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Bill Keeton's third trip to the Lodge on the Boulevard Trail 5/12/05

Hi Ed; 5/12/05 Sorry I missed you yesterday.  Coming up on #1300 is awesome! I had a great walk today.  This was my third trip to the Lodge on the Boulevard Trail.  I left my truck at the Newfound Gap parking lot at 9:40 am .  I made it to the intersection of the Boulevard and Appalachian Trails in less than two hours.  I was really happy with my time.  The AT to that point seemed more rocky than before.  The weather was perfect.  There was some haze but not too much to miss views of the Newfound gap road and Clingmans Dome. This is a great time of the year to hike this trail.  It is a little hard to tell in this picture but you can see how much greener the foliage is in the lower altitudes.  I made it to the switch back in about two hours.  It is a welcome treat to get to go downhill from there.  In the back of my mind I knew I still had a long climb coming. I had the pleasure of meeting Chuck on the trail. He was walking the trail in a sea of fringed phacelia flowers. He said that he is from Macon , GA. He had spent the night at he lodge last night and was stopping to spend the night at the Ice water Springs shelter tonight before continuing his trip back to Macon .  It certainly is an inspiration to meet someone like Chuck.  He said his pace is slow but the fact that he is still hiking makes me want to do better and encourage others to do the same.  Thanks Chuck!  I told him about your web site.  I think you have a new reader.  Thanks for this web site so this information can be shared. Still enjoying the views and the walk it wasn’t long before I came up on the steep part of the trail.  When I got to the wash out I knew it wasn’t far to the top from there.  Still feeling good I continued on to the lodge.  At the lodge there were several people checking in.  I think they must have come in by way of Alum Trail.  I met two day hikers from Knoxville that were ahead of me on the Boulevard trail on the way up.  I filled my water bottle while visiting with them.  I noticed that the dining hall is updated with a sign to show the date over the door.  After about a twenty minute break at the lodge I started back down.  This is the longest hike I have done in a day so by the time I got back to the AT trail intersection I was ready to get the truck.  It was a relatively uneventful walk down but the views were still great.  I heard some thunder and saw some dark clouds over the mountain behind me on the way down.  Hope Chuck stayed dry at the shelter.  All in all it was another great day hiking.

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