 Solitude, I reflected, is the one deep necessity of the human spirit to which adequate recognition is never given in our codes. It is looked upon as a discipline or a penance, but hardly ever as the indispensable, pleasant ingredient it is to our ordinary life, and from this want of recognition come half our domestic troubles. The fear of an unbroken tete-a-tete for the rest of his life should, you would think, prevent any man from getting married... Modern education ignores the need for solitude: hence a decline in religion, in poetry, in all the deeper affections of the spirit: a disease to be doing something always, as if one could never sit quietly and let the puppet show unroll itself before one: an inability to lose oneself in mystery and wonder while, like a wave lifting us into new seas, the history of the world develops around us. Freya Stark Morning y'all, It's another beautiful, clear wintry morning up top. The high yesterday reached 45 degrees. The overnight low was 31 degrees. It was 36 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation and the abundant sun melted 2 inches, leaving us with about 2 inches of snow up top. The trails are sure to be slick, so traction devices would be recommended if you inted to summit. Get out and enjoy another sunny Smokies day!  We have the great fortune to live on a planet abounding with humans, plants, and animals; and I often marvel at the strange tasks evolution sets them. Of all the errands life seems to be running, of all the mysteries that enchant us, love is my favorite. Diane Ackerman Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, clear morning up top. The high yesterday was 31 degrees. The overnight low was 17 degrees. It was 31 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain still has about 4 inches of hard packed snow up top. Traction devices are highly recommended for anyone attempting to reach the summit. It's shaping up to be a beautiful, warm day up top. Get out and enjoy it!   But I did find the entire world in looking for something. But I got saved by poetry. And I got saved by the beauty of the world. Mary Oliver Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, clear morning up top. The high yesterday reached 18 degrees. The overnight low was 6 degrees. It was 17 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation and our snowfall total is down to about 5 inches. The trails are hardpack snow and ice right now. I'd encourage anyone who intends to summit to have winter boots, traction devices, and wool socks. You'll save yourself a lot of discomfort by showing up for your hike prepared.  Yesterday was another fantastic day spent moseying around camp. The sky was variable all day, foggy and socked in yesterday morning, then a bit blustery and trending towards clear in the afternoon. The clouds were dancing, telling secrets to one another and running away. An active sky is typically a good indicator that a memorable sunset is in the works. I was not disappointed. I am always excited for the evening show, but I get giddy when those first shafts of golden light cut through the thin spruces and set the trail afire. It is one of my favorite spots on the mountain, one I'll remember fondly for all my days. This is where my daily metamorphosis takes place. There is simply no way eloquent enough to measure, to grasp just what these experiences do to me. I am spoiled rotten and simply don't know how I'd get a fix like this if I didn't live in the mountains. They have worked themselves into the core of my being and are now an essential component for anything resembling a full life. Reality. Beauty beats bread.   Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness. Bertrand Russell Morning y'all, It's a chilly, grey day up top. The high yesterday reached 37 degrees. The overnight low was 16 degrees. It was 16 degrees and cloudy at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation and the abundant sunshine yesterday afternoon melted 2 inches of snow. There is still about 6 inches of snow left up top. The trails up top have enough snow pack so that traction devices are unnecessary, but I would imagine that there has been some thaw-freeze cycles further down the mountain creating some tricky spots. Enjoy the foggy mystery!  I spent yesterday wandering around camp and reading on my porch. It was a day to be out - warm sunshine, easy breezes and the dashing sparkle of my friend Snow. It was an easy day to marvel and daydream, with innumerable blessings popping into my head throughout the long afternoon. The million and one little unknowable factors - long, necessary conversations, larger than life friends, mentors and experiences, profound ideas that spoke to me, shaped me into who I am - all that had to break right for me to end up here. It's all too much to comprehend at times. Fortune has been kind to me and I am working hard to instill an consistent feeling of gratitude for all that has been laid in my lap.
 Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are. We are often like rivers: careless and forceful, timid and dangerous, lucid and muddied, eddying, gleaming, still. Lovers, farmers, and artists have one thing in common, at least - a fear of "dry spells," dormant periods in which we do no blooming, internal droughts only the waters of imagination and psychic release can civilize. All such matters are delicate of course. But a good irrigator knows this: too little water brings on the weeds while too much degrades the soil the way too much easy money can triviliaze a person's initiative. In his journal, Thoreau wrote, "A man's life should be as fresh as a river. It should be the same channel but a new water every instant." Gretel Ehrlich Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, clear morning up top. The high yesterday reached 28 degrees. The overnight low was 8 degrees. It was 24 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation yesterday, but the onslaught of sun melted 2 inches of snow. There is now about 8 inches left up top. The trails are still rather deep, so if you intend to summit, bring wool socks, gaiters, boots, snow pants and a positive attitude! Enjoy!  I saw as many sets of human tracks (1) as I saw wild bobcat tracks (1) as I finished beautiful how-have-I-not-read-this-yet books (1) as I saw beautific pure orange sunsets (1) as I saw perfectly full snow moons (1). The list will go on as long as I will and I'll never be satisfied.   The scenery, when it is truly seen, reacts on the life of the seer. How to live. How to get the most life. . . . How to extract its honey from the flower of the world. That is my every-day business. I am as busy as a bee about it. I ramble all over the fields on that errand, and am never so happy as when I feel myself heavy with honey and wax. Thoreau Morning y'all, It's a stunning, clear morning up top. The high yesterday was 25 degrees, recorded shortly after 7am observation. The overnight low was 4 degrees. It was 9 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received one additional inch of snow, bringing our snowfall total up to 10 inches. The winds are dying down a bit and it seems like the sun will be out today. Get out and enjoy the perfection of winter!  Last night was for star gazing and night wandering. Just after dark, I went outside and realized that there was a cloud cap over Pigeon Forge, which made the bright stars into projectors and turned the moon into a spotlight. I could see sharp shadows clear from the moonlight and it wouldn't surprise me if the solar panels were picking up some watts. The heavy snow base acted as a majestic mirror and the dark, mysterious spruce fir forest became inviting and warm. It is the closest I've ever come to an Alaskan half night, where all the brightness kept my brain whirling late into the night and I was unable to fall asleep - it just didn't feel natural with that much calm beauty right outside. I wanted to be the bobcat. Feel his late night ramblings, look for the perfect rock to perch upon, wait wait waiting for dinner to stroll by... beauty in obliteration, creation in destruction.
 I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell. Whitman Morning y'all, It's a blustery, snowy morning up top. The high yesterday reached 37 degrees. The overnight low was 25 degrees. It was 25 degrees and overcast at 7am observation. The mountain received 1 inch of additional snow, bringing our total up to 9 inches. The wind has been howling, so be sure to be prepared for some deep drifts. The temperature is dropping quickly this morning, it is already down to 14 degrees and feels frigid in the wind. Be prepared for below zero windchills if you intend to summit! Enjoy the snow world!  The wind has been fantastic for the past 24 hours. It was fitting to have such a spectacle on Super Bowl Sunday. There was constant action, a dance between the pine and fir branches and forces unseen, with no commercial breaks! If you closed your eyes, you could easily convince yourself that the persistent roar was a heavy summer storm by the seaside. The blowing snow imitated sand and all of the sudden I was on the coastline. I can not walk, but I am still traveling.  In other news, LeConte Lodge 2015 calendars are now only $6.25! They are beautiful and worth every penny!   A generation that cannot endure boredom will be a generation of little men… of men in whom every vital impulse slowly withers, as though they were cut flowers in a vase. Bertrand Russell Morning y'all, It's an overcast, blustery morning up top. The high yesterday reached 33 degrees. The overnight low was 16 degrees. It was 33 degrees and cloudy at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation yesterday. There are still about 6 inches of snow up top. The trails are still pretty snowy, so be prepared for some wet boots if you intend to summit. My friend Christopher likened hiking up Rainbow to hiking up a sand dune. It will be an exhausting day if you intend to summit, so be sure to turn around by 2 o'clock if you want to be back by dark. Enjoy the day! |
LeConte LodgeWelcome to the official blog of LeConte Lodge. We hope you find the information provided here both helpful and enjoyable. Thank you for visiting the site, and we hope to see you on the mountain! Archives
April 2025
|
RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
|
|
