Heavy rains!

7/25/2011

Last night it would have been appropriate to take a kayak down the mountain. We had a torrential downpour that left us with over 3" of rain for the day. There was water running everywhere! Some of the creek crossings were rather difficult to navigate last night, but hopefully by now the water has dropped much lower.

It was slightly cooler yesterday, reaching only 68. As of now, it seems it will stay about that today with the help of the heavy cloud cover. I heard rain chances all day and into tomorrow. Be careful and prepared when getting out today. I hope everyone has a wonderful start to their week. We had a great weekend here on the mountain!

Rushing water coming down the front stairs toward the dining room around sunset.

Paul B

7/25/2011 05:34:10 am

We are heading up in about a month and the potential of heavy rain does cause concern. We are debating between Alum and Trillium. Alum I believe is rockier and more exposured, but Trillium has some steeper parts, particularly the last couple of miles. Thoughts? The two trailheads are very far apart so is doing one up and the other down unrealistic?

tomk

7/25/2011 05:48:33 am

Paul,
We have hiked LeConte at least once/yr since 1989 and have been rained on on every trail. Our group recalls Trillium Gap as a river in the rain. If it gets steeper, it's not MUCH steeper as that is the llama trail selected for its comparatively constant slope.
We rotate trails and make the decision the night before based on weather.
If the weather was going to be wet but not lightning ish, I'd do Alum Cave. Otherwise Rainbow Falls.
This year we will do Boulevard if the weather is perfect, Brushy Mountain if not so good.
Trillium can be paired with Bullhead or Rainbow, but you'll have a couple of miles of hiking at the bottom to connect the lots. Bullhead and Rainbow are perfect pairs.
Boulevard and Alum splits nicely as well if you can drop a car at the down lot.

Linda Murphy

7/25/2011 12:29:54 pm

You can also get a shuttle to take you from the parking lot of the trail you will be taking down, to the parking lot of the trail you want to go up. We did that when we took Alum Cave up & Rainbow down.

Marilyn

7/26/2011 12:56:44 am

Linda, can you tell me what that cost you? I am considering that in Sept if my brother comes with me. He's never been on any of the trails and I'd like to introduce him to at least 2 of them. I normally do Alum up and down since I've done the others. What is the name of the place you called? I thought I saw something once about "Walk in the Park" offering that service. Appreciate your input. Thanks

Paul B

7/26/2011 01:25:11 am

Thanks for the comments. The shuttle would be great if you have that info. This is my 5th time up and Trillium is the one I have not done so selfishly I want to do this one. I convinced the others last year that Rainbow/Bullhead was easier than Alum so they are reluctant to believe me that we should do Trillium over Alum this time.

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Heavy rains!

LeConte Lodge

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