The southeast side of Anakeesta Ridge, as seen from near Walker Prong on Hwy. 441 in the Great Smoky Mountains. Our original plan had been to climb up Anakeesta from the other side, the Alum Cave Creek side and then drop off of the ridge on this side to get to our car on 441. We ended up climbing what is locally known as Parton Peaks, a prominent pair of knobs on a dramatic ridge between Anakeesta and Mt. LeConte. So... this is one that we'll soon be visiting if the rhodo gods are in the mood to allow it.

Leaf art at the Alum Cave trailhead.

Jenny makes a last minute check of the map before we plunge into the jungle by Styx Creek. One small problem that we encountered was that the topo maps for this particular region are notoriously inaccurate. One lil ol' ridge... just one lil ol' ridge...

I passed this red-cheeked salamander while climbing up the side of the ridge through heavy rhododendron and greenbrier. Other than ourselves, it was the only wildlife that I saw while on the bushwhack.

Jenny! Nothing sums up the joy of off-trail travel better than this beautiful smile. It's hard to explain to those who haven't gotten hooked on the sport of bushwhacking exactly what it is that keeps drawing us to brutally wild terrain, but as this photo attests, we certainly do enjoy it. It's the challenge of tackling terrain that most people would never think of visiting, the chance to see places that others never lay eyes on, the adrenaline rush of making a hard move while hanging from a cliff face - and more than anything else, at least to me, is the opportunity to share the experience with good friends. Jenny is an incredibly talented hiker and bushwhacker with a ready smile and amazing endurance.

Above, Ronnie McCall works his way up one of the steep cliffs that blocked the way to the ridge that we wanted to climb. The rock wasn't as bad as the very dense growth of heath and greenbrier that seemed to form a wall at the top of each climb, making it hard to exit the rock to continue the climb. Though Ronnie is an experienced hiker and backpacker, this was his first visit to the Great Smokies. He is a strong and talented climber and will be a welcome addition to our party of off-trail crazies.

I wish that I'd thought to get some photos of the greenbrier that we encountered on this climb. I've never ran into anything like it in over 40 years of hiking and backpacking in the Great Smoky Mountains. It was like kudzu with thorns. On many of the steeper climbs, the only holds available were made by grabbing handfuls of the briers to pull ourselves upward. They are very, very strong - about the strength of an equivalent thickness of cotton cord.