This trip had been planned since October 1st of 2007.  As soon as the Mt. LeConte Lodge reservations office opened at 8 AM, I was on the phone using repeat dialing to be one of the first to reserve a stay at the lodge.  By 8:45 AM I had secured two nights over the 2008 Labor Day weekend.  From that moment Nora and I began planning for our 2008 Great Smoky Mountains adventure.

We arrived in Gatlinburg in the early afternoon on Friday, August 29th.  We checked into our room at the Fairfield Inn North and then headed for the park to scope out the route we would use to return down the mountain on September 2nd.  Our plans were to hike up Alum Cave Trail on Sunday and return down Bullhead Trail on Tuesday.  At Campbell Overlook I took a picture of Nora with Balsam Point and Bullhead in the background.  I also took close-up pictures of Balsam Point and Bullhead.  In this picture of Balsam Point, I have drawn a rough representation of how the trail traverses the face of Balsam Point and down a heath-covered ridge to Bullhead.  When walking on the trail, you are actually underneath the heath in a rhododendron tunnel.

On Saturday morning we arrived at the ACB trailhead shortly after 9:00 AM to take a warm-up hike to Inspiration Point.  As we crossed the bridge across Walker Camp Prong and looked upstream, the beauty of the sun shining through the trees and sparkling on water awed us.  This was just the beginning, however, for many more scenes of dazzling light and enchanting forest were ahead of us.  At one place the trail, light and water seemed to become one, and elsewhere on the trail Tolkien’s Middle Earth seemed to come to life.  Even some of the enchanted creatures of the forest came out to watch as we passed through their world.  And a tall weary tree observed as we walked by.  More pictures of our walk through the forest can be found in the photo gallery. Just remember that no matter how terrific the picture may look, it's only a two-dimensional knock off of God's art.

Not all things in this forest are enchanting though.  Anyone who has ever hiked on Mount LeConte has noticed a very pungent skunk like smell.  On my first hike up the Alum Cave Bluff Trail, I was certain a bear must have been close by.  It turns out, however, that this wonderful aroma comes from an indigenes plant found nowhere else in the entire world.  Scientists call this plant Solidago glomerata, but you and I can call it Skunk Goldenrod.  So the next time you are hiking in the Smoky Mountains and you smell a skunk, look around for this yellow flowered plant growing nearby.

Naturally I did take some pictures at the established landmark locations along the trail.  All of these landmarks have been well documented in the past, so here I am simply adding my own interpretation.  The half-mile mark is a tree that curves over three rock steps in the trail.  A stone wall signals the approach to the one mile mark soon followed by the one mile mark itself, the first foot log across Styx Branch.  On this morning part of the handrail was missing.  Following are the second foot log, the large tree that Ed Wright mentions in his trail description, the third foot log and Arch Rock.  Above Arch Rock the trail gets rockier as Nora demonstrates.  Just beyond Arch Rock is the fourth foot log across Styx Branch and the 1993 washout beyond that.  Not far beyond the 1993 washout is the location of the 2007 trail collapse serving as a reminder that the trail is always changing.

One of my favorite locations on this part of trail is a level rock shelf at a bend in the trail.  I used to call this “high step rock” until the trail crew installed three rock steps.  Now I just call it Shelf-rock Bend.  This is also a good place to stop and look around.  From here there are very good views of Myrtle Point and The Boulevard.

Before reaching Inspiration Point we met Ron Valentine.  I had met Ron twice before on the trail but never got a picture.  Here are Ron, Pam and Nora, and then I slipped into the picture as Nora did the behind the camera work.  At Inspiration Point we met two couples from Ohio returning back down the mountain and another young couple going up.

At Inspiration Point I set up my camera and tripod to take pictures of the falcons.  We did see one falcon, but I was not able to get a picture of it.  Not to be denied, I used the opportunity to get pictures of Left Eye and Eye of the Needle.  I also got some close-up pictures of Myrtle Point.  Nora was also busy taking pictures of the approach to Inspiration Point and a boomer playing on the rocks.

Returning back down the trail to the parking lot was non-eventful.  The trail crew had repaired the rail at the first foot log.  About a mile on down the trail I was able to snag this picture of the approach to the bridge across Alum Cave Creek.  There are two places on this trail which hikers look forward to with great anticipation; this bridge and the Old Horseman’s Gate.  They are five miles apart and both are indicators that the trail’s end is near.

Saturday evening we ate dinner at Calhoun’s with two old friends and one new friend.  I first met Glen and Cindy (in the center of the picture) last year on the airlift hike and have hiked with them both several times since.  On the right is Vicky.  She is an avid hiker and frequent Trail Angel on the Appalachian Trail. 

Sunday morning we drove our car to the Rainbow Falls Trailhead parking area where we saw our first and only bear of this trip.  He was a young one and was very lean.  He looked to be about the same age and size of the bear that attacked a young boy a few weeks ago in this area.  That bear was destroyed, but this one may have been a sibling.

We had arranged for a shuttle to take us to the Alum Cave Trailhead, so we parked the car and waited.  We didn’t have to wait long though.  Erik of A Walk In The Woods arrived early in his red van.  Soon we had transferred our backpacks to Erik’s van, secured the car for its two-night stay, and were on our way.  Erik was a good driver and was very knowledgeable about the area and hiking in general.  In addition to the shuttle service, Erik and his wife Vesna also host guided hikes in the Smoky Mountains.

We were soon saddled up, across the bridge and on our way to LeConte Lodge.  Along the way we saw many of the same sights we had seen the day before.  Another critter was at trailside waiting for breakfast and the approach to the first foot log was still there just where it had been yesterday.

Just before West Point View we ran into the Ed Wright group.  From left to right are Ed, Lisa, Peggy, Laura, Tillroe, Nora and Tom. They had left the trailhead about an hour and a half before we did and were on their way back down from the lodge.  This was Ed’s 1309th hike and was timed to coincide with his 83rd birthday.  Congratulations Ed on both instances.  While we were talking Glen and Cindy caught up with the group.  In this picture from right to left are Ed Wright, Tillroe Smith and me.

We reached the lodge in the early afternoon and after checking into our cabin, we explored the lodge area and went to the Dining Hall porch for hot chocolate.  While on the porch we met a lot of really nice people including this family.  The three ladies are sisters; the two on the right are from Lexington, KY and the one on the left is from Indianapolis.  The gentleman in the picture is the husband of the Indianapolis sister and the young man is their son.  Oh, as we discovered, they are also our neighbors, living less than a mile from our home!

After eating a terrific dinner in the Dining Hall, we walked up to Cliff Top for a sunset that never developed and an informative talk by Ranger Gott on the history of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Nora doesn’t like heights but she seems to be relaxed in this picture at Cliff Top.

After a fair nights rest and a big breakfast on Monday morning, we began our exploration of the mountaintop.  We started by walking a short distance down the ACB to a location called Margaret’s Place.  This is a ledge that juts out into thin air and makes a sharp left-hand blind turn.  From here we could see hikers on the far side of the wide ravine as they hiked down the trail.  These are the posed “look what I did” pictures Nora and I have wanted to show that we didn’t just go for a Sunday walk in the park.  Bless her heart, Nora was petrified with fear but she stood there for the picture anyway.  Way to go sweetheart!  I’m proud of you!

Returning to the trail above the lodge, we hiked east where we saw this submarine looking water tank and the Mt. LeConte shelter, one of only three shelters in the park that are not on the AT.  At the shelter this sign reminded us that we were walking through a bear habitat.

Further up the trail I took pictures of Nora at Apollo Point, High Top and the spur trail leading to Myrtle Point.  At Myrtle Point I got the picture I had been planning.  Remember the picture of Myrtle Point that I took at Inspiration Point?  It only stands to reason that you should be able to see Inspiration Point from Myrtle Point.  In the center of this picture there is a dark line to the left of a light green area.  The dark line ends at Inspiration Point.  I guess it isn’t exactly the picture I wanted, but I had decided not to carry the 14 pounds of equipment up the mountain that would have been needed to get the “perfect” shot.

Returning to the Lodge I got these pictures of Nora on the rocks and of the Newfound Gap parking lot from Apollo Point.  At the lodge we visited with the llamas and took pictures of the lodge buildings.  While resting from our day of exploring the top of the mountain, Nora caught me rocking on the porch of our cabin.  There are many more pictures from our day of exploration in the photo gallery.

Monday evening dinner was a change from the night before.  When you stay two nights you get roast beef on the first night, just like everyone else.  On the second night you, and anyone setting at your table, get chicken and dumplings.  Three other people sat at our table; a retired judge, his wife a retired teacher, and Tommy, a retired business owner from Dickson, Tennessee.  I hope they weren’t disappointed about not having roast beef.

Since it had been raining, we did not go to Cliff Top for the sunset, rather we went to the lodge office for games and conversation.  Nora and I played gin rummy by kerosene lamplight.  This brought back memories of when we would play card games by candlelight, but that was for romantic reasons, this was by necessity.  If you didn’t know, there is no electricity at LeConte lodge.  While we played cards Tommy and the judge both came in and we continued some of our conversation from dinner.  There was also a group of four people playing euchre.  If you are not from the Midwest, you may not know that euchre is a card game played with half of a pinochle deck by four people, two to a team.  The largest concentration of devotes to the game are in Indiana and Ohio, though it is also played in Pennsylvanian, Illinois and Michigan.  This evening the four playing euchre in the lodge office were from Ohio.

After another big breakfast on Tuesday morning, we saddled up and headed out on the Bullhead trail.  This trail is much different from the other 4 trails to Mt. LeConte.  It is less rocky than Rainbow, less steep than Alum Cave, no ups and downs like The Boulevard, and by far less boring than Trillium Gap.  For us it was nearly the perfect trek down the mountain.  In this picture is a rock out-cropping that I believe is rocky spur on the Rainbow Falls trail.  Along much of the trail are views of Gatlinburg.  There was even a view of Clingman’s Dome.

Now flash back to the second paragraph of this journal and remember what I wrote about the rhododendron tunnel between Balsam Point and Bullhead.  In this picture Nora enters that tunnel as we headed down to Bullhead.  After the tunnel there is one not-too-steep up section that rises for a short distance to the top of Bullhead.  When you get to the rock pulpit you are on top and the rest of the trip is down hill (mostly.)

Reaching the Rainbow Falls trailhead parking area we fell into the car and drove back to the Fairfield Inn where we crashed for a few hours before capping our adventure with a well-deserved steak dinner at Tony Roma’s in Pigeon Forge.