Rising Clouds on the Mountain

Gravity works its magic on these drops of water, as they begin a long journey from the Boulevard Trail to the Gulf of Mexico.

Hello to all of you.  I've been fortunate to meet several High on LeConte readers on the trail and at the lodge recently.  I've enjoyed visiting with you.  Thanks for coming to see us.  Allyson and Chris are enjoying some down time, so I'll try to provide you with LeConte Lodge news for the next week.

As of Monday afternoon, the weather on LeConte looks fine, but with thickening clouds.  However, there is a chance of rain in the forecast.  I did see a dark cloud rising over the mountain around lunch that made me take my drying laundry off the clothes line.  Maybe that will jinx us into good weather.  Sunday's high registered 60 degrees, while the overnight low was 44.

Chrissy made the crew homemade strawberry ice cream for Sunday dinner dessert, the crew's most anticipated meal of the week.  She used fresh strawberries from below -- carefully tended by farmers in the land of thick air -- to flavor her labor-intensive concoction.  There won't be any wasted.

I think if the election were held today Chrissy would be elected mayor of LeConte Lodge in a landslide after bribing her constituents with fine ice cream.  I've heard about old-time politicians bringing out the tobacco and libations to swing an election in the frontier days.  However, it's hard to argue with ice cream on our frontier at the top of Tennessee.  If LeConte had its own commodities and precious metal exchange (not that I expect us to join the financial centers of the world anytime soon), ice cream would be listed every bit as highly as gold, oil and platinum--all pretty tough to come by up here.

I expect we'll be plenty busy through the next week as school winds down and the youngsters trade one type of backpack for another.  Come on up and visit.  Have a fine day.  Happy trails.

A group of our guests await "The Show" -- sunset at Cliff Tops in April.