I'm proud to say we're enjoying another wonderful day on top of the Smokies. We paid our dues with the wind, rain and gray early in the week and are bookending the week with three consecutive lovely days at LeConte Lodge.
Friday's high reached 47 with a low of 28, not bad at all for early May in the highest reaches of Appalachia. I've noticed lots of local folks up today. Perhaps they already have their tomatoes and okra in the ground and are getting in some weekend fun in the Smokies. I'm increasingly convinced that transportation advances continue to make the world smaller all the time. Last night at the lodge we were proud to host some folks from around my hometown of Rockwood, Tenn., who are doubly lucky to be able to return to such a fine place when they hike down from LeConte. At the other end of the dining room we were honored to have a guest from Kenya (hard to get a direct flight from Rockwood to Nairobi). He asked if he was the first Kenyan to climb LeConte. I don't have an ironclad answer, though crew member Matt went to high school in Kenya. It is fair to say that the Kenya to LeConte pipeline is a mere trickle. The gentleman from Kenya bought our last windbreaker in stock. I made sure he tried the windbreaker on because our return policy is fair, but I figured he'd not want to haul it back from Kenya if it didn't fit. As you might imagine, we don't get a great many returns up here. Also on the international front, I visited with a dayhiker the other day who had climbed Mt. Fuji in Japan. Mt. Fuji almost doubles the elevation on Mt. LeConte (but our cornbread is twice as good). This gentleman told me that there are people posted at stations as you progress up Mt. Fuji, and they'll use a hot iron to brand your hiking stick at checkpoints moving up the mountain. He told me he was hiking in the Smokies with his decorated hiking stick and ran across some Japanese tourists who recognized the Fuji branding instantly and were quite impressed. I can also count a first for me, as I saw a dayhiker eating Ramen noodles with chopsticks at the picnic table above the kitchen. There's no shortage of Ramen noodle sightings on the mountain, but chopsticks are almost as rare as white tiger sightings. I also met some nice local folks this morning. A daughter from Alcoa, Tenn., woke up about 5 a.m. and decided out of the blue to call her dad and scale LeConte today. I can testify that these friendly people accomplished their mission. They told me they'd hiked LeConte twice and had beautiful weather each time. I told them they needed to come up and see us more often if such fine weather accompanied them. Another nice lady from Knoxville, Tenn., told me that this is her fourth hike up LeConte, and it's the first time she's been able to see any view at all. She was every bit as impressed as she should be. I hope to see you all, too. Have a fine weekend. Happy trails. Hello to all of you. Sorry this update is late, as it's been a busy day. We had to swap shifts for some training today, which cut into my regular afternoon duties, updating High on LeConte being one of them. However, it's been a nice day on the mountain with plenty of people up to enjoy it.
I hope the weather is as beautiful today at your home as it is atop Mt. LeConte. The high yesterday reached 48 with a chillier overnight low of 28, still plenty comfortable by LeConte standards. I think Friday was every bit as nice as Thursday on the mountain. We haven't registered any rain the last two days. I've talked with several guests who suffered through deluges at their homes this week. We got just the right amount of rain to keep spring moving up the mountain and no cabins washing down it. The big crew news today was a rescue/litter training session with our friends from the National Park Service. As LeConte Lodge workers, we're not federal/park service employees, though we work closely together on all sorts of projects, rescues included. The private company for which I work runs LeConte Lodge as a concession for the park service. The concession contract periodically comes up for bid. Since I've been on LeConte beginning in 2010, we've enjoyed a good, productive relationship with the park service. That's not always the case in other national parks between the park service and concession companies. We try to get that right in the Smokies, and I think the park is better for it. At any rate, a couple of rangers hiked up and put our LeConte Lodge crew members through their volunteer rescue training course. You can imagine that pushing a rescue litter up or down any trail is difficult. Now imagine piloting that stretcher on a trail like Alum Cave Bluff ... in the ice ... in the dark ... trying to comfort a patient in agony. I hope we never have to use the rescue litter and it builds up so much dust we can't find it, but history tells a different story. Part of the training involved a timed, two-mile hike with a 25-pound backpack, which we performed on the flats between the Alum Cave Bluff/Bullhead/Rainbow Trail junction and the "Hallelujah Corner" which begins Alum's descent below Cliff Tops. I think it's safe to say there aren't many other Smokies volunteers who've taken their timed test at 6,450 feet. I think it's also a safe bet that none of the other volunteers weighted their packs with a 25-pound bag of brown sugar. At any rate, we all passed the test, and I had enough spare time to pick up a piece or two of trash on my last lap. I hiked my test with general manager Tim Line, still one of the fastest LeConte employees in history. Hiking with Tim makes you look like an unmotivated, drunken sloth. Tim, who began his association with LeConte in 1977, through-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1976. He held the LeConte-to-Gatlinburg-to-LeConte speed record (2 hours, 50 minutes) for more than three decades before former crew member John Northrup took the crown in 2012. Even though I'm a beat-up, old and slow offensive lineman, not many people pass me on a hike back up to work on LeConte. However, I'm not ever passing Tim Line. I apologize to anyone I blew past as they were hitting the flats on their way to the lodge. In Tennessee, I think good manners dictate that (if the trail footing is safe) the person hiking uphill has the right of way and the descending hiker yields to the side. At least that makes sense to me because they're working harder heading uphill, and I think it's hospitable. I wouldn't have bulled my way through if it hadn't been a timed fitness test. Come on up and see us this weekend. I expect we'll have plenty of good company. Happy trails. Good afternoon to you. This is Nathan again writing from the top of LeConte. Today we turn the calendar a page into May and focus our sights on some of the gifts of the mountain. First of all, it's turned out to be a beautiful day. For the first time in a while I was able to give a "mostly sunny" forecast for our guests' hike down.
We received some rain last night, measuring 0.41 inches. We charted rain for three consecutive days, but it didn't always fall in torrents and caused us little problem at the lodge. Wednesday was also a little cooler with a high-low temperature of 52 and 38. In her book Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott wrote: "Here are the two best prayers I know: 'Help me, help me, help me' and 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.'" In Thursday's update, I focus on the latter. I've said it before and still firmly believe LeConte Lodge boasts the best guests in the Smokies. Two of the nicest people in Ohio hiked down this morning after another delightful (from our perspective) stay at LeConte. A couple of years ago, the Parkisons wanted my advice on helping plan a trip to Yellowstone, where I worked one summer as a horse wrangler and a winter as a guide. They're friendly folks, always so joyous and appreciative of the spirit of LeConte Lodge, and I was happy to give my advice on things to see. I told them that, yes it's touristy, but you absolutely must go see Old Faithful. Not only that, but it's good luck tradition to eat the local specialty, made-in-Montana Wilcoxson's Huckleberry ice cream while taking in Old Faithful. When the Parkisons returned to LeConte last September, their son did so with a bag in tow. He told me to be careful opening it. I upzipped the bag and the telltale white wisps of dry ice escaped. Carol and Gene bought the LeConte Lodge crew two pints of Wilcoxson's Huckleberry ice cream in Yellowstone, hauled it across 90-degree heat in the Great Plains and safely secured it in their Ohio freezer until they could hike it up to the crown of the Smokies. It was just one of a plethora of extravagant gestures of kindness we witness living on LeConte. Frequent day hiker (and High on LeConte commenter) Larry hiked up an Easter ham and pineapple cake mix for the LeConte crew--neither of which made for a light pack for him. People have sent fruit, Swiss army knives, ribs, books, beignet mix, soft drinks and all matter of luxuries to us up top. Please understand this is NOT a request or a plea. We don't NEED ANYTHING here at the lodge except a continual stream of friendly people who appreciate the mountain as much as we do. I hope there's never a shortage of such people because they constantly make this a happier place to live and protect. Additionally, David Scanlon came up today for his 962nd hike to LeConte Lodge. David never has a bad day up here, and is quick with a smile for all the crew and dayhikers he visits. Without prompting, I noticed David emptying out the collected rainwater from the llama troughs--helping out a certain lodge assistant manager on a very busy morning. David was just happy to make sure the llamas wouldn't have soggy food to eat on their special Thursday trip. Continuing the thanks, the park service trail crew hauled heavy chainsaws up Trillium Gap Trail to remove the fallen tree, helping out hikers and allowing our llamas access to the lodge. There's nothing easy about a trail crew job. We were also pleased to welcome Katie and Dean Davis of Georgia. Their son bought them a stay on LeConte for a Christmas gift (and we're glad he did). "He always gets us something where we have to walk," Katie said. "I think he's trying to tell us something." Katie told me she was raised with wood stoves and kerosene lamps, so LeConte (even though we now have replaced wood and kerosene heat with propane) is right up her alley. Again, this isn't a request for anything--just an acknowledgement that we wouldn't be here without such fine guests. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Happy trails. |
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
May 2024
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