June 19-20, 2008

Click on the links for pictures.

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. J 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.J  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. J 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.J 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.  J

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.