Good Morning from Mt. LeConte

5/10/2011

Good morning everyone! The day is going to be another beautiful day. The high yesterday was 63 with a low of 46. One more day until I pass the blog over to Meredith for a few days. It is time to go down to the land of plenty and enjoy what the low lands have to offer. I have been up here for over 4 1/2 weeks. I think I am ready for a little R&R. Enjoy your day and happy hiking.

Tim @ Appalachia & Beyond link

5/10/2011 12:26:07 am

Allyson,

You and Chris enjoy your time in the valley and foothills. We'll keep Meredith in good company.

Tim

Rose

5/10/2011 12:32:36 am

I hope you have a wonderful time of R&R off the mt. You deserve it!! Thank you for all you do to make the LeConte overnight experience so memorable. I have one more trail and then will have done all 5. Hope to get that done, with another overnight stay, this year. Your pics are fabulous! Makes me 'homesick' for that mt!

Devin

5/10/2011 01:55:43 am

Enjoy your break Allyson! Thank you for your daily dose of LeConte and we look forward to your return!

tomk

5/10/2011 03:26:56 am

@Rose
Depending on what accounts you read, there are SIX trails to LeConte Lodge. Only THREE of them actually go to the Lodge, and only TWO of those start at their parking lot/trailhead and go all the way to the lodge. 95% of the hikers that hike ONE of those two trails actually start their hike beyond the official trailhead at a parking lot downtrail from the trailhead.
Of the three trails that do not go all the way to the lodge, one of them stops a few hundred feet short, another stops a few hundred yards short, and the sixth trail stops a few miles short intersecting a trail that goes all the way to the top just before the sixth trail terminates.
How's that for a puzzle?

Rene

5/10/2011 04:56:41 am

TomK... huh?

scott

5/10/2011 05:53:20 am

Hey TomK, how about telling us the names of the trails you are talking about. Very interesting stuff you have there

Juanita

5/10/2011 06:18:43 am

Oh my, this all sounds terribly confusing. I was hoping to simply start walking on the Trillium Gap trail in and then wind up on top of Mount LeConte. Am I going to encounter any situations where I may get lost or be disoriented?

tomk

5/10/2011 06:31:04 am

That would be too easy. In the spirit of LeConte, the mysterious mountain of the Smokies, here is one of them.
The Trillium Gap trail actually starts at the Rainbow Falls parking lot. Most people, and llamas, start the Trillium Gap trail at the Grotto Falls parking lot and hike up from there, lopping off a couple of undulating miles from the actual start at the Rainbow Falls parking lot. The Trillium Gap trail actually goes all the way to the lodge. If you were standing on the back deck of the dining hall with your back to the building, Trillium Gap hikers would come up from down right.
Want more? Someone else needs to supply the next name for a description in the previous post.

Tony Ga

5/10/2011 07:02:53 am

tomk...you make my head hurt.

KrisMoose

5/10/2011 07:04:55 am

OK, Alum Cave, Rainbow and Bullhead all come together. Not sure which one maintains their name but I am thinking it is Rainbow? And isn't it "Brushy Mountain" that terminates at Trillium Gap? I am going from my feeble memory here. I believe the Boulevard actually carries it's name all of the way to the lodge but it doesn' start at a parking lot but turns off the AT just before Ice Water Springs. How did I do?

tomk

5/10/2011 07:26:28 am

Kris, you did GREAT!
Rainbow does indeed maintain its name all the way to the top. It ends where?
The Boulevard does carry it's name all the way to the top ending at the same place the Rainbow Falls trail ends. The Boulevard starts 2.7 miles down the AT from the Newfound Gap parking lot just before the Icewater Springs shelter and not too far from Charlies Bunion, my favorite point of view in the park. Just a few hundred feet along the Boulevard is the side trail to the Jump Off, my second favorite vantage point in the park.
Brushy Mountain does NOT terminate at Trillium Gap. It continues beyond Trillium Gap creating the only four way trail intersection in the LeConte trail network. So where does the Brushy Mountain Trail end?
Your feeble memory is not nearly so feeble as you might think. Three for four and the one you missed you didn't miss by much!

Earl

5/10/2011 12:14:38 pm

I think you're all nuts! Who cares about this minutia? Just go out and hike toward your destination. And, Juanita... don't you worry dear about all this hullabahoo. You start walking on the Trillium Gap trail and you'll get where you're going. Mt LeConte!

Robbie J

5/10/2011 12:20:06 pm

Really! Let's not make hiking into rocket science or nuclear brain surgery. After all, it is simply putting one foot in front of the other.

KrisMoose

5/10/2011 01:28:53 pm

Just having some fun. The journey afterall is so much of the experience. Information and history about the National Park and LeConte is amazing and knowing that makes the trail more interesting to me. It makes you appreciate each step on the way.

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