deep drifts on the way out to myrtle.
Morning y'all, It's a peaceful, snowy morning up top. The high yesterday reached 29 degrees. The low got down to 15 degrees. It was 19 degrees and clear at 7am observation. There was abundant sunshine yesterday afternoon, resulting in about 5 inches of melt. There are 10 inches of snow left up top, but there are still some serious drifts on the trails. Gaiters, waterproof pants and shoes are a must. Please be sure to factor in just how difficult winter travel is into your plans, turn around before 3pm if you want to make it back to your car before dark. The footing is really shoddy with all the thaw and refreezing, so be careful out there. Please remember that the Lodge is CLOSED. Pride comes before the fall, know your limits and turn around instead of ending up like this. 
clingmans, thunderhead, rocky top.
This late burst of winter has visions of snow dancing in my mind. My friend Gary Wilson, videographer for the Great Smoky Mountain Association, made an incredible little clip from his most recent trip up here. Check it out here. I check the calendar in disbelief and am forced to no longer enjoy the moment, but start thinking of my plans for the coming days as I prepare to depart my winter post. Fortunately, it looks like I'll have a sufficient amount of winter weather at my next stop. I'll be working at a small cabin up in the White Mountains for a few months, checking in guests, maintaining trails & privies, and keeping the wood burning stove fired up to a balmy 40 degrees. I'm really looking forward to the challenging conditions and raw beauty of the Whites, there's really no other place I've been that can compare. Live free or die. 
white mountain majesty.
Rick Shepherd
3/8/2013 01:06:47 am
Looks like you are well dressed for the weather!....Great Pics!..... Happy Trails in the Whites!
Tony Ga
3/8/2013 01:18:58 am
Nice pics today. My favorite is Jack in The Shining.
Debi
3/8/2013 04:10:35 am
Great looking daffodils. Mine are burried under the snow somewhere. Thanks for the pics Tony, ya made my day.
Johnny
3/8/2013 01:23:18 am
"Here's Johnny!!"
Steve D
3/8/2013 01:28:50 am
JP-hate to see you go, I have enjoyed meeting you this winter and you have been most helpful to me with your excellent advice on winter hiking. Also, your beautiful words each day to compliment the great pictures you have taken! I can say after my first winter of hiking that having someone up there like yourself with your great personality has been a superb bonus for me and all the other Mountain Lovers! I hope you are able to come back and wish you the best on your jobs and travels throughout life. Love the video by Gary, and was that really Jack Nicholson from the Shining? Hahaha. that is great. Hope to make it up on Sunday, and if you are around will say goodbye.
H Clark
3/8/2013 01:32:09 am
The You Tube clip was great and reflects LeConte winter weather.
Pam Autry
3/8/2013 01:32:55 am
Have enjoyed your lyrical post the beauty of which
Timothy M
3/8/2013 01:42:23 am
Oh man we ran into Gary on the way up! I feel his pain, though not quite as much with what seemed to be 60+ pounds he had on him at the time, not including the tripods that two guys up trail were carrying for him. Those blow-downs were bad enough without gear on your back. Kudos to Gary Wilson... Awesome Video by the way!
Anthony Bernacchi
3/8/2013 01:43:41 am
You are living my dream existence! I'm going to miss your posts and hopefully be inspired enough to someday to try to live my own dreams.
Pam
3/8/2013 02:03:18 am
I have heard stories about the White Mountains. Good luck!! Are you coming back to LeConte next winter? Great pics thanks. Counting the days until I hit the Smokies!! 15!!
Dick K
3/8/2013 02:06:28 am
Looks like Gray Knob will offer much more snow play! I love the retro "don't open the camera with the film still in" look of that bottom pic!! Cheers.
Rebecca
3/8/2013 02:10:22 am
Those rocky tops above tree line in the White Mountains. Majestic and brutal at the same time. They are not forgiving.
Mark
3/8/2013 02:46:37 am
Anyone have an update on the Alum Cave trail condition to LeConte?
Richard
3/8/2013 04:01:36 am
Welcome back to New England! I have enjoyed your posts all winter. Looking forward to our first visit to the Smokies & Leconte in May. Happy trails to you!
Debi
3/8/2013 04:16:08 am
Ohhh, to drowned or freeze to death like the man in the picture is my worst fear.
Barbara C.
3/8/2013 04:26:47 am
Sure will miss you when your gone. Love your blogs all winter from our little part of the world. Stay safe and come back next year.
Pat N.
3/8/2013 05:34:16 am
Thank you, JP, for keeping an eye on LeConte and sending the beauty of your 3 month home into ours. Our best to you while at White Mountain!
ElCon
3/8/2013 06:07:47 am
Sad to see you go JP. Have a good summer, hope you're back next December.
doug y
3/8/2013 09:13:24 am
I enjoyed the video, too. I am becoming more interesting in doing some videos, and I'll admit that the prospect sort of intimidates me for some reason, probably because I haven't ever done it or simply am a raw greenhorn, as I seem to be with computers. In building my own website I'm taking my time where someone more adept at it would probably already have it up and running. The video linked here was quite interesting, especially in the first minute or so where the slowly changing depth of field was tremendous, capturing the snow scenery excellently ! I appreciate watching these clips. JP: As I've said before, somehow I've missed the opportunity of meeting you on the mountain. But I also wish you well in the White Mountains. I've only been in them a couple of times, back probably before you were born. Perhaps you will find time to send us southerners a report sometime to let us know how you're faring. It appears to be a great position. Live free or die is exactly right !! With the sun shining brightly this afternoon it stirs that inner desire to get to the trail(s), as if there isn't a time when I have that desire ! The sun simply increases the intensity of the longing to drive to a trailhead, any trailhead, and take that first step toward some distant spot high up on a mountain. The instant that I shoulder my daypack for a brief "jaunt" down a familar path my entire being transforms into quite a different creature {"The Old Man of the Mountains comes to mind !} and those first steps when I feel the sensation of the bare ground right through my trusty hiking boots shoots waves of exhilaration throughout my bones ! It is a most palpable and intense transformation sometimes sending shudders of sheer delight through me ! It is often several feet or yards into any such hike before I feel my entire body settling into the rhythm and cadence of the effort. My breathing calms and my heart rate stabilizes from the initial excitement that without fail I always enjoy at the start. This excitement is my drug, my medication, my solice. I sometimes speak of living closer to the Smokies, even right in the middle of Gatlinburg, but if I were to do that, I'd be the most spoiled man in the world, and, I'd probably never come out of those awesome old mountains except to re-supply, then disappearing again into the deep recesses of the backcountry ! Of course, I'd spend one heck of a lot of time on the trails to the lodge, meeting everyone and hiking along with different folks. Great Galloping Gertie !! Sometimes I think I'm part Cherokee ! Well, another weekend is upon us and early in the morning I'm going to give some thought about doing what I've talked about here: head south ! "Beam me up Scotty ! Drop me at any trailhead !" G'day !
Gina
3/8/2013 11:19:47 am
Let us know how your farting, LOL!!!!
Renee Ryan
3/8/2013 10:52:30 am
JP,I am really going to miss your posts when you leave Leconte Lodge! I look forward to reading them and looking at your photos too.You have a wonderful outlook on life.I love living vicariously through your eyes.Always wish I could transport myself up to the lodge for a couple of days of winter seclusion.Keep up the good work while your still there and good luck at your next destination.You will be missed.
Sherleen
3/8/2013 11:39:57 am
Enjoyed todays post , as always.Will miss your posts but we know you will delite others in the Whites. Happy Trails to you and may they all be safe.
doug y
3/8/2013 11:43:08 am
I wasn't going to return here this evening, but after watching a local tv news report a couple of hours ago I felt compelled to do so. In Letcher Co., KY, about 80 miles + or - from here in London an entourage of forty (4) college students from LaSalle Univ in Philadelphia, PA had to be rescued from atop Pine Mountain. {this mountain is among the highest in KY, but still over 2K ft lower than, say, Mt. Leconte} These students were staying in Harlan Co. (my old home county) which borders Letcher and working on a Habitat For Humanity project. I post this knowing it's not directly related to the lodge or the purpose of this blog, but thinking it has a connection with people who frequent here and may know and encounter others who get out and hike. I believe that 99.9999% of the readers here have a basic understanding of how to prepare for a hike, especially one in winter, but there are those out there that for whatever reason I worry about who do not exercise caution, who do not properly prepare, and are apparently foolish, uncaring, or whatever, and I am not the one to judge them. The fact that almost in every day's blog JP has, in capital letters, written that the lodge is still CLOSED, indicates that these 'nonthinkers' exist, but yet there apparently are those who arrive there {at the lodge} thinking or wishing that the lodge is open, and I'll bet even more arrogantly thinking that it will be opened for them ! Forgive me for I'm a wee bit up on my podium about this. If I'm out or order here, I apologize, but in writing this perhaps in some strange way it might prevent another rescue being necessary somewhere. Back in the 70's and 80's I was a member of a wilderness rescue team so I have experience with rescues. But, forty people ! Like I said, far be it from me to judge. But I will wager you a $100 against a nickel that those 40 students, perhaps after a days' work, decided to go out for a local hike, maybe on the spur of the moment. I will wager that many of them if not all, had nothing but tennis shoes on, had improper winter clothing / gear, had little food and water, if any, and most importantly started out late in the afternoon on the trail they were on, one I hiked once myself; It is well marked. So, there you have it. Forty [ 40 ] people, stranded out on a fairly high mountain in winter ! Great Galloping Gertie ! Thankfully, a local search and rescue squad / team found these wanderers around midnight last night and managed to get them all to safety where it was reported that they were given food and warm clothing, so it looks like I could be correct in my assessment. I even think that as I write this there remains one individual in that party of forty hospitalized. Again, I felt that by posting this here it might just possibly help someone else. HAve a great evening all.
Diane s
3/8/2013 12:15:40 pm
JP, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts on a daily basis. I will certainly miss them when you are gone. Good luck for the rest of the year and I hope you will be back next winter!
Donnie R
3/8/2013 02:06:53 pm
JP another winter season, well done ! Kudos to you for the time and effort you put in to your posts on a daily basis..much appreciated. Happy trails, and here's to hoping you will once again spend another winter atop of Ole Smokey ;)
Rob Gunter
3/8/2013 02:13:42 pm
I spent last night at LeConte shelter. I took Rainbow up yesterday and hiked down Bullhead today. It was quite cold at the shelter last night and this morning. The views were beautiful. Bullhead had deep snow and numerous trees across the trail but cleared further down. Having the right gear is a must. 3/8/2013 02:14:02 pm
So is it going to be Crag Camp or Gray Knob? I have crawled around those places and ended up doing the winter 4s. An incredible place! Whichever inspires you is the best. I had a tough choice but ended up exploring up the Smokies streams without a peakbagging purpose, just for the joy of clmbing streams the way Harvey Broome did.
???
3/8/2013 03:46:16 pm
I am freeze like the man in the picture but it need live free.
???
3/8/2013 07:10:32 pm
Dreams are a part of life.
Gary Wilson
3/10/2013 08:52:58 am
What an amazing journey the last week has been. Comments are closed.
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