1294 6/30/05 I stayed the night at Tillroe Smith's camper. The accommodations were nice and the company was delightful. I retired early because I was tired from the hike to LeConte today and we planned to hike it again tomorrow morning. We settled on starting from the Alum Cave Bluff Trailhead at about 6:00 a.m.. That is about as early as you can see the trail and hike safely. Tillroe does not have an alarm clock so we would just have to wake up by accident. He said that he would need about 45 minutes to get ready after I woke him up. 

 

I awoke about 3:15 a.m. and cat napped until about four. I did my chores and went out to wake Tillroe but I found him on the front porch cooking breakfast. He had scrambled eggs and sausage, I added fudge pop tarts. I had prepared the coffee pot the night before in order to get my jolt of caffeine to carry me through the day. Tillroe doesn't drink coffee so he poured the water in the pot and turned on the hot plate instead of the brewer. I quickly remedied that. During the night I concluded that the 4th of July traffic to Florida would be a nightmare so I chose to not try to hike a third time on July 1st but to head south after completing the hike today. We both drove to the Oconuluftee Visitor's Center where I parked my car and rode with Tillroe to the trailhead.

 

The weather today was about the same as it was yesterday morning, 60 degrees and cloudy. We departed the trailhead at 5:50 a.m. and hiked carefully because the available light was limited.  We took it slow and easy and reached Inspiration Point, two miles up the trail, in about an hour and fifteen minutes. I took time to enjoy the mountain laurel and the Dolly Parton Peaks before moving on up toward the Eye of the Needle. Tillroe thought that he heard a peregrine falcon over in the direction of the Eye of the Needle but we didn't see anything. The sun was still hiding below the mountains but there was some redness in the sky.

 

We hiked on past the Alum Cave Bluff without stopping because there was no wind to cool us off. The Duck Hawk Ridges were totally obscured by the clouds and the Chimneys were also not visible. We stopped at Gracie's Pulpit for a short snack break. This location almost always has a breeze, which is good in the summer but much too cold during the colder months. Clouds covered Cliff Top so there was no view worthy of enjoying in that direction. I did pause to enjoy the rhododendrons as we continued our climb past the upper steps.

 

We met the 13 and 11 year-old backpackers, Shane and Liam Wixted from Melbourne Beach, FL at Trout Branch. We had met them yesterday and I thought that they did not have enough gear for the 50 degrees that they would experience during the night at the LeConte Shelter. We asked them how they liked the shelter. They replied that they almost froze and didn't sleep well because of that. In a few minutes their dad Dion Wixted and their 8 year-old brother Aidan, showed up and related the same story on how cold it was. After chatting with the four guys from Florida we continued our climb. I spotted a couple of white flowers at Trout Branch and the best that I could guess was that they were blue haw. They could have been mountain ash or Canada May flowers. Tillroe stopped on Betty Jane's Stairway to Heaven and wished our dear friend a great day and we wish that she could be here with us.

 

The lodge was socked in and 60 degrees. I walked over to the dining room and took a picture before returning to fill my CamelBak with fresh water. I then went into the office, signed the register before returning to the porch to eat my beef Jerky. Chris and Allison Virden, managers of the lodge, called to me from a cabin across the foggy way. I couldn't see who it was so they walked over and visited with us for a while. I asked Allison how much the lodge charged for an apple spice cake. She said $10.00. I asked her to bake me one for my 80th birthday hike on September 4th. She said that she certainly would do that.

 

We did not meet a whole lot of folks on our way down and basically only chatted with hikers that recognized us, because I wanted hurry down in order to get a jump on the weekend traffic. We took another short snack break at Gracie's Pulpit. Clouds still covered Cliff Top so there was not much to look at in that direction. The view of the top of Little Duck Hawk was interesting. We cruised on down through the bluff without stopping.

 

We paused to look at the Eye of the Needle in order to take a couple of pictures before moving on down to Inspiration Point. I took a picture of the mountain laurel with Tillroe to add character to the picture. Before reaching the parking lot, I stopped to view a fungus on a rotting stump.

 

The trip took seven hours and fifteen minutes. Not bad for having hiked the trail two days in a row. It rained fairly heavily on the way to the Oconuluftee Visitor's Center.  I felt really good after this hike and was sure that I would not have any problems doing another one tomorrow except I did not want to fight the holiday traffic. It rained off and on until I passed Asheville, NC. I stopped at the fruit stand and bought a half bushel of peaches to take to Florida. I left the peaches that I had bought on the way up with Tillroe.

 

The Ramada Inn in Walterboro, SC gave me a room right next to the swimming pool. Too bad that my grandsons Austin and Charlie were not along. they love the pool. The drive home was fairly easy and I was treated to a beautiful sunset when I arrived in Jensen Beach..