drove up to Clingman's Dome which took just under 2 hours from our house. Carter took a very long nap on the way there - he slept for an hour and 15 minutes! The parking lot wasn't too crowded yet when we got there considering that it's Memorial Day weekend.

We hiked to Andrew's Bald which is about 3.6 miles round-trip. We used our new Kelty FC 3.0 kid carrier for the first time today and loved it! Brian took Carter on the way to the bald and I got him on the way back.

Carter was so happy when we put him in the pack and Brian put it on his back!


Here are the guys waiting for me so we could start the hike. I think they look so much alike in this picture!


Happy boy ...


Carter kept his left arm in the pack and his right arm sticking straight out until we finally forced him to put it down into the pack as well.


Carter and Daddy ...


Carter passed out after about 30 minutes.


View from the bald.


We ate a quick lunch at the bald before heading back. The bugs were swarming us and it was driving me nuts. The azaleas weren't blooming yet so there wasn't that much to see up there.



Cute kid ...


Carter fell asleep on the hike back too! We had to check on him to make sure he could still breathe like this!


View from the parking lot ...


Carter did really well the entire hike. He only fussed a couple of times and it didn't last long at all. He seemed comfortable in the pack and didn't bounce around too much.

Carter slept a lot today. The long nap on the way to the park, two naps in the carrier, and a nap on the drive home. It was nice!

We stopped by one of the visitor centers on the way out of the park today and bought Carter one of the National Park Passport Books that he can get stamped at every national park and monument that he goes to. He got two stamps today because it's the 75th anniversary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and they have a special stamp for that.