It's Raining, It's Pouring, and My Old Man Is Snoring! ( actually, he is currently making biscuits)7/6/2013
Well, folks, Chris and I are bit water logged, but we paddled up the mountain and made it here around noon. I say we are water logged, but no where near as much as the cabins. I totaled the rain fall from the 3rd through yesterday. We have seen over 5.5" of rain and it is still coming down hard. I heard stories of Rainbow Falls trail being impassable. I am sure that is still the case. If you decide to brave the weather, do not use Rainbow Falls trail. I can not stress how important it is to have some good rain gear in weather like this. It is cooler up top, so when you arrive at the lodge and you are soaked, you are going to get a chill quickly. Rain gear and a dry change of clothing is a must in weather like this. If you decide to hike up today, please be safe and I will have some coffee and hot chocolate waiting for you.
Decided to postpone (I have a reservation for staying overnight at the lodge). Just not skilled enough to handle the rain and wanted so badly to take the good camera out, take my time going up and taking a billion photos. Not going to happen in this weather. Enjoy those yummy biscuits! :-)
Mary Anne
7/6/2013 12:13:33 am
This morning, in Cosby, we are seeing sun and a double rainbow. The mountains by me (Old Black and Guyot, Greenbrier Lead) have dark clouds behind them though. And, there were tons of paddlers (kayaks, whitewater canoes, inflatable kayaks-my husband in a red one) on the Little Pigeon in Greenbrier yesterday. I hiked Gabes Mt to Henwallow Falls yesterday and the tornado damage was phenomenal, figuratively and literally!! Trees uprooted and twisted off in the middle. Hope there are rainbows in your future up at LeConte.
Debi
7/6/2013 12:31:10 am
From my Alum trail head to my home in Michigan exactly 12 hours with a 15 min lunch stop and 4 fill ups. Made it down July 5th in 2.5 hours a record for us. Made it up July 4th for the night in about 3 hours 15 min. with our Mary Poppins umbreallas. John told us about he used one and I would highly recommend it. I bought a $4.00 one at Dollar General. It worked good for me, but for my 16 year old son who had to open it up 15 million times, twirl it around and everything else, it kind of bit the dust by the time we were done. But did a great job. On the way down we didn't need them but in only one spot by the Bluffs where the run off was coming down in full force. We got up there and all of our stuff dried real nice hanging it up in the cabin. Even my water proof purple Ahnu boots where a little wet inside. Not too bad. Rain was so bad we just trumped up and it was more like a river than a trail. Soggy, soaked wet etc...... I think we counted 21 people at dinner time. Ranger Mark gave a nice presentation at 4pm about Bears, Bats, and Boars, which was very interesting as I watched Tom (from the blog) dose off. Met Sonya and husband and very cute 7 year old grandson and had dinner with them. What a trooper that little boy was. Hiked up Alum in his light up rubber boots. Amazing for such a little guy. At this point in my 7 year old nieces, I would maybe take one but would probably end up carrying her. So, last night about midnight, a half hour after we got home, my husband looks in the mirror and says up a trail one day, about 3 hours of sleep, and then down again in 2 something hours, a 12 hour ride home, yep, this is healthy for me!! A bit of sarcasim. Gotta love him!! He puts up with a lot of my crazy adventures. But then again, I have put up with a lot of his. So pay backs are heck! Gina, so sorry I missed you woman! You wanting to come over the mountain just to send me off meant soooo much to me. I told my husband its driving her as nuts as it is me. Beautiful day here in Michigan, got to see some fireworks shooting off on the way home. Didn't see any down there forsure. A little soaked in. All in all, good warm place to dry our stuff, good people, good food, yeah, it was worth it. :)
Mary F
7/6/2013 01:39:51 am
Debi, in previous posts you mentioned garbage bags and duct tape?? Did you use these and if so how?? I am hiking up this coming Friday and of course I am hoping for nice weather but would like to be prepared for anything, lol. Sorry it rained on your parade, but like most of us, you seem to have made the best of it :-)
Debi
7/6/2013 02:21:27 am
Well my son Tejay put duct tape over his non water proof tennis shoes. But it got wet by the stairs and fell off. John had told us with the gallon zip lock bags put his feet in first if his shoes hadn't dried and duct tape them to his legs. We did used a lot of zip lock bags to put our clothes in to stay dry. Hint: Well no brainer hint I should say. Cram clohes in and sit on them and smush out the air and zip up. You can cram a lot of clothes in one that way and dry socks. I had cheap rain coat ponchos and we ended up taking them off by the stairs because they trapped so much heat in. Out of all, I'd go buy a umbrella. It was a life saver. Just hang on to it tight when the wind gets ya in spots so you don't pull a Mary Poppins. Step in time, step in time. I sang everytime I opened it.
Gina
7/6/2013 01:46:04 am
Hate we missed each other to! I'm glad you made the most of your trip regardless of the weather, I would have done the same thing with the money invested. I like Mary am curious about the duct tape and bags
Brian N bama
7/6/2013 02:15:52 am
Debi, so glad y'all made it home safely. All I have thought about is the fact that since I spent the 4th in the rain anyway, I should have went ahead and made the trip up top. We sat there and just looked at our nice raingear not being put to use. : (
Debi
7/6/2013 02:27:52 am
Brian, I'm sure you would've went if you had a spot to spend the night at the lodge. I had money already invested and planned my vacation around this night. Did I mention I tried to sell my spot in the parking lot. lol
tomk in SC
7/6/2013 03:33:10 am
In the thirty or so times I have hiked to LeConte, I have never been in as much rain and fog as on the 4th. Still, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I hiked up in microfiber shirt and shorts and did not wear my raingear. I was comfortable all the way up and more comfortable once I changed into something dry. I did get caught dozing during the ranger talk! The office was well heated and the rangers voice and I was tired and I got busted dozing. All good. I only had a few moments to talk to Debi, but it is still good to attach a personality to the blog. Alum was fine, but the wet rocks slowed down my downclimb out of an abundance of caution.
Debi
7/6/2013 03:27:47 pm
Just messing with you Tom. I was in bed by 8:30. I was whipped!! Your little buddy from Paris seemed like such a awesome kid. Had to laugh he asked for a cookie for breakfast and one of the kids working up there says, cookies for breakfast, that's crazy. What a sweet guy and I wish I caught his name come back as your Paris boy was going out and gave him a cookie. That's how the people are up there. Such a little guesture goes a long ways.
TOm Poe
7/6/2013 12:43:44 am
Betting Gatlinburg tourism takes a real hit due to this crappy NON SUMMER we are having this year. I own a cabin in Gatlinburg and I dread to see the July cancellations.
JT mobile al
7/6/2013 03:56:59 am
Hello Tom , Let me know about a cancellation I maybe interested in staying a week . thanks
Cincy Mark
7/6/2013 02:29:49 am
Last July 13, it was a warm, humid partly sunny day in Gatlinburg. With scattered rain in the forecast, we headed up Bullhead Trail. About at the rock platform, it began to rain. No problem, we put on the rain gear and continued. By the time we made it to the Lodge, it was really coming down, breezy and rather cool. Three hours earlier, if you told me I would be drinking hot coffee to warm up on top I would have thought you are crazy.
Mary F
7/6/2013 02:46:22 am
Thanks Debi, last year one of my reservations was the record breaker of June 30, I will take the rain over that heat any day. Monsoon rains on the other hand, make the trails dicey. Glad to have Allyson back so we can be informed.
Jackie
7/6/2013 03:34:13 am
12 in our group, plan to hike up Sunday for the night. Planning to take Trillium up and Bullhead down. Are considering canceling. However hoping for any feedback about trail conditions. Grotto falls completely flooded at this point? We know Alum Cave is shorter, but concerns about the stone steps and skinny trails towards the bluff. Any feedback on weather and trail conditions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, and happy hiking!
Larry O
7/6/2013 05:01:48 am
Jackie, I hiked the Trillium Gap with the llamas yesterday. (5th) The creeks were pretty full but strategically placed rocks made it possible to cross without getting wet. Grotto Falls had the largest flow of water I have seen but no problem getting by. On the way up the trail was wet but not terribly muddy, but on the way down the fresh rain and llama tracks made for a muddy mushy trail, considering the weather conditions it was not bad. I'm not sure about the Bullhead but having hiked it several times I can't think of any place that would be a problem.
Jackie
7/6/2013 06:15:47 am
Thank you so much, Larry O! Feel much better hearing your feedback and knowing conditions were goo enough for the llamas to make it. If anyone has any other feedback about the conditions on Bullhead, that'd be wonderful. Sounds like that trail may be a good option to avoid forging creeks. Thanks again! 7/6/2013 08:17:15 am
After seeing so many rain posts from this spring/summer, we feel extra blessed that we hiked up this year on such a lovely, sunny, perfect day! Although... truth be told, we've had just as much fun hiking up in the rain, too!
jean d
7/6/2013 10:32:15 am
Christine, just went to your website and am fascinated by your pictures on roan Mtn and the areas along the TN/NC border and the pics of other great areas of the Nat'l park (ie: elkmont etc) 7/6/2013 11:28:30 am
Hi Jean! Thank you so much! Our website is just a blog that my husband and I do for fun. We try (and I stress 'try') to post a new hike each week. Sometimes weather or other obligations keep us from being able to hike every week, but we try to get out as much as we can.
Cammy
7/6/2013 03:22:49 pm
What a lot of rain! Feeling blessed by our great evening at Leconte on Tuesday, 7/2! Hiked at least 7 of 8 miles down Boulevard/AT in pouring rain on Wednesday! Muddy, wet, slippery but so very worth it! Comments are closed.
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