June 7, 2007

Click on the links for pictures.

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. J 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 stayed 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. J 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. J 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. J 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. J 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. J Almost everyone hit the lodge office to either buy t-shirts, rest on the comfy couch, read and relax, enjoy each other's 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. J 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. J 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. J 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.