Daily Posts

and if i don't come back. i mean, if i get sidetracked it's only cause i wanted to.

1/25/2015

Life is long if you know how to use it. Seneca

Morning y'all,

It's a beautiful, clear day up top. The high yesterday reached 24 degrees. The overnight low was 15 degrees. It was 23 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation yesterday, but there is still an inch of snow remaining on the ground. The trails are sure to be slick, so pack some Kahtoola Microspikes if you'd prefer to remain injury free. It sounds like the mountain is due to receive another bit of snow this evening. As of this posting, Highway 441 is closed. Check the Park Service's twitter feed for updated road status. Enjoy the snow world!

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just close your eyes and i'll be there. listen to the sound of this old heart beating for you.

1/24/2015

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“Nothing touches it,” Cohen said, as the light came into the cabin, of sitting still… Going nowhere, as Cohen described it, was the grand adventure that makes sense of everywhere else. Pico Iyer

Morning y'all,

It's a beautiful, snowy morn up top! The high yesterday reached 36 degrees. The overnight low got down to 19 degrees. It was 19 degrees and snowing lightly at 7am observation. The mountain received .97" of rain yesterday and an inch of snow overnight. The trails are sure to be treacherous, so be sure to pack traction devices if you intend to go places. As of this posting, Highway 441 is closed. Check the Park Service's twitter feed for updated road status. Enjoy the snow world!

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so let's take a loan, i'll put it down on a house in a place we've never lived. in a place that exists in the pages of scripts and the songs that they sing.

1/23/2015

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Do anything you like, but do it with conviction! Henry Miller

Morning y'all,

It's a gloomy morning up top. The high yesterday reached 35 degrees. The overnight low was 24 degrees. It was 29 degrees and mostly cloudy at 7am observation. The mountain received .26" of liquid precipitation last night. It is currently sleeting a bit, the mountain is covered in a veneer of ice. It was sketchy walking just to get to the kitchen from my cabin! As of this posting, Highway 441 is closed. Check the Park Service's twitter feed for updated road status. Enjoy the fog world!

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the real truth about it is, there ain't no end to the desert i'll cross. i really known it all along.

1/22/2015

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I feel like a song is a secret of the heart on the sleeve. I don’t run away from truths or un-surviving loves. I also feel that a song in its simplest form is no different than a day in a season. It could be a silent and early hour or it could be nothing but despair and loss and anger, and yet it is still only an autumn day. Jason Molina

Morning y'all,

It's a beautiful, grey tinged morning up top. The high yesterday reached 33 degrees. The overnight low was 19 degrees. It was 24 degrees and clear at 7am observation. There is still a bit of snow and ice remaining up top. I've heard that the trails are in slick shape after our freeze/thaw cycles, so be sure to use caution on sketchy sections. If you don't want to worry about slipping and falling, Kahtoola Microspikes are the answer. You can find them at the NOC Gatlinburg, right before the entrance to the park.

I spent a lot of time yesterday enjoying the sunshine on my porch. There are few pleasures greater than spending a chilly day with an immersive book (thanks Henry!), drinking coffee while wrapped in a wool blanket. These days of rest and respite are ones I dream of all summer, while working hard in the muddy New Hampshire backwoods. It all makes for a delicious balance, wildness and peace in the tranquility of the mountains. Every day in the woods is a blessing, however it is spent. We are the lucky ones who know this to be truth.

Much thanks to my friend Tenderfoot for bringing me up some epsom salts (an 8lb bag!) to help keep my swelling down. It is much appreciated! Have fun at Wildlife Week!

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can you love me like the crosses love the nape of the neck?

1/21/2015

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This love, and the ensuing emptiness of its ending, changed her. Of such events we are always changed — not necessarily badly, but changed. Who doesn’t know this doesn’t know much. Mary Oliver

Morning y'all,

It's another beautiful, clear morning up top. The high yesterday reached 43 sunny degrees. The overnight low as 24 degrees. It was 24 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation yesterday. There is still some patchy snow remaining up top. I'm sure that there is still some tricky ice on sections of trail with all of the freeze thaw conditions we've had lately. Be careful and have fun out there!

Yesterday was a day to enjoy some rest and relaxation in the sun. I carried a rocking chair out to the porch and let the Vitamin D work its' mood enhancing wonders. The wind was calm as could be and hiker traffic was low. It felt like a quiet day at the beach. I finished my book and did some collaging. These perfect little moments make a life.

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her eyes are like champagne. they sparkle, bubble over and in the morning all you got is rain.

1/20/2015

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And having returned from the woods, we remember with regret its restfulness. For all creatures there are in place, hence at rest. In their most strenuous striving, sleeping and waking, dead and living, they are at rest. In the circle of the human we are weary with striving, and are without rest. Wendell Berry

Morning y'all,

It's another beautiful, clear day up top. The high yesterday reached 41 degrees. The overnight low was 20 degrees. It was 31 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation. There is still a bit of snow on the ground. The trails are sure to have some black ice remaining, so be prepared to slip a bit if you intend to summit. Be careful out there and enjoy the day!

I have been revelling in some quiet cabin time over the past few days. I am forever addicted to exercise, but it is equally nice to hit the reset button every once in a while (even if it is not by choice) and let the quietness and peace flood in. I will love to the death the endless sensory input you get when you spend an afternoon well, running or hiking along these quiet perfect as is paths. It is a separate but equal kind of joy that comes with focusing on yourself without that movement and stimulus, paying attention to your fleeting thoughts and losing yourself in a good book and mediocre journal. There are so many opportunities for growth in nature, both outward and inward. Drink it up, however the source fills your cup.

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and i know i am naive, but if anything that's what's going to save me. that's what's going to save me.

1/19/2015

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What are men to rocks and mountains? Jane Austen

Morning y'all,

It's a beautiful, clear day up top. The high yesterday reached 26 degrees. The overnight low was 21 degrees. It was 25 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new snow, but there is still some patchy snow remaining. The trails are still a bit icy, so be sure to pack some sort of traction devices if you intend to reach the summit. Get out there and enjoy the day!

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i've been wanderin' in the dark about as long as sin, but they say it's never too late to start again.

1/17/2015

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Walking is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things. It is the one way of freedom. If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside. Elizabeth von Arnim

Top photo: Topping Chimney Tops. Above: View of LeConte from the Chimneys.

Morning y'all,

It's another beautiful, clear day up top. The high yesterday reached 32 degrees. The overnight low was 16 degrees, recorded early yesterday morning. It was 27 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation, but there is still patchy snow remaining up top. The ice is a little sketchy on Alum and Boulevard. There are still nasty slick spots and some of them are now hiding underneath a thin layer of snow. Be careful if you intend to reach the summit! The colours are outstanding right now, get out and enjoy the day!

Downclimbing!

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we can live on the mountain, like living in the sunset. we can live honestly and true.

1/16/2015

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If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal — that is your success. Henry David Thoreau

Morning y'all,

It's another beautiful, clear morning up top. The high yesterday reached 32 degrees. The overnight low was 15 degrees. It was 16 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received some unexpected patchy snow yesterday, amounting to less than an inch total. It looks as though we'll be above the clouds again for a bit. Get out and enjoy it!

Top photo: Misty times on the Boulevard trail. Above: In the cloud at Apollo Overlook.

Yesterday was another fantastic day above the clouds. Unlike in the White Mountains in summertime, where the clouds seem to reliably burn off a few hours after the sun starts churning, I've found it difficult to predict just what the undercast has in store during Smoky Mountain wintertime. It is a pleasant realization when I re-discover (seemingly every morning) that I have no idea what the weather or the day has in store for me. It is all new, every day, all the time.

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in that dream, i could hardly contain it. all my life i will wait to attain it.

1/15/2015

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If we ever reach the point where we think we thoroughly understand who we are and where we came from, we will have failed. Carl Sagan

Morning y'all,

It's a beautiful, clear morning up top. The mountain is standing tall above the clouds and the past 24 hours have been spectacular. The high yesterday reached 31 degrees. The overnight low was 24 degrees. It was 29 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation and there is no snow remaining up top. There is still some tricky ice on sections of Alum and Boulevard. Traction devices are a sure thing if you'd prefer to not get hurt miles from help, but it is possible to dance around this much ice if you are very careful. Enjoy the adventures!

Top photo: Sunset. Above: Emily crushing.

I spent yesterday exploring with my friend Emily. We worked this past fall at Madison Springs Hut, a short hike (1,645 miles) from Newfound Gap. We hiked out the Boulevard to Charlie's Bunion and marveled at how fortunate we were to be above the clouds. She and I are no stranger to undercasts, but man oh man, this was one to cherish.

Hiking back from the Bunion.

My friend in town was telling me about how she and her daughter have been wondering if they should get checked out for Seasonal Affect Disorder, with all the long, grey days they've had lately in the valley. It feels like there have been a disproportionate number of days this season where the mountain and I have been above the clouds. I have no clues as to why this is. It hasn't been a snowy winter thus far, but inversion caps are the next most spectacular weather events up top and I am grateful to have them in abundance this season. It will form and coalesce into a pillowy bunch of memories to glide back to on hard, long days this spring and summer.

Sunset.

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