I thought it appropriate to include the photo of the old Smoky Mountain Hiking Club cabin at the beginning of this series, in recognition for the years of hard work that the club has invested into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The cabin was built by the club in the early 1930s, using material from one of the original structures on the site. The cabin is now maintained by the Park Service, but serves as a reminder of all the good times enjoyed by the members of the club in days gone by.

The old Smoky Mountain Hiking Club Cabin at Porters Flats and Campsite #31.

Tangled undergrowth along Porters Creek below the Wall.

Top of Dry Sluice Gap and the AT.

A tangle of logs and stone blocks the Sluice at one point in the climb.

Tightrope walking the logs up the ravine.

The slide and the 'tunnel' below.

Views from Dry Sluice.

Below the slide.

The steep ridge where the slide ripped loose from the mountainside.

The 'meadow' at the top of the Wall, a couple of hundred feet below the Appalachian Trail.

Peter nears the top of the climb on the near-vertical slope below Dry Sluice Gap.

Climbers scramble up the rocky bed of Dry Sluice. At times, you can hear the stream running beneath the rocks.

A final look down the Wall.

A winters view of the Porters Creek manway