Hike 1301 6/14/06 I planned this trip to combine hiking Mt. LeConte once or twice and to spend a week with our daughter, Peggy Haythorn and her family in Chapel Hill NC. Summer schedules are pretty tight for everyone. I still missed my granddaughter Laura because she was away visiting a friend in Portland, Oregon. Mike and some of his friends were there for the weekend along with Peggy and her husband Mark. I called Tillroe Smith to let him know that I was planning to hike on the 14th and perhaps the 15th. He wanted me to stay in his camper at Cherokee and drove up to meet me. He asked that I wait until after 3 p.m. to arrive before resorting to a motel. I did the usual 2 day drive, spending the first night in Walterboro, SC. Walterboro's claim to fame are a survivor contestant Nurse Cirie Fields and the Slave Museum. I wasn't able to visit either but Shoney's and the Ramada Inn were nice. I was driving alone so I got to listen to the CD that singer/songwriter Jimmy Davis from Memphis sent to me. It had pictures of the LeConte Lodge area by moonlight on the front and back covers. His wife, Lynda, took the pictures. I enjoyed the music and made a point to play it at least once per day while I was driving. Thanks Jimmy and Lynda. It was pleasant music and I learned to enjoy it with repeated listening. My hearing is so poor that I would drive folks into doing weird stuff if I played my music that loud around people with normal hearing. 

I stopped at the fruit stand at exit 53 on I 26, near Hendersonville, NC and got a bag of apples and a peck of peaches. I then went to the almost Super Wal*Mart near Waynesville and picked up a few item to eat at Tillroe's and on the hikes. I then pigged out at the nearby Shoney's for lunch. In order to kill time and not get to Tillroe's camper too soon, I took the Blue Ridge Parkway and snapped lots of pictures of the flame azaleas and mountain laurel growing in profusion along the sides of the parkway. The bright orange colored ones were the prettiest so I took lots of pictures of them. The yellow flame azaleas were nice but lacked the sparkle of the orange colored ones. There was lots of mountain laurel blooming in shades from white to dark pink.

As I drove along through the six tunnels, I continued to admire the flowers in the sections where there were no tunnels. I reached the pull off that had a view of Big Stony Campground and Tillroe's camper. I could see by the presence of his vehicle that I did not need to tarry any longer. I did look over a volunteer peach tree and hoped that the next time that I came by that the peaches would be ripe. When I arrived, Tillroe was busy cutting the grass. He continued his lawn work while I unloaded my bags and baggage. I even walked around and took a picture of the red day lilies that he and Joann were growing. He insisted that we eat his food rather than go out so I ate some of the clam chowder that I had bought and I also ate some of his delicious food that Joann had sent. The meal was capped off with a piece of Joann's carrot cake. Even though she forgot the raisins it was delicious. After we finished eating, it came a pretty hard rain. Rain on a tin roof really sounds great. I hoped that it would rain itself out and not rain on our parade tomorrow. Some fog formed as the moon lit the mountains up for a beautiful picture.  We decided to get up early enough to be at Hardees at 6:00 a.m. although the past two times that we showed up at that hour, their clock was wrong and they didn't open until ten or fifteen minutes late. Tillroe does not have an alarm clock at his camper but we both woke up in time to go for breakfast. Two young Native American guys were tending the store. We rattled the door, after my watch showed 6:00 a.m., and they responded by unlocking the doors and serving us.

We would have been at the trailhead on time if the park service was not repaving the road toward Newfound Gap. They had a flagman and we had to wait our turn to traverse the one lane area. Tillroe slowed down near Newfound Gap for me to take a picture of the cloud shrouded sunrise. We did arrive at the trailhead a few minutes late.

We saw a blooming Galax plant below the bluff. We were also overtaken by a very nice family from about 80 miles north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Debbie and Craig Stauffer with their children. The teenage son had a Tee Shirt that proclaimed "Be whut you is. Don't be whut you ain't. Cause if you ain't whut you is. You is whut you ain't." We took a short rest stop to let that quote soak in before hiking on. Although it was cloudy, the Dwarf Carolina Rhododendrons added a nice touch to the view of Little Duck Hawk Ridge from the trail above. A short time later we met the unheralded champion of hikes to LeConte, Ron Valentine. Ron was returning from his early morning hike to the lodge. It is always great meeting him on the trail and introducing him to others. We took a snack break at Gracie's Pulpit. We were overtaken there by Craig from Birmingham, AL . He and Tillroe had much to talk about as he hiked to the lodge with us. I caught a picture of John and Cindy on the Log steps. A short time later we met Mary and Susan from Chapel Hill, NC they had spent the night at the lodge. Above the upper steps we met a couple with their daughter descending from an overnight at the lodge. Shortly thereafter we met three backpackers , Berns Massey, son Christian and daughter Rachel who had spent the night in the LeConte Shelter. Pop and Mom Massey are from Conway, SC. Their son Christian is living in Stamford, CT and daughter Rachel is living in Spartanburg, SC. We were overtaken by two University of Tennessee students before reaching Trout Branch. After I got home and studied the picture of these two guys, I convinced myself that the guy in the cap is Appalachian Trail Hiker Adam Richards from Greeneville, TN. He hiked under the trail name of PJ. A nice guy. I am trying to confirm my suspicions. I contacted Adam Richards and he said that he had never hiked Mt. LeConte but wanted to hike with me the next time that I made the journey. I did hear from an optometrist in Knoxville, TN that recognized the two guys as Charlie Mitchell in the hat and Rob Brandt. They are seniors at Bearden High school students and friends of his daughter Sara.

The views toward Clingmans Dome were not very good because of the clouds. The Catawba Rhododendrons were putting on a show and I snapped lots of pictures of them. Here are four of them: 1 and 2 and 3 and a 4. Mountain Myrtle was still in bloom beneath Cliff Top. We climbed Betty Jane Barnett's Stairway to Heaven I got word from her brother Bill that she slipped and fell in a McDonalds and broke a femur! We all wish her a speedy recovery. Her comment to me was that she would hike Mt. LeConte again. Before reaching Margaret's Place we were overtaken and passed by a group of mostly young guys from Burlington, KY. I told the oldest guy that the second oldest guy was his brother whether he knew it or not. He laughed and said that they were brothers and one of the smaller guys was also a brother. There were large patches of orange lichen growing on the rocks where we met. We saw lots of yellow bead lilies from the site of the old horse gate to the junction of the Rainbow Falls Trail.

The lodge was at 60 degrees and mostly cloudy. I stopped by the water faucet and filled my CamelBak with fresh water. We went into the office and registered before returning to the porch to eat our lunches. Chris and Allyson Virden dropped by. Chris sent Missy Whitt over to give Tillroe and me our official greeting to the lodge. She also chatted with Cindy for a while before she returned to work. I looked for Henry Neel to pass along a greeting from singer/songwriter Jimmy Davis and his wife from Memphis but I didn't see him. I was too tired to go over and take a picture of the Dining Hall showing the date of the hike. I decided on the spot that today was too tiring for me to do the hike again tomorrow.

We did not tarry long because Cindy and John had to drive back to Columbus and Cincinnati, OH respectively and I had a long drive to Chapel Hill, NC. John hiked ahead of us and Cindy and Tillroe held back with me. I was really tired and tripped and stumbled excessively but fortunately I never lost my footing or fell. Clingmans Dome was still in the clouds as we passed Grassy Slide. Trout Branch is called Mossy Springs by lots of hikers. After looking at this picture is there any wonder why?  I took a few more close ups of the Catawba Rhododendrons as we descended. They all looked so beautiful. There was a nice view from Gracie's Pulpit back toward Paul's Face on Cliff Top. We took a short snack break there and were visited by Kristin, Joseph and Bryan Pena from San Antonio, TX on their way to the top.

We sailed right on through the Alum Cave Bluff Area and did not see or hear any peregrine falcons. I paused to take another 12 magnification of the Eye of the Needle as we sailed past. I also stopped long enough to photograph a small waterfall between the last two footlogs.

We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. My thought of hiking again tomorrow faded because of how tired that I was today. It is truly great friends that will drive a thousand miles just to hike Mt. LeConte. I am glad that I am in that group of crazy folks. Thanks folks for the nice company.