Jenny Bennett died in the flowing waters of Porters Creek, her body shutting down from a toxic dose of diphenhydramine before succumbing to hypothermia from exposure.
She’d been missing a week before her disappearance was reported and a search began. Officials found her body about four miles up the trail, in a place that’s a gateway to some of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s most unusual and challenging terrain.
The death of the well-known 62-year-old shook the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club and outdoor community throughout Appalachia. Jenny Bennett always wanted to know what was over the next ridge.
Since the early ’80s, she explored huge swaths of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, seeking out challenging technical hikes and enjoying the journey as much as the destination. Bennett documented many of her hikes on her blog “Endless Streams and Forests” and participated as an active and much-loved member of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club, both in the ’80s and then again when she returned to the area in 2010.
She explored mountains in California, Colorado, New England, and New York, but she wrote on her website that the “Smokies were my formative influence, involving rockhopping up rhododendron-choked streams in dark mysterious forests of giant tulip poplars and hemlocks.”
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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