Good Ole' Laundry Day

6/30/2014

Once again, yesterday brought a mix of weather. It was sunny in the morning and rainy in the afternoon. It was nice just long enough for the crew to believe it was time to do some laundry. In case you have been lying awake at night trying to figure out how we did laundry, I thought I would save you some sleepless nights. We do it the "old school" way. We have a sink in our crew shower room. The clothes get soaked and then scrubbed on a scrub board. We then rinse the clothes and ring them through an old ringer that attaches to the sink. The clothes are then ready to be hung out to dry. We get the fresh laundry smell that only sun dried clothes can get. Just another day living at a rustic lodge.

The high yesterday was 66º with a low of 53º. Once again, the clouds moved out enough for a good sunset and another fireworks display. We are currently under a beautiful blue sky. Not a bad way to end the month of June.

Debi

6/30/2014 03:07:34 am

Love it! Such a homey looking picture today. Speaking of fireworks I hope all of you can see the Gatlinburg display this year. I was up there last 4th of July and I think that was the day it rained the most. I think there were a total of maybe 25 that stayed with you. But we tromped up in a creek. Great fun! This year I will stay home go to our parade and watch the fireworks out my bedroom window. But will be up in August to visit.

Brian N bama

6/30/2014 03:36:53 am

Debi, I was coming up last year but cancelled because of the rain....

Debi

7/1/2014 12:24:56 am

I remember that Brian. I had to drag my husband out of the car. I told him we spent a lot of money for the night and I was going without him if he didn't go with me. Lol. He went.

tomk in SC

6/30/2014 03:21:54 am

Debi: I was there the same night. I'd still like to know more about the condition of the RF trail when it flooded, where it flooded and whether something has fundamentally changed making RF less rain passable.

Jenny B:/Allyson another matter: every now and then, there is tell of descents taking 45 minutes from lodge to trailhead. That is either done by someone running downtrail like a goat possessed or shortcuts or a combination of both. I KNOW I have heard of shortcuts but have no clue where they are nor how much they shorten the trail. Anyone know?

Jenny B. link

6/30/2014 03:45:02 am

Allyson and Chris and former old-time crew members probably know better than I do, but here's what I can tell you. There's a shortcut from behind the shelter down to the upper Alum Cave trail. It's not a trail, it's just a little draw you follow down. You can see it on the USGS map--it's not shown as having permanent water flow but it usually has some water in it. I've been down that, and it shortens things but it's not easy. The other shortcut is from just north of Peregrine Peak where the trail hits the ridgetop down to Styx Branch. I have never done that one and I suspect it's full of rhodo now but could be wrong. Things used to be more open than they are now. Someone on the crew probably knows about time records.

Woody

6/30/2014 07:18:38 am

Ah... solar clothes driers are indeed the best! Especially when one is close to the sun.

Kat

6/30/2014 11:07:06 am

Very Familiar way to do laundry. When I was a child we helped Mama do the wash. One day a week we carried water to fill up the old wringer washer out on the back porch. After the clothes had washed awhile we had to run them thru the wringer on top and sometimes if they were folded too thick they would hang up and you had to reverse the wringer, take that item out, shake it out and run it thru again [not folded as much] Reversing the wringer scarred me to death because we were always warned not to get our hands caught in the wringer. For the heavily soiled things we had to use the scrub board before washing.
I am a senior but still able to day hike to the lodge 2 or 3 times a year, so I am not that old, Wonder if anyone else out there remembers doing laundry that way

Jenny B. link

6/30/2014 11:48:09 am

We never had a dryer when I was growing up. We had these big wooden clothespin to fasten our clothes to the line. It was a cooperative thing between us and our neighbors. If it looked like it was starting to rain and they weren't around, we would take their clothes down and vice versa. The one machine we had rather than the dryer was the "mangle"--the machine where you ironed the big sheets. I remember that kind of scared me when I was very little--what if you got your hands caught in that huge iron that pressed down on those sheets! Anyone else remember those? Now I am really giving away my age but I don't give a ----.

Fred

6/30/2014 11:22:00 am

You haven't had to many solar drying days lately, have you?

Sharon

6/30/2014 02:29:35 pm

Is there typically a higher number of day hikers on the 4th of July?

Michele

6/30/2014 03:16:39 pm

My 2 oldest kids (12 & 10) and I day hiked it for the 1st time today! So proud of them! Weather didn't cooperate but I still got some great pictures and had a great experience! I would love to do it with my dad and spend the night! Would be a great Father's Day gift for 2015!!

Sharon

6/30/2014 11:52:53 pm

That is great Michele. What trail did you take?

Comments are closed.

Good Ole' Laundry Day

LeConte Lodge

Archives