Dispatches From the Guest Register

I hope everyone's weekend is off to a fine start.  We've been plenty busy with folks coming up to see us.  However, the weather hasn't been much to shout about today unless you're passionate about gray.  When I woke up at 4:50 a.m. the skies were clear, and I could see from Knoxville to Newport.  The stars felt so close I feel like we should have charged them a lodging fee.  However, that quickly changed and we've been in a thick cloud the rest of the day.  Our visibility right now is about 100 feet.

Friday's high reached 61 for the second day in a row.  The official low was 36, but that was actually recorded immediately after the weather observation on Friday morning.  Saturday morning's low was about 47 and the temperature as of early afternoon has only climbed a couple of degrees.  I expect the next few days to be colder.

In today's High on LeConte update I'd like to provide a sampling from the guest register in the LeConte Lodge office.  I know that some of our readers can't physically hike the mountain anymore for a variety of reasons, so I especially wanted to bring the comments of some current hikers direct to you. 

Also, I know many of you have spent more time on the phone than you would have liked this week for LeConte Lodge reservations.  The traffic on the line has slowed down some at the office, and Christi (a fine person and our longtime reservation specialist) has earned a weekend without answering the phone.  We appreciate your passion for the place and hope you'll get a chance to stay with us in 2013.  I hope these comments remind you of why you love LeConte in the first place.

As most of you know, the guest registry isn't strictly for overnight guests.  If you day hike LeConte, you've earned the right to sign in.  The majority of the comments fall into the categories of "amazing, great, loved it, awesome, gorgeous, hard, fantastic, long or worth the climb."  We even got an "awesome" in Hebrew--"sababa" in October.  I hope that's right, as my Hebrew is a little rusty.

However, other comments are a little more colorful.  I'm going to pass along a few of those to give you a feel for what some of our visitors have been thinking when arriving at the lodge.  Even though most people leave their names and the register is public, I'll just be listing the comments.  All of these comments were written since Aug. 31.

"I want to move here."
"Add to the bucket list.  Beautiful day."
"10-year engagement anniversary."
"Honored to be here."
"Perfect day."
"Another day in paradise."
"First trip after cancer."
"Amazing trip, view and crew."
"Bloody wet."
"We are Alum alums."
"Such a jewel up on the mountain."
"Incredible plant life."
"First trip as a Tennessean."
"Got engaged last night."
"... asked me to marry him ... I said yes."
"Great people, great staff."
"I don't want to leave."
"I almost died--loved it."
"Waded up the trail."
"Love the llamas."
"Very, very hungry."
"Steeper than it was at 18."
"In memory of my mom."
"The most beautiful blue sky day we have ever seen."
"Almost like home."

Welcome home to LeConte Lodge.  Come on up and see us (just make sure you pack appropriately for nasty weather this weekend).  Happy trails.