Hey there folks, on July 3rd, 2008, my wife and I made a trip to g'burg in hopes of gettin to do a hike with Ed Wright to Leconte Lodge the following Saturday. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to hike with Ed, however, my wife and I did do the hike together.

We started out on Saturday mornin with very over cast skies. Did not watch the weather. Should have. It rained on us the first 4 hrs. Anyways, we arrived at the ACB parking lot, prior to it starting to rain. A very nice young woman took our pic for us. thank you, who ever you are, and away we went. Made it to the log bridges, it had already started raining. crossed them with lots of pictures of my beautiful wife cautiously crossing them, and up the steps to what I believe is the stairway to heaven. What a hike so far and we were hardly even started. It was foggy and rainy but the smoke off the mtns was gorgeous. We stood and watched it for a moment or two. We eventually made it to this wide open space where you can see the eye of the needle (forgive me, I have forgotten the name). It had stopped raining for a moment, so we took some pix and just enjoyed the views. Finally making it to the ACB, stopped for a few moments for a snack, and to
catch a breather. My wife loved it there. Onward to the top. We made it to the half way point, and break from the constant up hill grind. Got to the wooden steps, and the steps at the switch back. We were taking pictures all along the way and they even turned out good. Past what I learned later to be grassy slide. It was foggy when we past and I had a difficult time identifying places and landmarks. The trail appeared to be gettin narrower, much to the dismay of my wife, but I loved it. Rounding the cliffs were quite nerve racking for my wife, but she made it. Finally, the canopy of trees we were looking for. More pix of that, and some pix at the intersection where the ACB, Bullhead, and Rainbow Falls rails all meet, then onto the lodge. Rested for a bit, purchased some t-shirts. We were pretty much soaked now, so my wife wore her 2 and one of mine back down. had a bite to eat, signed the register, took more pix, sun finally beginning to show itself. Spoke to a park ranger for a bit, then back down the ACB we went. Took more pix goin back down, seen and talked to numerous people comin down as we were going up, and to many more going up as we were goin down. Some we met were goin up and beat us back down. they were flat movin. We weren't. Stopped off at the ACB for another breather goin down and another snack, then on to the car. We were pretty much tired and sore from the hike, but had a blast.

Thanx again Ed for being so patient with me on this. This is the best i got. 

Respectfully,

Frank and Sharon Umbdenstock