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Bill Bryant and son's April 18, 2005 hike to Mt. LeConte

Hi Ed, I hope you are feeling better. This is a log of me and my Dad's April 18th hike to LeConte. he is logged with my other brother back in Oct 2004. I am the youngest of the bunch and like to hike also. We hike somewhere now every few months, my dad and brother more than me. (some of us have to work) Ha!! well, I have been intrigued by Mt. LeConte for sometime so we planned the trip. I drove from Salisbury, Md. on the eastern shore to my dad's in northern NC. Sunday the 17th we headed toward the Smokies. after over 700 miles of 2 day driving all I wanted was good sleep. The weather looked best on Mon the 18th so we decided on that. around 7am we were up. I cant remember if we ate the hotels free breakfast or the 2 day old McMuffins from Mickey' D's.. I just know night before was late night at Long John silvers and stomachs were a bit nauseated.. 8:20am we started off at Alum Cave trail. beautiful start. temp about 38 and no breeze.  As we continued the climb we came across few people. We didn't  have a Tillroe Smith with us so we were watchful. almost like looking for a bear!! But there he was. and he looked good!! We enjoyed our chat with Tillroe for about 20min. Shortly after leaving Tillroe, we came across a very nice fellow by the name of Wayne Collins. This was a long hike to top as we were in no hurry and chatted a bit with all passer byes... we reached Alum Cave around 1130.. had our lunch.  an awesome place. Almost unnerving to sit under that outcropping for too long. So we started to top. We kept seeing a helicopter all morn going back and forth. all we could think of was must be the supply copter. Now we are on a straightway toward Myrtle Point but turned down steps to check out the lodge. There was a supply drop that day. We went outside of the lodge and the wind blew the hat off a young person. I played the house Guitar a little and then a guy came to change the strings. Think he said they had not been changed in years. We checked out the dinning hall too see what was on menu for guests that night and then proceeded to cliff top.. wonderful views.  Temp on gauge at lodge read 60.. perfect weather!! on to Myrtle Point where we did see some patches of snow left from week before. Left my rock on high point rock pile and down we went. Was now 3:35 and we arrived back at Alum Parking lot at about 6:30pm.. Like I said, we were not breaking records that day. Just had a great hike with my Dad and enjoyed the people and of course the beautiful Smokies.. as I write this LeConte has about 5 inches snow on the ground. April 24th 2005... what a difference a week makes... Thanks and God Bless everyone.

Return to... Guest Hikes 2005.

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