_Morning,

I apologize for not posting yesterday. I was having trouble with the internet connection during the morning storm. We had some severe winds on Christmas night and received 1.70" of rain. The high was 41 degrees and the low reached 31 degrees. It was 36 degrees and raining hard at 7am observation.

I saw a big buck while I was coming up the Bullhead trail yesterday. He was the largest animal I've seen above the Old Sugarlands trail. Fittingly, on the one day I couldn't find my camera! I heard him crawling up through the brush, thinking I'd perhaps see a Smokey Mountain Bear. As he bound onto the trail, I counted 8 points on his antlers. We had that unique and sacred animal interaction when we locked eyes. I forgot who I was for the minute he was sizing me up and then he gracefully lept over a few blowdowns. I followed his prints for about another mile, doing my best not to step on any sticks but move quickly enough to see him again. It was magical.

_The high yesterday reached 36 degrees. The low was 13 degrees. It was 18 degrees and clear at observation. The mountain received 2 inches of new snow! It's an absurdly gorgeous day up here. The colours during sunrise were phenomenal, a gentle pink lighting up the inversion clouds. There is plenty of stunning hoarfrost coating the trees. It looks as though I could walk a little ways down the Alum Cave trail and continue on the clouds towards Clingman's Dome. It's been my most spectacular morning thus far.

_I'll be taking a few days off the mountain to visit with a friend in Knoxville. I'll be back up on the evening of the 29th. There'll be a few 'relief caretakers' up here to watch the place. My next posting will be on the morning of the 30th. Enjoy the holiday week!