Most of you know about my situation from a previous thread in the "Off Topic: All-in-one" section. A couple days ago, I was searching for places in Gatlinburg to rent gears so I could take my bestfriend backpacking. I stumbled onto a guide business in Gatlinburg that does guided day hikes and backpacking trips in the Smokies as well as gear rentals. Guide .

I was curious if they would be hiring part-time backpacking guides for the upcoming season. I sent the owners an e-mail; I got a respond from the owners saying they are hiring part-time guides for the upcoming season. A couple e-mails later one of the owner invited me to attend a get together with new applicants and returning guides. She wrote a detailed itinerary about what to expect that day. The owners will speak to me one-on-one to get to know me and I'm expected to give a short program on any topic of my choosing that I would talk about to their clients.

I thought maybe I could work two part-time jobs depending whether or not I can be employed by them, and how often they keep me busy. I never realized there is a demand for guided backpacking and day hike trips in the Smokies. I'm assuming most of the day hikers are interested in nature and history stuff. The backpacking clients probably wants to go backpacking with a guide because they don't have the skills to do it alone, the equipments, or whatever the case may be.

I feel really good about my technical skills and knowledge of the Smokies, but the thing that could hurt my chances is the plant life. I'm not that good at identifying medicinal plants and things like that. They tend to sell the point about teaching clients plant life and using them for medicinal. If they can't provide the training for Wilderness First Aid, I may not be able cough up $155 for a class in February offered at an outdoor store in Gatlinburg.

I may use the part-time money to save to go out west or prepare go back to school for the CPA exam. I'm just trying go with the flow instead of getting all frustrated over the lack of accounting and finance related jobs offers.