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The day has finally come to hike Mt. LeConte. We've been waiting since October 1st of last year for this trip. I've seen lots of pictures and couldn't wait. We drove the Gatlinburg bypass on Sunday to see what we were in for the next day. It was cloudy when we stopped at the lookout point on the bypass and hoped we would have better weather on our trip.
We got up Monday morning and was at the trail head around 8:15. There were several cars already there. We were hoping to run into a lot of people while hiking. We really lucked out with the weather. It was a beautiful day to be in the mountains. We arrived at Arch Rock around 9:00. It was neat having to go up the steps in the rock to continue on the trail. Then we made it up to Inspiration Point at 9:25. We had stopped there and talked a few minutes with a group going up. They were having fun singing on the way. We found the Eye of the Needle. Finally we made it to Alum Cave Bluff at 9:40. We took a few pictures and was then on our way. We were a little nervous about the rest of the trail knowing that there were some parts coming up with steep drop offs. Eventually we made it to the lodge and registered for our cabin at 11:40.
I was so proud of us. We made it to the lodge in 3 hrs 25 minutes. Not too bad for a couple that live in Illinois; where there are only corn fields and no mountains! We had got there in time to see the llamas. Afterwards we signed in and they showed us to our cabin. We then bought our t-shirts/hats and patches for our backpacks. Afterwards we hiked up Cliff Tops to see the wonderful views. We had a perfect day. Hardly a cloud in the sky. Then onto the shelter and Myrtle Point. I put two rocks on the cairn pile for Howard and myself and then we hiked to where the sunrise would be. After resting awhile we headed down for dinner. One couple at our table were spending 2 nights up at the lodge. On Tuesday at sunset they were supposed to get married at Cliff Tops. We wish we could have been there for that. What a great way to start off a new life together. They were a very nice couple from Kentucky.
After dinner we headed up to Cliff Tops to see the awesome sunset. The view kept changing and the sun finally disappeared behind West Point. When we got back it was off to the lodge for hot chocolate and coffee. Howard and I went onto the porch; planning to take pictures of the lights from Gatlinburg--then we looked about 30 feet in front of us and saw a black bear. The workers at the lodge scared him off so he would hopefully not come back. So needless to say we did not go hike in the dark to see the sunrise the next morning; which was a perfect one from the pictures we saw from another couple. Maybe next time. After breakfast we packed up and headed out on another perfect day of hiking. We made it back to Alum Cave and visited with a few people while taking a break. Eventually we made it to the trailhead. It took us about 3 hours to hike back down. We put our stuff in the car and headed back to Gatlinburg for the rest of the week. I didn't even think of how sore we would be for the next 2 days after hiking. Every time we looked at Mt. LeConte while driving in the area we were so amazed that we had the opportunity to hike this mountain. We will definitely be back to hike it again.
ps---we were going to hike Rainbow Falls that next day until we heard about the father and son that got injured by a bear near the trailhead on Monday Aug 11. Hopefully they are doing well.
Kathy and Howard Frampton, Morton Illinois
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