 The last of the Turks Cap Lilies are blooming on the mountain's trails. Happy Monday, We've been treated to a most pleasant finish to the month of July...two sunny and cool, blue bell kind of days. Working or playing outside is preferable. Yesterday's high temperature came in at a cozy 65 degrees, and we reached a delightfully chilly low of 43 degrees for the second consecutive night. These cooler than normal temps already have us jokingly discussing when we might see the first snow. Probably not what anyone is wanting to hear just yet, but it would add a nice splash to those Christmas in July/August festivities that take place this time of year. These mild temperatures don't look to be going anywhere in the extended forecast, which is quite fine by us (and the llamas).  Deer meets weather station. We had our first bear sighting in camp today for the first time in several months, so it's time for everyone hiking up to see us to be "bear aware!" It's a new one without tags, and big, but hopefully any bad habits can be thwarted. Please notify us or the NPS of any sightings so that the proper steps can be taken to educate and protect visitors, and keep the bear safe and wild. Thanks!  The White Wood Asters are popping up in various places. It continues to be knockout gorgeous on the mountain, so hopefully you can find time in your schedules to pay us a visit. Last night's guests were enjoyably unique, in that they all went around the room stating where they hailed from and swapping interesting stories related to the lodge. As I've mentioned numerous times, it's the people that make this place so special. We had the fortune of hosting guests not only from our fine state of Tennessee, and not just folks from around the continental USA, but some gentlemen representing Puerto Rico and Germany. It's great that LeConte Lodge is sought after as an international experience. There were some first-timers in the house, and others who've been coming for decades. We look forward to seeing ALL of them again soon. The same goes for you! Have a fabulous start to the week.  Can't get enough of these grand flowers.
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Good Afternoon and Happy Saturday,
Today is shaping up to be our busiest day of the year so far. Crowds and crowds of folks braving the rain, wind, and cooler temps just to visit the mountain. The hot chocolate is hitting the spot today! Friday's high temperature came in at 59 degrees, and our overnight low dipped to 52. We received a couple heavy downpours during the night, which brought our rain total for the period up to 1.95". We've had a few trickles today, but nothing to get excited about. The clouds continue their hold on the mountain, but we're hopeful that tomorrow's prediction of sunshine comes true. Time to get back at it! Have a great weekend. Good Morning, It looks and feels more like spring on the mountain today. A little after 10:00 AM the winds started to pick up and the rain moved in. Looks like it'll be hanging around the rest of today and early tomorrow. There wasn't much temperature variance yesterday, as our high only tagged 64 degrees and our overnight low remained a mild 57. What few showers we witnessed on Thursday only amounted to 0.22" of liquid precipitation.  An appreciated gift, and a wonderful interpretation of Mt. LeConte scenery. Rain, wind, and cooler than normal temps can all lead to hypothermia, even in late July in these mountains. Please pack the appropriate layers to get up here safely and as dry as possible. Sometimes, that precip just finds its way into every crevasse, in which case we are always happy to sell you one of our styling apparel pieces to help get you dry...from shirts to flannel pants and hoodies to socks.
A big thank you to a kind and thoughtful Miss Avery for her gift this morning of the hand drawn picture seen above. I'd say she absolutely nailed the beautiful details of this place, featuring a grazing deer in front of a lush spruce-fir forest. If we have the pleasure of hosting this young and talented individual in the future, maybe she'll intrigue us with another great depiction of our mountain. Thanks for stopping by the site, and should you hit the trails, try and stay dry!  It's a plane. It's a helicopter. Nope. It's just the buzzing of hundreds upon hundreds of bees. Greetings,
We've already received brief moments of rain this morning, but nothing along the lines of a bonafide soaker. The second half of July has certainly been hotter and drier than the way we started, so we're appreciative of any liquid precipitation we can muster. There was no new precipitation yesterday, and Wednesday's temperature readings came in at 71 degrees for a high, and 48 for a low. We've been mostly cloudy much of the day, with views into the valley rolling in and out. At least this overcast is keeping things a tad cooler for us, which I'm sure folks hiking up from the flat lands are enjoying to the max. Speaking of which, there are already crowds forming around camp, so it looks like it'll be a busy day on the mountain. This year's shirts are selling fast, so be sure and hike up to get your's soon while so many color choices are in stock! As mentioned in yesterday's post, the temperatures look quite promising through the weekend. We'd be delighted to see you if a visit to Mt. LeConte is a possibility. And a special thanks to Uncle Gary for his assistance with a routine maintenance project! Take care and happy trails.  Cloud dynamics during the summer months just give sunsets that extra awesome touch. Good Afternoon,
It’s turning out to be another hot and humid day for being up high on Mt. LeConte. We continue to spend some time in the 70’s these days, and of course it’s been significantly warmer down below. So much so, that if you’re expecting to see our llamas on days they pack, please understand that they could be arriving a little later. Our fantastic wranglers do their absolute best to make sure our boys stay strong and healthy in this heat to keep our supply lines churning, which often translates into a slightly slower pace coming up the mountain. As always, if you cross paths with our popular packers, please heed the advice of our wranglers. Tuesday’s high temperature came in at 74 degrees, while our low only got down to 50. No new precipitation for the second straight period. Today the clouds are patchy, with the sun regularly teasing guests relaxing on rockers. Up here around camp, there’s been a slight breeze that really has conditions feeling superb. It’s been a great day for logging some hours of labor outside! The future forecast shows an intriguing cool down coming for the weekend. What better way to take advantage of some mild, late July days than by visiting your favorite mountain! Until conditions shift, though, please continue to be smart about exploring the backcountry by packing enough food and water, and avoiding overexertion by starting early and taking your time. Have a great rest of the day.  The American Turks Cap Lily, one of the Smokies grandest summer flowers. Good Afternoon, Summer on the mountain continues, with abundant sunshine beating down and temperatures reaching the 70's with ease now, having almost scraped 74 already today. A toad-strangler quickly dumped 0.75" of rain on the mountain during the night, with plenty of rumbles to boot. As the sunlight faded, the entire northern horizon was lighting up with the flashes of storms pounding the Tennessee Valley, the Cumberland Mountains, and beyond. Sunday's high temperature came in at 68 degrees, followed by a low of 54.  So many colors, and they all go so well together. The scenery surrounding camp continues to impress with each passing day. The fields of Yellow Coneflower should reach peak bloom in the next week, but the show will last for a while after with other wildflowers joining the parade. In what has already been declared a record number of squirrels seen on the mountain this year, I'm thinking the same can be said of the local deer population. Given the endless buffet lying before them, I can't blame the deer for choosing to call this place home for the summer. The way they congregate makes counting them fairly easy at just about any time of day. To date, we have seen five different bucks, with antlers ranging in size from 2 to 8 points. There have been as many as six does seen at one time, and we know of three fawns still getting their running legs under them. Everyone's pretty well used to one another by this point, so you'd have to come around a corner quickly to even startle one.  Fields of gold, basking in endless sunshine. Not a bad day to be a solar panel either! Come on up and see the beauty! Even without A/C, fans, ice cream, or swimming pools, this comfortable mountain air has to beat what's going on down below. Take care and be safe out there!
 The bees are getting seriously drunk on the monkshood! 75! 75 was our high yesterday. 54 was the low and it is humid like you wouldn't believe. Ok, we're overreacting a bit, but we can absolutely tell it's hot down there. Luckily everyone who hiked up yesterday was pretty prepared, hydrated, and were excited to sit on the office porch before heading back down  The Turks cap is a cheery fellow in front of the dining room! Woke up to fog and almost tripped on some fawns due to visibility issues. You know, typical mountain life. Rain in the forecast today through Wednesday, a little bit of umbrella season. A nice change for not having any precipitation the past few days. Us on crew devour books pretty quickly and are always looking for recommendations. We have the staples like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Bill Bryson and the like, and would love to know what you guys read!
Llamas tomorrow!  Come say hello to Humphrey, Margo, Horace, and Pedro 73 yesterday.
Ew. Luckily for us and the llamas cloud cover hung out during the heat of the day. Woke up this morning to 49 but it had already reached 54 by 6:30. ''Tis a sign for things to come today, unless we luck out with that predicted rain! 70% chance of rain tomorrow, definitely an umbrella day, and hopefully a lot cooler. Keep hydrated guys, electrolytes, the full deal, the heat and humidity takes a lot out of you. If you are not feeling well, dizzy, exhausted coming up there is no shame in turning back. You should be able to enjoy the mountain, not get stressed by it! Starting super early in the morning will help, starting after 9:00am is a lot warmer for sure so please keep that in mind. Happy Saturday!  Sunrise was superb! It was 74 yesterday!
Hot stuff everybody. It's rumored to be very hot today so please be careful! 74! Then 49 for the low. Some of our guests hiking up yesterday mentioned seeing bears on the trail. We greatly appreciate any information you can give us on trails, like bears and their locations and behaviors. Trillium Gap/Grotto Falls is especially dear to us, since our llama friends come up that way, so if you notice bear activity or trail hazards like blown-over trees or fallen rocks, please let us at the lodge and the Park Service know. Anticipated rain tomorrow so bring your umbrellas!  Hubert Clemons and Lady Florence are waiting to ripen, courtesy of Mr. Will It was quite toasty up here yesterday , 70/50 were the temps with a random trace of rain during the afternoon. It was a nice way to cool off us and the llamas! The crew has noticed it being more humid and hot so we can only imagine the trails down below. Please remember to bring plenty of water with you and electrolytes. A water bottle plus some more is strongly recommended, a lot of our guests and hikers are coming up dehydrated so please pace yourselves and don't push it coming up here. Starting as early as 7 will help immensely. It's way too hot for racing! Tomorrow especially is going to be HOT, be careful everyone. Even though water adds weight you lose it as you hike up! There is nothing wrong with turning back on the trail if it's too hot, Or for any reason really. We up here hike to work and we know how it is! Listen to your body and don't strain it! It sounds like we might get hit pretty hard with rain on Saturday and Sunday, hopefully that will cool us off! Llamas tomorrow! |
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
November 2023
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