We arrived in Gatlinburg on Wednesday, August 12 around 4 p.m.  We had reservations at a cottage at Kingwood Inn close to downtown. 

It started raining late on Wednesday.  I wasn’t sure what to do in the event of rain.  At first I had figured that it was August and it doesn’t rain in Ohio much in August but then I looked at historical data for Mt. LeConte and found August to be a wet month.  Go figure. 

I woke up on Thursday about 7:30 a.m. and it was raining.  I tried to phone the lodge but got the voice mail message that the lodge opens at 8:30 a.m.  So when I called back I reached a nice reservation person that said even if it were raining and she had reservations she’d go up.  She also told me about the trail conditions in the rain and they didn’t sound so bad.  I mostly did not want to walk in mounds of mud or have to navigate in slippery areas.

We waited for a clearing in the rain, packed up and off we went.  We reached the Alum Cave Bluffs trailhead around 11 a.m. and started up. I took a picture of Brandy as we started the trail.

I had seen a million pictures and read everyone else’s log but still wasn’t sure what to expect.  We started in light rain.  The trail was great, no mud. 

At first there were lots of water scenery.  Pretty small waterfalls and the noise of the water was so loud it sounded like rain.

I have hiked a little where we live in Ohio but was so unprepared for a mountain hike.  Once we walked up the steps at the tunnel, the views were breathtaking.  The pictures I’ve seen don’t do them justice. We took so many pictures. Somewhere in here we took a great picture of the eye of the needle.  Brandy really like seeing that. She had wanted to use the camera and take a short video on the way down but there was way too much cloud cover for that.

Now being from a state with no real mountains and being somewhat of a fretter, I was concerned about the increasing fog we could see in the mountains.  I was worried that the fog would get on the trail and we wouldn’t be able to see.  At this point I thought maybe we should just turn around and go back down.  A few minutes later we reached the Bluffs.  There was a very nice couple up there taking a break before heading back down and I noticed he was pointing to the fog also.  I walked over and asked him if he thought we would get fogged in here and he did some real fancy explaining of how the winds was blowing our trail would be clear. That eased my mind somewhat but I was still thinking about heading back.  It had been a very wet hike so far and I was worried about the trail ahead. 

Don’t get me wrong the trail was beautiful but I’m such a chicken.  While we were still on the Bluff there were three super nice women with tons of gear getting ready to leave.  I asked them if they were going down or up and they said they were headed up to stay in the shelter.  Now I thought if these three ladies with all of that gear weren’t afraid of the rest of the trail I shouldn’t be either.  And they were staying in the shelter to boot.  Amazing! So I asked them if we could kind of hang out behind them for the rest of the hike.  They were real nice and said if we didn’t mind going slow we could go up with them. 

Well we ended up going around them at some point and hiking alone.  It was so peaceful and pretty. 

It seemed like we walked forever.  Now at this point it was raining pretty steady and in some places the trail resembled a small creek.  A couple of times I sort of freaked out and thought maybe we had somehow got off of the trail and were walking in the creek.  Now I know this is crazy because there’s usually just the trail and the ledge, there’s nowhere for the trail to go off.

A couple of times I told Brandy that the lodge would be right around the corner only to find another curve in the trail.  After a few times she requested that I not say that anymore.  At some point we both had mini meltdowns and even for a split second thought about turning around (which would have been incredibly dumb). 

The whole way up from the Bluffs we didn’t see any other hikers coming down or going up.  Finally, the trail changed to a kindler gentler trail there was flat land on both sides.  I was afraid to tell Brandy that I thought we were getting close when we saw the sign.  I love that sign.  It said Mt. LeConte .2 miles I believe. We had no sooner saw the sign that we could hear voices and hammering.  I can’t tell you how happy we were to see the buildings.  We stopped to get pictures celebrating our victory. I’ll spare you mine.

We checked in at the office and the fellow behind the desk took us to our cabin.  What a welcoming site.  The room we got to sleep in was small but very clean and the bed was soft. We got into dryer clothes and got some hot chocolate and headed back to the office for a snack.  We also bought a sweatshirt to share.

After our snack we went back to the cabin for a short nap.  Brandy said she doesn’t remember the last time she took a nap; it was probably 8 years ago before she started full day school. 

When we got up it was getting close to dinnertime, which was good because we were very hungry.  The menu for the night was roast beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, and apples.  All of the food was great.  Brandy, who is a very picky eater, said she didn’t even know she liked roast beef.

After dinner just about everyone headed to the office to play games or sit by the stove.  We played some solitaire, the old fashioned way with cards and I read some from the magazines available at the office.  A man came in and entertained us by playing some music on a guitar. A couple sat down beside us and as it turned out that they were from Urbana, which is a few miles north of Springfield where we live. The husband had just retired from a factory about a mile away from where we live.  Small world. 

It was too overcast for a sunset and about 9 p.m. everyone started heading back to their cabins.  Despite what they say those oil lamps don’t light very well.  It started to get pretty dark in the office.

We kind of thought we would fall asleep fast but instead we sort of got second winds and had a little trouble sleeping.  I think Brandy was nervous about the hike down and I guess I was too.

I woke up around 7 a.m. on Friday and after I had gotten dressed I notice the sky had started to clear and then the views from the lodge could be seen.  This only lasted a few minutes and then the clouds came back.

One thing I noticed was how quiet it was up there.  While I was standing on the porch of our cabin I heard a bird flying and thought at first that all of the noise it made it surely must have been a large bird but when it came into view it was a very small bird. I guess it’s just that it’s so quiet up there that those sounds can be heard.  Weird.

We had another great meal at 8 a.m. Then we packed up our gear for the trip down.  Some of the guests that day had planned to stay and see the Llamas later in the morning but we were ready to go down. Maybe we’ll plan better next time.

As we started down the clouds were thick and there wasn’t much to see and I think we probably went faster because of it.  When we reached the bluffs there was still fog or clouds in the sky and on the trail.  I got a couple of pictures but it was with a film camera so I can’t insert them here.

We met so many nice people going up the trail as we were coming down. Several hikers to Alum Cave and some going up to the lodge to stay the night or hike back down.  One lady said her husband was going up to the lodge but she was only going to the bluffs.  I kind of wondered where she would wait while he went on and what she would do there for a couple of hours.  Oh well, I guess they figured that out.  We met a guy that had been doing hiking on the Appalachian Trail and was headed up to the shelter for the night.  He had hoped he would meet up with the three women we met the day before but I think he was a day late.  He probably met them coming down.

Going down seemed to be much easier for Brandy than me.  The only reason I can figure is that I really stiffened up going down.  Who knows, maybe it’s just that different muscles are used.  She just skipped and walked very fast most of the way down.  We stopped very little except maybe to talk to the hikers going up.  We reached the parking lot around noon. About three hours down, not too bad really. 

One thing I thought was odd.  Once we reached the parking lot I took a picture of Brandy and she took one of me and as I got into the van I saw a family from the lodge.  They had to have been right behind us and we never saw them or even heard them.  Very strange, I figure it must be because of all of the winding around.   

It was such an awesome experience and I’m glad to share it.  Will we do it again?   I hope we can do it again next year!!!

Suzi

PS

Thanks Ed for answering my emails and encouraging us to go.