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Mount LeConte via Alum Cave Trail by Connie Houk February 19, 2005

Not wanting to get up real, real early Liz and I decided to meet at Burger King at 7:30. Alden could not go today, and the trails that Liz needs for her 900 miler was inaccessible due to road closures so we decided to hike to LeConte. I had not hiked in two months due to other obligations and also the weather. Liz had hiked only once during this time, so we planned on going slow. Right before we came to the Sugarland Visitor Center we spotted a flock of turkeys on the left side of the road. Right past the Center we saw another one, and then about a mile further was another flock. This would be the only wildlife we saw today. We arrived at Alum Cave parking lot to see several cars all ready there. We gathered our belongings and after deciding what layers to wear we were on the trail at 8:15. It felt great just being in the woods! I felt like I had been in hibernation! The water in Styx Branch was clear as a looking glass. There were just very small patches of snow on the forest floor and none on the trail at the beginning of the hike. At 9:00 we reached Arch Rock and up to this point we had not seen any hikers. It wouldn’t be long though before they would start passing us. There was no ice up to this point. At 9:30 we were at Inspiration Point where we shaded a layer of clothing. I kept just one long sleeve shirt on the rest of the hike until on the way back down just before the new steps (old man’s stump) I put another shirt on when we stopped to eat. Liz took her turtleneck off and wore only one fleece the rest of the hike. The sky was a brilliant blue. We took a picture of the Dolly Parton Peaks and the view of Alum Cave from the bottom of the rock at Inspiration Point. We could see the huge icicles hanging from the rocks. I took a picture of Liz standing on the steps before reaching Alum Cave. These steps are much easier compared to the Arch Rock steps. The new steps and hand rail makes the trail much easier at the Cave, and this is where we met Ron Valentine. We didn’t think to see what time it was but we reached Gracie’s Pulpit at 10:20 so it was still early and he was already coming back down! He said the ice was bad closer to the top and we would know where when we got there. He was right; there was no mistaking when it got bad. We talked about the 900 miler and he said he might hike with us when we do the Lakeshore Trail. I’m sure he knows a lot about the park and would have some interesting stories to tell. He said to tell you Hi, Ed. After chatting for a few minutes, we headed on up the trail. This is when other hikers starting passing us. Right before Gracie’s Pulpit, we met a man with three or four children. He said they had hiked this trail several times but with the ice he wasn’t going to risk going to the top with the children. He was a very wise father. A youth group from Sevierville had spend the night at the lodge and the first two we met, Duncan from Sevier County High School and the other one whom I didn’t get his name, stopped to talked a few minutes. As we were standing there some more of the group was coming down the trail and one of the young lady’s slipped and did a complete roll over on the trail, but thankfully she wasn’t hurt. This was a nice group of young people. Liz starting having some leg cramps so we took our time, stopping to take pictures of the icicles hanging from the rocks and enjoying the views. She had given blood last week and since she had done the same identical episode once before we wondered if the blood giving played a factor in her leg cramps. We had discussed the trail conditions and decided we would share my pair of yak treks that my son had gotten me for Christmas and then if the going were still difficult we would decide then whether to turn back. The two young guys from the youth group had told us the ice gets really bad above the upper steps. We stopped and I put one yak trek on my right boot and Liz put the other one on her right boot. They worked great! There were stretches of trail that didn’t have anything on it. The worst areas were the rocks where the cables are and even there in some places there were rocks here and there to step on. We didn’t have any trouble even though there were some close calls. Liz slipped once but it wasn’t a hard fall. She just missed a rock and stepped on the ice instead. We were amazed at the hikers that just had tennis shoes on and were passing us up! I don’t know if we try to be “too careful” or what, and we even thought about turning around a couple of times but decided if it could be done in tennis shoes surely we could make it with one yak trek each. So on we went, slowly but surely. We could see the clouds starting to roll in for the rain that was in the forecast for the evening. We hoped to be off the trail by this time. We had not stopped for a snack and were really looking forward to eating our lunch while sitting in the rockers on the deck of the office. This was not to happen. When we reached the trailhead Liz noticed my yak trek had come off, and believe me, I did not want to go off this mountain without it. We knew it couldn’t be far, so we decided to walk to the steps of the lodge, take pictures and then head back down. The rest of the youth group was coming up the steps and I asked them if they would look for it. They said if they found it they would place it on the left side of the trail. I thanked them. The view from the lodge was awesome. We took pictures, got a snack and headed back out the packed snow covered trail. Oh well, I told Liz it was a good thing because we probably would have rocked to long in the rockers. Just a short distance out Alum Cave Trail there laid my yak trek on the left side of the trail just where they said they would put it. Thank you again! We could have went back to the lodge but thought we would start back down and have lunch somewhere on the trail. It was 1:00. As we were coming around the rocks underneath Cliff Tops the overnighters starting passing us. I wondered if they all would be staying in the shelter. Finally, I asked someone and they said there was a group staying in the maintenance cabin. Whew, I was beginning to think the shelter was going to be really crowded tonight! We made it back over the icy spots and stopped just before the new steps to take our treks off and decided just to have lunch here. We were pretty hungry by this time. This is when I put my other shirt on and it stayed on the rest of the hike. Earlier we spoke to a hiker that had stopped to wait on his hiking partner, and while we were eating the partner came along not seeming to be in any hurry. I told him he had someone waiting on him and he just laughed saying he could wait, that it would be good for him. I liked his way of thinking. Its good to hike your own hike. There were a lot of people out enjoying the trail today. A young boy came up the trail, his parents close behind, carrying a large icicle. I said, “You got you a big sword there, don’t you?” He just grinned and kept going. There were several people at the cave and hikers were still passing us going up the mountain. Just before we reached Little and Big Duck Hawk Ridges Liz saw the Alum Cave parking lot. We stopped to take a picture since this was the first time we had spotted it. There were cars parked along side the road. At Inspiration Point we thought we could hear the Peregrine Falcons so we stopped for a few minutes to listen. We couldn’t decide if it was the Falcons or noise from the children at Alum Cave. We were at the car; our scandals on, packs loaded, car started and my watch said 5:00. The thermos of coffee that Liz shared with me on the ride home sure was good. We saw no wildlife today on the trail but lots of hikers. I would not recommend hiking this trail without crampons, but with crampons the views are worth it! It will probably be June when we do this hike again and then we will be spending the night at the lodge. I can’t wait! It was another great day for a hike.

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