Morning y'all,
It's a blustery, rainy morning up top. The high yesterday reached 46 degrees. The overnight low was 44 degrees. It was 45 degrees and raining lightly at 7am observation. The mountain received .37" of rain and no new snow. There is no snow on the ground. There is also very little ice remaining. The trails are sure to be wet, so please prepare for some soggy conditions. Get out and enjoy this classic Smokies day!
I went for an incredible set of hikes down Alum and up the Boulevard trail yesterday. I headed down Alum at 11sh to meet my Little 500 teammate Chris at the trailhead. The clouds were phenomenal - it's always a treat to leave the lodge all socked in and gain varied degrees of visibility as you quickly lose elevation. I literally ran into Chris just past the Alum Cave Creek bridge, then we headed up 441. We hiked up towards the Boulevard junction, enjoying the warm temperatures (t-shirt and shorts weather 3 days before Christmas!)... We noticed a few wild boar traps, talked about outdoors writing, said hey to a few day hikers, and then headed down Boulevard. We didn't see a soul until we were near Myrtle Point. The Boulevard always feels like another world.