March 10, 2017

     Greetings fellow hiking enthusiasts and our beloved backcountry blog followers.  Welcome to this – the 2017 season – and next chapter in the long and rich history of wilderness lodging atop Tennessee's famous Mt. LeConte.  Crew #93 and our team of valued volunteers are assembling, already hard at work preparing everyone's favorite lodge for Opening Day. Excitement and anticipation for our annual resupply airlift is at a collective high.  Please assist us in spirit by willing the skies to send us pristine weather conditions for smooth and timely flying.

     John Northrup here, humbled to be leading this team that is committed to providing you with a unique and positive backcountry lodging experience.  It is a pleasure to serve as your daily connection to life on Mt. LeConte, providing you with pertinent trail and weather information, interesting crew tidbits, and pictorial highlights of a mountain that has captured the hearts of many.  After four rewarding years at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, while still lending a hand in lodge operations, I am grateful to call LeConte Lodge home once again.  Bonnie and I are excited to reconnect with so many of you since we last interacted as crew from 2010 to 2012, for it is the shared experience between guests and crew, enjoying the great outdoors together, that helps make the LeConte experience so special.  The beauty and mystique of the mountain will continue to speak for itself.
     To those of you returning to the mountain in the coming year, we look forward to welcoming you once again with hot chocolate, cozy rocking chairs, and warm smiles at the ready.  To the newcomers eager to join us for the first time, we are honored to serve as the mechanism that brings you closer to nature in a safe and comfortable fashion.  On behalf of the crew, our dedicated office staff, the hard-working wranglers, the finest llamas around, and the Stokely, Line, and Northrup families, we are grateful for the opportunity to serve you once again from this magical mountain paradise.  Thank you for allowing us to contribute to your Smokies experience.  May your boot steps be true, your packs light, and your journeys memorable as you travel to and from the mountain this year.

                       Sincerely Yours in Lodging,
                         John & Bonnie Northrup