Mt. LeConte Trip Blog

June 19-20, 2008

This was our second annual father & son hike to the Mt. LeConte lodge. Our trip down to Gatlinburg from O’Fallon, MO was uneventful. We stayed overnight on Wednesday at the Hampton Inn in downtown Gatlinburg. Alex & Brandon enjoyed a swim in the pool before we went to eat. John was relaxing by the pool and creek while I was out pounding the streets of Gatlinburg trying to find a cheap jacket for Alex. I had forgotten to pack one for him and trying to find a cheap one in Gatlinburg was not an easy task but I finally found one on about my 10th store. We also had my old college roommate Randy Grissett and his son Mason joined us for this year’s hike.

After a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast in Gatlinburg we headed for the Alum Cave Bluffs trailhead in the park. We stopped long enough for a group picture. It was nice and cool for the start of our hike and just about perfect weather the entire weekend. We started early enough to get to see the sunlight peaking through the trees along the alum cave creek. We took our time along the flat section of trail and gave our big breakfast time to digest before we started up a more steep section from arch rock to alum cave bluffs. After a short break it was time start hiking up the trail again. We made it to arch rock in good time and paused for another group picture on the rock steps. Arch rock has some steep steps and a little bit of a steep section of trail before you get to the log bridge just before inspiration point. There were no peregrine falcons on Little Duck Hawk Ridge. They are others who have spotted them perched there but we didn’t see any. We did see some pretty mountain laurel blooming along the trail on our way to alum cave bluffs. We took another short rest break to rest our legs at the bluff. John found another place that he would like the Great Smoky Mountain Nation Park to install an escalator. They still hadn’t put one at alum cave bluffs so I doubt we’ll see one here the next time we come up the trail. Further on up the trail I snapped a picture of a Carolina Rhododendron. I was also able to somewhat capture the steepness in the trail. It’s hard to get the slope of the trail to show up in a picture extremely well but this gives you some idea. We decided to stop at Gracie’s Pulpit for an early lunch. It’s a very convenient place to stop because of the large rock available to sit on. It’s just a short hike up to the log steps that were put there to make it easier to climb up that section of trail. Someone was nice enough to take our picture for us there. We were still taking it easy and had a few more rest breaks before getting up to the top. There was a tree that had recently fallen over on the uphill side of the mountain. I had to hold up the tree to make sure it didn’t fall back on anyone. The Alum Cave Bluffs trail goes through some beautiful places going up to the lodge. There are many different looking pieces of the Alum Cave Bluffs trail. The ACB trail is interesting because there are some sections going down that look totally different than going up plus you get some great views. We finally reached the flat section of trail that is close to the lodge. We made it to the lodge in about five hours. Enough time to enjoy relaxing at the lodge before the dinner bell rang.

At the lodge Mason and Alex had fun exploring the lodge area plus playing games at the lodge office. After we played some games and hung out at the lodge office for a while Randy & I were able to convince Mason & Alex that we should go back to our room to rest. Our intent was to make sure they didn’t fall asleep during dinner. Mason had a little trouble getting fully awake after our short nap. He wished his was a little longer. Someone was working on the dining hall to reshingle the entire thing. I watched this guy for quite a while. It looked like very tedious work making sure the shingles were overlapped properly. After some more game playing after our nap it was time to gather for dinner. The outside of the dining hall looks like there are vultures circling waiting on the dinner bell to be rang. Dinner was excellent as always. Alex didn’t fall asleep at dinner like he did last year. After dinner was over it was time to head back to the lodge office for even more game playing. There’s lots of time to kill between dinner and sunset this time of year. Everyone had a great time experiencing the sunset. There’s something special about simply watching the sunset high up on the mountain after hiking to the top. We got each father & son pair’s picture at Cliff Tops viewing the sunset. Each time I’ve been to Mt. LeConte the sunset has been different. Never disappointing but different.

The plan for sunrise viewing was for Randy, Mason, Alex and myself to get up at 5:30 and hike the 3/4 of a mile to watch the sunrise from Myrtle Point. We had a 75% success rate for our plan. I tried to wake Alex up but he changed his mind. So it was just Randy & Mason plus myself to view the sunrise. Watching the sunrise from Myrtle Point is always a treat. There is usually no wind, it’s quite and you have a great view of the valley below. Plus it gets your blood pumping and appetite up for breakfast. After the hike back from Myrtle Point it was time to get Alex up and of course the first thing he wanted to do was go to the lodge office and play more games. After drinking coffee and hanging out at the lodge office some more it was almost time for breakfast. Our group lodge was right by the entrance to the dining hall so we all hung out there waiting for Alex to ring the breakfast bell. I think besides playing board games at the lodge office Alex’s next favorite thing to do is to eat pancakes and ham at breakfast. After breakfast it was time for our traditional group picture in front of the dining hall to prove we were actually there on the date we said we were. After Alex did some salamander hunting we were almost ready to hit the trail for our journey down the mountain. Alex didn’t actually want to hold the salamander but he was certainly interested in it once the other boy had caught it. The views going down the ACB trail were just as fantastic as they were going up. However, the valley below does look much different in the morning than it typically does in the afternoon. This is one of my favorite places on the trail to take a picture. It looks like the trail goes into thin air but it actually just curves around the mountain. It’s also much wider here than it looks in pictures. Definitely a place to watch your step on but not quite as bad as it looks. I was able to get everyone to stop long enough to get their picture along the mossy drips on this section of the trail. Alex seemed to be focused on getting down the trail fast for some reason so I left the rest of the group and started hiking with just he and I for a lot of the trip down. We also had a short break at Gracie’s Pulpit on the down since it’s halfway it makes a nice break knowing you are halfway. Alex didn’t want to rest too long so we were soon up and down the trail. I wanted to stop at inspiration point to take Alex’s picture. Fortunately there was a nice couple stopped on their hike up. He was very gracious and took an excellent picture of Alex and I at inspiration point. We saw a squirrel at inspiration point that was looking for scraps and was not very afraid of us at all. He barely moved out of the trail to let us pass. When you come up on arch rock hiking down the trail it looks like the trail just runs into a rock wall. The first time I hiked ACB down several years ago I hadn’t hiked it up so I didn’t know about arch rock. I didn’t think the trail went down into the hole in the rock and couldn’t figure out where it went. We finished up the trail in about three and a half hours on the way down. Alex was motivated by trying to beat Brandon to the van.

We had another great hike this year, perfect weather, good food, good friends and a roof over out heads in a warm cabin for the night. Mason is already talking about going back again next year. Randy said to ask him in a few months. J Randy and Mason stayed in Gatlinburg for a couple of more days for more vacation fun with the rest of their family. Alex, John, Brandon and myself took off heading west towards O’Fallon. We stayed in Clarksville, TN to breakup the trip into two pieces. Everyone agreed that was much better than doing the 9+ hour drive after hiking down form Mt. Leconte. Brandon & Alex had fun swimming in the hotel pool even though it was raining lightly and playing video games in the room. It was a great trip and I’m already looking forward to next year’s hike.

June 7-8, 2007

On Wednesday June 6 a pack, or whatever you would call it, of fathers and sons departed from the metropolitan St. Louis area to embark on a hike to the lodge on top of Mt. LeConte. This was a much anticipated hike. Some mothers were anxious about their sons going because their sons would get eaten by a bear, fall off the trail, get poison ivy, tick fever, bitten by mosquitoes, fall and break something, be bored at the lodge, etc., etc. I suppose that is a mother’s natural fear for her son(s). My main concern was whether or not I would have to carry my son Alex, who is 5, part of the way up the mountain. We all had a great time on the trip. No one complained, not much anyway, and the weather was nice which is always a chance you take when you make reservations nine months in advance. The fathers and sons who went on the trip were Jamie & Alex Barnes, Scott & Nathaniel Beck, John & Brandon Foster, Dustin, Brandon & Cameron Holst, Kevin & Caleb Rutherford and Dennis & Michael Shulte. Below are details on the trip.

We stay ed at the Econo Lodge on Reagan Drive in Gatlinburg the night before. We made it just in time to get in some swimming to work off all of that pent up energy some of the boys had from the 9+ hour drive. We got changed and went to mid-week Bible study at the Gatlinburg church of Christ. The Rutherford’s were the only ones not present. They were staying in Knoxville with his parents before the hike. We ate breakfast at the Log Cabin Pancake house in Gatlinburg to get sugared up, carb load and have some protein before the hike. We arrived at the Alum Cave Bluffs trailhead a little before 8:30. We paused just before the first foot bridge to take a group picture. We were hiking fairly fast on the flat section by the creek. I had started hiking in the back of the pack with Alex figuring we’d be the slowest pair. However, the boys leading the pack were hiking very fast. I knew if we continued to hike at that pace we would all be tuckered out by the time we reached the bluffs. So at Alex’s suggestion we took one of our many short rest breaks of the day. Just after the break we crossed the first log bridge of the day. We made it to Arch Rock in less than an hour. That’s a pretty good pace hiking with seven boys ranging from five to twelve years old. However, that was the easiest section of the trail. Onward and upward toward Mt. LeConte. We had some great views from inspiration point. The next rest break after inspiration point was alum cave bluffs. John wanted to make a suggestion to the Great Smoky Mountain Park officials that a escalator be installed at the bluffs. The rock at the bluffs makes for a great resting spot which we took full advantage off by resting and taking more pictures. I think some folks were growing tired of the load they were carrying on their backs and tried to off load it on others. We took just about two hours to make it to the bluffs. We were still making better time on the trail than I had expected. After the bluffs is where the steepest section of the trail starts. Everyone was hungry for lunch so we stopped at Gracie’s pulpit to stuff our faces. Most of us had purchased trail lunches from the Applewood Restaurant in Gatlinburg. I have to say they were pretty good and filling. We didn’t see any bears this time on our hike but we did see evidence one had been on the trail not too long ago. After another short leg resting break we made it to the first set of log steps. This is about where I had expected the kids to start wearing out and complaining about having to walk too much. However, everyone seemed to still be having a good time and had smiles on their faces. We reached the 2nd set of log steps in about four hours and fifteen minutes. When we were all hiking together we were strung out on the trail quite a ways. One lone hiker coming down from the lodge jokingly asked if we had taken over the whole trail. We were treated with more gorgeous views as we got closer to the lodge. On some sections of the Alum Cave trail you can see across the valley as the trail follows the contours of the mountain. We even have pictures of each other taking pictures of each other. Just about the time we got near the top some of the kids starting asking how much further. They had been asking this all along but now you could tell by the sound of their voice that they were getting anxious to get to the top. We arrived at the lodge a little before 12:30 right at five hours after we started hiking. I had expected it to take six hours, or more, for us to go up. I was pleasantly surprised by our group’s hiking speed. We took many more breaks than John & I did back in April on the Alum Cave trail but made it in about the same time.

After we arrived at the lodge we checked into our group lodge. We had every bed in the 13 person lodge full. Soon after we checked in we made sure we called our wives to make sure we told them that we had conquered the trail and brought their babies to the lodge safe and sound. Almost everyone hit the lodge office to either buy t-shirts, rest on the comfy couch, read and relax, enjoy each others company or play board games. Kevin and myself hiked up to Cliff Tops to see the view from there. We also decided to make the short trek over to Myrtle Point. The weather was a little hazy but we still had excellent views. Back at the lodge everyone was busy doing something, or nothing in particular. Pretty soon it was time for dinner. Alex got to ring the dinner bell along with another girl about his age who was staying at the lodge. Dinner was delicious as always. We had soup and cornbread to start with, roast beef, mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans, fried apples, a peach half and chocolate chip cookies. We all enjoyed filling our bellies with good hot food. Alex evidently was not all that impressed with the evening meal because he fell asleep. Actually he did better than I expected him to. He played all afternoon with the other boys and didn’t have a chance to take a nap. He needed the rest after the long hike but fortunately he got rested up enough to go watch the sunset with us. I think Brandon was impressed with the chocolate chip cookies. They were almost as big as his head. After relaxing a bit back at our lodge it was time to go to Cliff Tops to watch the sunset. Watching the sunset is a very peaceful and enjoyable activity after hiking all day. You just can’t get this kind of a view of the sunset down in the valley. Even the view from the lodge was extremely nice. When we came back to our group lodge most folks had grand plans of playing the Phase 10 card game at the office. I played phase zonk out and went to bed. I heard most of the guys who had planned on playing come back to our lodge about 30 minutes after Alex & I turned in though.

Dennis, Kevin, Caleb and myself planned to get up to watch the sunrise. We made it to Myrtle Point in time but were disappointed that Mt. LeConte was socked in by low clouds. Back at the lodge you could really see how low the clouds were. It made for a pretty picture but I would still have preferred to have a clear view of the sunrise after getting up so early. Everyone was up early in anticipation of the delicious breakfast that we could smell being prepared. It’s amazing how much more hungry you are when you are outdoors. This time several boys got in on the breakfast bell ringing. Alex, Brandon, Caleb and Nathaniel got to call the lodge guests to breakfast. The food is never disappointing at the lodge. We had pancakes, ham, scrambled eggs, grits and biscuits with all the fixings. We all spent a little while after breakfast relaxing, packing up, letting our food digest and taking in the lodge sights for the last time. We took a group picture in front of the dining hall just before leaving. It was nice and cool when we left the lodge at 9:00. The trail was smothered in the clouds at times but with all of the greenery surrounding us it was still pretty. The hike down was much easier on everyone of course. We had to watch the boys to make sure they weren’t walking too fast. If you slip going uphill it’s not as big of a deal most of the times. However, if you slip going down the upper parts of the Alum Cave trail it could be a little hazardous. We still took plenty of breaks on the way down to make sure the boys weren’t getting worn out. We made the obligatory stop at the bluffs. The views coming down were just as fantastic as we had coming up. It is funny how you seem to see different views coming down the trail. I suppose that’s because we are always looking ahead and not back when going up. We took some time hiking down to play in the creek. We took the last group picture at the trailhead. I don’t think we looked all that much different than we we started. We finished up at 12:30 taking about three and a half hours to hike down. A great hiking time for the age group of boys that went and all of the rest breaks we took.

It was a fantastic trip we had. What a great time to share with the guys and other boys. Everyone enjoyed getting away from the rat race for a few days and enjoying God’s beautiful creation in the mountains. Hopefully we will make this an annual trek to the lodge at Mt. LeConte to enjoy the mountains.

April 20, 2007

My friend John Foster and myself hiked up to the lodge on Friday April 20th to celebrate turning 40. It was quite cold the week before. They had seven inches of snow at the lodge the Sunday before our stay. Most of the snow was gone by Friday though but they did get an inch of snow the night before our stay. We decided to hike up the Alum Cave Bluffs trail to the lodge this time. We had a treat on the road from Gatlinburg to the trailhead. We saw a bear grazing alongside the road. I’ve been to the park three times prior to this hike and had never seen a bear.

We have a father/son stay at the lodge on June 7th. I’ve never hiked the ACB trail up to the lodge, only down. I wanted to hike this trail up because we are planning on using this trail on the father/son hike and wanted to judge the effort required and whether or not the younger ones (namely mine) could handle the hike. As I suspected it’s not bad from the trailhead to Alum Cave but the rest of the hike is pretty strenuous. However, it’s the shortest, 5.5 miles, to the lodge. The trail at least gives you a chance to warm your muscles up before you really have to use them. The first part of the trial follows a creek for a good distance. We reached arch rock in a an hour. That’s not too bad of a pace for us. John pulled a muscle pretty bad when we went in 2005. I’ll take a little slower pace and no pulled muscle any day. John would concur on that approach. We were hiking in and out of the clouds for part of our hike. The weather guessers were calling for a high in the upper 60s in the valley and mostly sunny. Fortunately they got it right. We took a short break at the bluffs. There was a group of about 30 folks from Indianapolis, IN doing a day hike to the lodge and back. We did run into a bit of snow on the trail a mile or so from the bluffs. Up the 2nd set of trail stairs and onward to the lodge. We had some pretty views where we were in the clouds and you could see the snow line on mountains around us. The higher we went of course the more snow we had on and around the trail. Some of the snow in certain sections made the trail a little difficult to traverse. We arrived at the lodge around 12:30. It took us right at four and a half hours. Not bad considering some of the trail conditions. It was a pleasant 48 degrees and sunny when we reached the lodge. The llama train was getting ready to leave not too long after we finished eating our lunch on the deck of the office. We checked in with the lodge staff and got our stuff settled in our room in one of the group lodges. We took the requisite picture in front of the lodge before dinner to prove we’d been there. For dinner we had the same thing as always, soup with cornbread, roast beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, peach half and a chocolate chip cookie. We ordered a chocolate cake to be made so we could celebrate turning 40. My b-day was in February and his was a couple of weeks prior to our hike but we still celebrated. We each had a big piece, shared with our table, passed it around to all the other tables and still had three pieces left for the lodge crew. They were pleased with that! After being throughly stuffed from dinner and our cake we made the short trip to cliff tops to watch the sunset. We had a good crowd of people at sunset and of course everyone was in a good mood after just having a delicious big meal. There was a group from Western Kentucky University and the Mt. LeConte Liars & Hikers clus staying at the lodge so it was fairly crowded for the middle of April. The sunset was beautiful as always. It was different than the other two times I’ve stayed at the lodge but still a great sight.

I got up to go view the sunrise from Myrtle Point. One of our lodge mates had told me to get him up when I left. I did but he didn’t make it to sunrise. I was the only one present at sunrise at Myrtle Point. I had to use my new Gorilla tripod that my in-laws got me for my birthday to take my picture at sunrise. The new tripod worked really well and was very lightweight. It’s great for taking on hiking/backpacking trips. What a shame no one else was there because it was a wonderful sight. It was very peaceful at Myrtle Point with only the birds to listen to and the wonderful mountain scene. I could watch this sight every morning and never tire of it. By the time I hiked back to the lodge and shed some of my layers of clothes it was time for breakfast. They didn’t have to ring the bell long to get everyone in the dining hall. We sat with the same family from Mississippi for breakfast as we did dinner. Their girls were very cute. One was nine and the other one was four. The youngest one made it up the Rainbow Falls trail all the way and didn’t have to be carried. We were impressed! John and I had a great breakfast of pancakes, eggs, Canadian bacon, grits, and biscuits. After taking a picture on our lodge steps we were ready to hit the trail for the trip down. There was still some snow to deal with on the trail but a lot of it had melted in the warm sun the day before. John made good use of the steel cables especially where there were drop offs. John has some issues when it comes to dealing with heights so I can certainly understand the use of the cables to give a better sense of security. We made it to the 1st set of steps in pretty good time. It seemed like John even got used to crossing the log bridges on the lower section of trail.

It was a short trip. We headed back home, O’Fallon, MO, after changing clothes at the Sugarlands visitor center restrooms. It was a great trip even though it was a little short. We had great weather. We are looking forward to going back in June for the father/son hike. Hopefully we will have good weather then.

September 8, 2005

This year a buddy of mine, John Foster, hiked with me up to the Lodge to stay the night. We decided to take the Rainbow Falls Trail up to the Lodge and the Boulevard Trail down to Newfound Gap. We had arranged for a shuttle to take us from Newfound Gap to the Rainbow Falls trailhead. Eric from A Walk In The Woods arrived ahead of schedule at about 7:45 to pick us up. We arrived at the trailhead and started hiking around 8:30. The trail is in the woods most of the way up to Mt. LeConte. It is steep and rocky in places but overall a nice trail and good hike to the lodge. We did get to see Rainbow Falls there wasn’t a ton of water coming over the falls but it was still very pretty. We did have some nice views as we got closer to Mt. LeConte. You could see downtown Pigeon Forge quite well from the trail. Unfortunately my hiking partner John pulled a muscle about half way up the trail. My truck was at Newfound Gap so there was no other option but to tough it out, get to the lodge and hike down the next day. We were very glad to see the sign post at the intersection of the Bullhead Trail letting us know we only had a little over a half mile to go to the lodge. We arrived at the lodge around 3:30. The hike up took a little longer than we had expected but not bad considering John’s pulled muscle. I don’t have any video to share of John walking up the trail. If it was half as painful as it looked, by the way he walked, I’m sure he was suffering quite a bit.

I checked us in at the office as soon as we got there. I showed John to our cabin and he started resting his pulled muscle right away (he was snoring almost before I was out the door). I wanted to go to Myrtle Point to hike that trail from the lodge in the daylight so I wouldn’t be hiking an unfamiliar trail in the dark to see the sunrise the next morning. I took several pictures there and took the side trail to Cliff Tops on the way back to the lodge. By the time I was finished with my traipsing around the mountain John was almost finished resting his pulled muscle. He was so focused on resting the pulled muscle he seemed to almost be in a deep slumber. However, I was able to snap him out of his muscle relaxation session so we could go to dinner. The table was all set for us when we got there. It looked like a picture out of Better Homes and Gardens. We had the same menu as last year – soup and cornbread to start followed by roast beef, mashed potatoes (with lots of real butter), green beans and finished up by big chocolate chip cookies with peaches. Yum yum!! John and I sat at the same table as my dad and I were at last year. This year we had a group of men from a church in North Carolina plus a couple also from N.C. The couple had been up to the lodge about 50 years ago. They said it had changed tremendously since then. John and I had plenty to eat and there were still leftovers. If you go hungry at the lodge, it’s entirely your own fault! During dinner we heard a helicopter outside and didn’t think much about it. I had assumed it was just a tour helicopter. It was a Lifeflight helicopter flying in to set their GPS coordinates for the helipad at the lodge. Evidently they needed to set this and test it so they could land in bad weather. After dinner we had someone take the requisite picture outside the dining hall to prove that we were actually there.

John’s leg was feeling well enough for him to be able to hike to Cliff Tops for the traditional sunset viewing. The sunset was beautiful. It wasn’t the same as last year when there was undercast but it was still wonderful. Almost all of the guests from the lodge, and from the Mt. LeConte shelter, made it to Cliff Tops for the evening’s entertainment.

John didn’t get up for sunrise. He didn’t feel he could afford to hike the 1.5 mile roundtrip before breakfast and then hike the 8.0 miles down the Boulevard Trial. That was probably a wise decision on his part because the Boulevard Trail is no piece of cake hiking it down the mountain. The sunrise was really beautiful. It started out great then the clouds moved in. It started to look like it was over but it got even better as the clouds rolled in. I got a pretty good picture of myself at sunrise. One of the people viewing the sunrise was gracious enough to take my picture. I’m usually not in the pictures because I’m behind the camera and it’s too much of a hassle to setup the mini tripod to get a self portrait. I’m not that good looking anyway.:-)

Breakfast was just as good as dinner. We had pancakes to start out with then they brought out ham, scrambled eggs, and biscuits plus they had honey and apple butter to go on the biscuits. Mmmm mmm good!! Before we left our cabin we saw three or four deer grazing in the high weeds behind the cabin. They weren’t very afraid of us. The hike down the Boulevard Trail had much better views this year. Last year dad and I were hiking in the clouds most of the way. You could see Myrtle Point and the exposed rock just under it from a long way down the trail. It was good to see how much progress we had made. I’m not so sure I’d want to focus on this picture on the way up knowing I had to climb up all that way. The only problem about going down the Boulevard Trail is you have to go up about 1.5-2.0 miles before you hit the Appalachian Trail for the final 2.7 miles descent into Newfound Gap. Just before the junction of the AT there is a side trail to the Jumpoff. It’s kind of strange that this side trail doesn’t have mileage posted on the sign. I estimate that it’s about a half mile side trail, one way, to the Jumpoff. The views were great! You could see Charlie’s Bunion and people hiking around on it. I also decided to take a detour down to the Icewater Springs shelter to check it out for a future trips where I may tack on some backpacking on the AT before the lodge stay. The views of the sunrise would be pretty good from this vantage point. The shelter is one of the new designs in the Smoky Mountains without the chain link fence around the opening to protect the bears from the humans. Evidently for some people the chain link fences make them feel safe and they start feeding the bears through the fence. Hmmm, let’s see….flimsy chain link fence around the shelter opening that’s designed to keep Fido in the yard. Sure…seems strong enough to keep a hungry black bear out of here. We were glad to see Newfound Gap after the 8.0 mile hike down from Mt. LeConte.

It was a great hike again this year. Hopefully I can turn this into an annual event.

September 9, 2004

This trip really started out as just me hiking up to the lodge on Mt. LeConte by myself but turned into a full fledged family vacation. Only my dad and I hiked up to the lodge at Mt. LeConte while the rest of the family stayed in our comfy cabin in Wears Valley. The highlight of our week in the Smoky Mountains, at least for me, was the trip to Mt. LeConte.

Dad and I had discussed the best trail to get up to Mt. LeConte. There are five trails that lead up to Mt. LeConte 1) Alum Cave trail: 5.5 miles – net climb of 2,560 feet 2) The Boulevard trail: 8 miles – net climb 1,080 feet 3) Bullhead trail: 7.2 miles – net climb of 3,820 feet 4) Rainbow Falls trail: 6.5 miles – net climb of 3,820 feet 5) Trillium Gap trail: 6.5 miles – net climb of 3,300 feet. We both looked at all of the trails, elevation profiles on two mapping programs, etc. We both came to the conclusion that The Boulevard trail, even though it was longer than the rest, would be the easiest climb. After hiking The Boulevard trail and talking to some guests who had hiked all five trails to the lodge at various times I’ve come to the conclusion that we hiked the hardest trail. Hindsight is always 20/20 I suppose. The Boulevard trail starts at Newfound Gap at an elevation of 5,000 feet and uses the Appalachian trail for the first 2.7 miles to the lodge. The first 2.7 miles on the AT are pretty much straight up from Newfound Gap. Then the rest of the 5.3 miles on The Boulevard trail has lots of ups and downs. Needless to say we were both pretty tired by the time we reached the lodge but we weren’t the last ones checked in though.

We started our hike on Thursday 9/9/04 at about 7:40 am at the Newfound Gap parking lot. It was about 50 degrees and socked in by clouds. We started out hiking in our rain gear for about the first hour or so. We hiked in the clouds for quite a while. The moisture from the clouds and the wind shaking the water off the trees made it seem like it was raining. It was disappointing that we were climbing so much and didn’t see any views. The trail pretty much follows a ridge all the way to Mt. LeConte. We should have had some pretty views but all we saw were clouds.  The trail was pretty muddy in places and sometimes had water running right down the trail a few inches deep. We had both considered wearing our trail runners for the hike but were glad we decided to wear our Gore-Tex boots. We would have had soggy feet without them. We did see a couple of pretty water falls along the way. We also saw some wildlife at the Mt. LeConte shelter.

Dad and I reached the lodge in plenty of time for dinner. We sat at a table for ten people. Two of them were still hiking up the trail. Seated at our table was a couple from Cosby, TN who had been there since the night before for her b-day, a brother and sister – brother was from SC and the sister was from GA, and two guys from Charlotte, NC. For dinner we had beef stew and cornbread to start with. Then they brought out roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans. Those were big bowls filled to the top. We had enough food to serve at least two tables of people! If you go hungry at the LeConte Lodge it’s your own fault. For dessert we had peaches and chocolate chip cookies. Yum yum.

It was still cloudy during dinner. I thought my chances of seeing a good sunset from Cliff Tops were pretty slim. Soon after we were finishing up dinner the clouds started to lift. I decided to make the short trek up to Cliff Tops and what a reward it was. The clouds had lifted off the mountain and we had undercast. It was an amazing sight. I’ve flown several thousands of miles for business and pleasure and have experienced rainy/cloudy weather on the ground and then been treated to sunshine above the clouds in a airplane but nothing compared to the view from Cliff Tops. You could see Clingman’s Dome and the observation tower. Almost all of the guests from the lodge made the short hike to Cliff Tops to view the sunset. It was worth the 8 mile hike to the top in clouds to see the sunset that night. We were very fortunate that the weather cooperated.

When I turned in for the night I had fully intended to get up and watch the sunrise from Myrtle Point. However, when my alarm went off at 5:30 am I had a change of heart. I wished I had gone now because the report was that the sunrise was very good. The sunrise from the front porch of our cabin was pretty good and I didn’t have to hike 1.5 miles roundtrip. You could see the lights of Gatlinburg through the valley. That was a nice view also. We had another very delicious meal for breakfast. We started off with pancakes then they brought out a Jethro sized bowl of grits and a big platter with scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon. We also had a basket of very large biscuits with apple butter and honey on the table for toppings. I believe everyone at our table was sufficiently stuffed. After packing our gear I took some more pictures of the lodge area. We then went to the lodge office to put a pin on the map and purchase our t-shirts and hats.

We had decided beforehand that we would hike the Alum Cave trail down from Mt. LeConte since it was the shortest. Mom had dropped us off at Newfound Gap on Thursday and she was going to pick us up at the trailhead on Friday along with my wife and son Alex. The trail was very steep in sections like we figured it would be and still wet from all the rain Tuesday and Wednesday from hurricane Frances. We were taking our time and making sure we didn’t slip anywhere. In some places if you took a misstep by a foot or so you would be off the side of the mountain going down to the valley quicker than you had planned. There was a woman that had broken her ankle on Wednesday of that week that the park service had to bring down off the mountain Thursday. The lodge staff hiked down about a mile on the Alum Cave trial and brought her back up to the lodge. The park service had intended to chopper her out on Thursday but the clouds were too thick for a helicopter rescue. About 20 park service rescue personnel took her down the mountain starting at about 4:00 pm on Thursday and, according to the lodge manager, they didn’t make it down until after 9:00 pm. We had some very pretty views from the trail on the way down. My judgment on the two trails is that it would be much better to hike the Alum Cave trail up and down to Mt. LeConte. Several of the hikers and staff members at the lodge agreed. It’s much shorter even though it is much steeper in places. I don’t think there would be that much more physical effort in hiking the Alum Cave trail than the Boulevard trail. The next time I go up I’m hiking the Alum Cave trail. I may regret it but hopefully not.

The trip to the lodge at Mt. LeConte has me hooked. I had heard about it and read about it for several years. I finally decided to take the plunge and try to get a reservation this year and I’m glad it worked out. I’m glad dad got to make this trip with me and experience the lodge. He says there’s no way he’s going back next year. I’m probably spoiled by the gorgeous views we had of the sunset on Cliff Tops Thursday night but that’s ok. That will just keep me coming back year after year trying to see if I can get that kind of weather again.

Welcome to my blog about trips to Mt. LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s one of my most favorite places on earth!