Morning y'all,
It's a blustery day up top. The high yesterday reached 47 degrees. The low was 34 degrees. It was 44 degrees and cloudy at 7am observation. The mountain received .06" of rain yesterday as a front moved in overnight. It didn't have much rain, but powerful winds made it feel like a serious storm. We're supposed to get some more precipitation this afternoon. The trails should still be in great shape. If you like solitude, today would be a great day to hike up. Enjoy! Morning y'all,
It's a beautiful morning up top. The high yesterday reached 51 (!!!) degrees. The low was 35 degrees. It was 35 degrees and clearing at 7am observation. The mountain received 1.12" of rain yesterday, most of it coming overnight. It's shaping up to be a gorgeous Saturday. It may be the last time this season you're able to hike up without any ice on the trails, so there's no time like the present. Enjoy the stunning weather! Morning y'all, It's an impressively stormy day up top. The high yesterday reached 52 degrees. The low only reached 46 degrees. It was 51 degrees and drizzling at 7am observation. The mountain received .81" of rain yesterday, starting in the afternoon and continuing overnight. I went up & down Alum yesterday and found the trails were in great shape. They'll be a bit wet today, but there's no ice. I was able to hike in sneakers the whole way. The advancing rainstorm yesterday gave my hike a sense of urgency. Although I generally mosey along at a pace that could hardly be described as strenuous, it's a fun diversion to race myself up the mountain every once in a while. I never deliberately do it, but not getting drenched is as good a motivation as any. I read in the Hiking Trails to Mt. LeConte pamphlet that the record ascent is 45 minutes... which is truly humbling. If you acknowledge that a bit of vanity is involved with any 'race' and get over that, it produces a totally different kind of hike. You're more inwardly focused, noticing how your footfalls drop, how deep and efficient your breaths are, how to make your posture more ideal to avoid aches and pains. With that kind of focus, laser mode, whatever you want to call it, your brain definitely approaches a different plane. Time zips by and before you know it, you are where you began. In other news, the Mt. LeConte shelter has been closed by the Park Service until further notice. This is due to an aggressive bear who was able to get food from hikers last Saturday night and is still active on the mountain. The hope is that once the mountain ash berries and temperatures drop, he'll den up for the season. This is a prudent decision made in the best interest of the bear. The less access he has to human food, the better for his long term health. Thank you for understanding.
Morning y'all, It's another blustery day at LeConte Lodge. The high yesterday reached 47 degrees. The low dipped down to 40 degrees. It's currently 46 degrees and cloudy. The trails should be in near summer conditions. I tramped all around the mountain yesterday evening and saw ice in only the most shadowy and solitary crevices. There's plenty of rain in the forecast for the coming days and the low pressure system creeping in on us was responsible for some eerie weather up top yesterday. This is weather with character. At about 4pm, the clouds started to lose their stronghold on the sky up top. The sun still refused to burst through, but it's reflection on the ever changing congregation of clouds was enthralling. It left the entire side of camp in a gilded light. I was reading on my front porch and couldn't help but drop my book and watch for a spell. Sky on fire. I hiked out to sunset, but the most spectacular of the show had passed. C'est la vie. It was great while it lasted.
Morning y'all,
It's another misty morning atop LeConte. The high yesterday reached 41 degrees and the low was 34 degrees. It was 40 degrees and cloudy at 7am observation, although the mist appears slightly less dense than the past few days. I'd bet it burns off by this afternoon. With the recent warm temperatures, the snow up top has all but disappeared. The trails should be in good shape, at least by winter standards. I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon wandering around the mountain 'looking for wild animals', as my friend Teddy would say. I was especially eager to see if anything wandered around camp during primetime for the crepuscular creatures, like bobcats and bears. I didn't see much beyond a few boomers and birds, but it's always good practice. One always gets more than they bargained for with such a micro adventure. I never went more than a quarter of a mile beyond camp, but there is so much reality crammed into these forests. Your ears gain a heightened level of sensitivity, your mind is trained on the present moment and your woods sixth sense can feel the compelling elements of life around you as you walk. This newfound sense of acuity is it's own gift. Morning y'all,
It's another misty morning up top. The high yesterday reached 35 degrees. The low was a balmy 31 degrees. It was 34 degrees and cloudy at 7am observation. There is still some patchy snow left up top, which is slowly but steadily melting away. I would bet that it will be gone by tomorrow afternoon. The trails should be pretty manageable. There will likely be some slick spots near the top, so Microspikes would still be helpful, but not quite as necessary as a few days ago. I spent the day yesterday taking care of camp chores and reading essays. It's finally starting to feel like I've settled in up here. It's almost like getting gear together for a backpacking trip. You think of all the contingencies, what you have, what you need, what you want, all the little comforts that are particular for you and arrange accordingly. Once you have it all laid out, it really hits you - you're here, you'll be there, and it becomes 'real' in a way that it wasn't when you were preoccupied with logistics. There's all kinds of little adjustments that make a place 'your own', but I finally feel like I've crested that plateau and things are just the way I like them. Now that my cabinkeeping is in order, I can focus on more important matters - seeing, feeling & reading. See y'all on the trails! Instead, you exist in a kind of mobile Zen mode, your brain like a balloon tethered with string, accompanying but not actually part of the body below. Walking for hours and miles becomes as automatic, as unremarkable, as breathing. At the end of the day you don't think, "Hey, I did sixteen miles today," any more than you think, "Hey, I took eight thousand breaths today." It's just what you do. Bill Bryson
Morning y'all,
It's a misty morning up top. The high yesterday reached 41 degrees. The low was 28 degrees. It was 31 degrees and cloudy at 7am observation. The mountain received a lot of sunshine yesterday, but temperatures up top were still pretty cold, so we didn't have much melt. There's still about an inch of snow up here. The ice on Alum is manageable without Microspikes, save for a few tricky sections. I would imagine that it will continue to get easier and easier as we have some warm weather forecasted for the next few weeks. It's finally beginning to feel like the Great Smoky Mountains up here. Some light mist rolled in late last evening, settled in and now we are living the cloud. I was a little worried that we'd have California type weather all season after our early snowfall, but it appears that the Smokies' inimitable variety hasn't left LeConte. I am thrilled to rediscover the mountain today, as it is an entirely new place in this kind of atmosphere. There's an air of mystery with this kind of fog in winter weather, especially on a slow Monday afternoon. It really changes the character of the mountain, or at least your perception of it. Enjoy the mystery, folks. Morning y'all,
It is... you guessed it, another gorgeous, clear day up top. The high yesterday reached 34 degrees. The low was 28 degrees. It was 28 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received more abundant sunshine yesterday, so the snow total is down to about an inch. However, the trails are still pretty treacherous. The snowfall pattern was a bit unusual and temperatures have been just about as cold down in the valley as up top, so the ice on the trail is consistent throughout. I would recommend Microspikes for the majority of the trail, certainly from Alum Cave up. See y'all on the trails! |
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April 2024
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