Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, clear morning up top. The high yesterday reached 39 degrees. The overnight low was 28 degrees. It was 36 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation and there is patchy snow remaining up top. The trails still have quite a bit of ice. I would recommend Microspikes if you intend to safely reach the summit. Get out and enjoy this beautiful day! My weekend was a study of contrasts that perfectly illustrates why I love living up top. On Saturday, my friends Ryne, Kyle and I ran out the Boulevard trail, turned right on the AT and then ran up the Clingman's Dome road. The trail conditions were surprisingly ok, with plenty of hard packed snow providing traction in sections of the Boulevard. There were a few icy sections along the both trails, but nothing worth putting our spikes on for. We were able to carefully pick our way from rock to rock, which helpfully slowed us down and allowed us to enjoy our pace moreso than if we'd had perfect trail conditions. Once we crossed Newfound Gap, things were expectedly quiet on the closed road. We took our time, walking the steeper sections and marvelling at the ice formations on the roadside cliffs. We reached the gigantic, empty parking lot and walked the steep, paved trail to the always larger than I expect concrete monolith at the summit. We enjoyed the views, snapped a few photos then proceeded down the road. Newfound Gap was a zoo when we got back, but things quieted down after a mile on the trail. We enjoyed the solitude of the rolling Boulevard, smiled at the summit of LeConte and had a nice, easy jog back into camp. It was a joy packing so much stimulus into one day. I've always looked at Clingman's from Cliff Tops and wanted to get there and back in one day. Grace was kind enough to make us some mountain top pizzas while we played, so we enjoyed those and went to bed at 8 or so. Yesterday, Grace and I relaxed around camp. We did a few chores, then quietly read our books and enjoyed the sunny serenity. We did not realize that the road had closed. By the time it opened, I guess most people were getting ready to enjoy the Super Bowl, so we only heard a few small groups up top. It was a day of great leisure and recovery. My deep fatigue made the peace and quiet about as joyous as our riotous explorations of the day previous. Between those two days, somewhere, lies a steady contentment.
9 Comments
Chris
2/6/2017 10:11:24 am
What's the total round trip mileage for that run/jog/walk?
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JP
2/6/2017 10:46:51 am
Chris,
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Gulf Coast Doug
2/6/2017 01:08:00 pm
My gosh. To be young again:) Nice run...
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Alan
2/6/2017 01:48:51 pm
You are officially a beast! What a workout - and at altitude. Makes the 5 miles I ran that day at around 900' seem wimpy!!
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Albert B.
2/7/2017 08:53:02 am
The other day I posted a question about the pile of rocks by the trail up at the peak of Mt. LeConte. I appreciate the replies about that. But it seems to me that making that pile of rocks in reality is defacing the Park. They say not to take any souvenirs out of the Park, not to throw down trash, not to pick wildflowers, and so forth, but isn't that pile of rocks representative of defacing the ground, etc. Doesn't make any sense. I'll be hiking back up there soon and might remove some of those rocks.
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Sgt. Hulka
2/7/2017 10:04:26 am
Lighten up Albert B.
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Albert B.
2/7/2017 10:43:24 am
Sure Gomer.
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Franklin
2/7/2017 12:41:10 pm
Albert I applaud your leave no trace philosophy. How about grabbing some discarded drink containers, food wrappers, toilet paper and cigarette butts while you're at it. I think you would make a bigger impact doing that. Just saying....
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Paul Sanders
2/7/2017 04:47:44 pm
32 miles, eh, along rocky, root-infested mountain tralsl. Ok..........I couldn't do that if I was 21 and being chased by a bear. After a few miles, I would just tell the bear, ok, here I am, do whatever with me. I applaud you, JP. An amazing feat. I get tired when I DRIVE 32 miles!
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