My friend dragged me to the top of Mt. Le Conte and all I got was this lousy sunrise
So I got back from Asheville last night (much later than originally planned - damn doomed flights) and yes I drank beer and saw Harry Potter (two thumbs down!) but I know what everyone is really interested in is my trip to Le Conte with the lovely and able firthofforth ... I am extremely tired so this won't be my best prose but there are lots of linkies!
So we set off on Saturday on the Alum Cave Trail. It started off mildly enough (I made an ill-received comment that it looked like a trail in Disney world and that we would round a bend and see a mechanical elephant in the river spray water from his trunk) the path followed the creek and over it several times to the stairs and that is where it got hard and I took a lot less pictures! The path was often very steep and somewhat scary in places (think slick rocks and steel cable hand rails all that is between you and tumbling down the rock face) It was pretty hard but we made it in about three hours (a huge accomplishment for me). When we hit this path I had no idea that we were almost to camp but I was delighted to find we had made it!
There don't have showers (but they do have flush toliets!) but a sponge bath and clean clothes made me feel a million times better. We drank cocoa and talked on our porch as the mist rolled in until dinner. There is a reason they call it the Smoky Mountains! After dinner, the ranger gave a talk at the cliff tops on the Cherokee which was pretty interesting including a cute version of the creation story which sent mostly small birds down to earth before grandfather buzzard.
We didn't sleep well that night (I don't know how we managed that we were both tired) so when the sunrise alarm went off we wondered if it was still misty and if we should stay in bed; I got up for what I expected was a mostly ceremonial check but the view woke me instantly and we raced up to Myrtle Point to catch the beautiful sunrise (the picture I opened with is my favorite of the trip). Then we went back to bed until lunch (we ate A LOT while we were there) and then worked on a stupidly hard puzzle before going back to Cliff Tops to take some shots of Bloat. The brochure says to bring your own hand towel and a flashlight but it should also encourage folks to bring their own alien puppet because it was some of the best laughs of the trip.
Before dinner the ranger gave a talk on bears that was really cool! Black bears mate in the summer but their eggs aren't implanted until December and the number of eggs is based on how much weight the mother has gained - she has them in January or February (nevermind that she hibernates from about November to April!). Totally the way to do it!
At dinner we tested the bottom of our bottomless glass of wine and well ... well I didn't take any more pictures that night ;)
In the morning we were brushing our teeth and FoF says "turn around slow" (later she thought she might have said "not a bear but turn around slow"). It was a couple of deer who came to eat their breakfast outside our cabin!
The trek down also took about 3 hours (which I think is a testimate to how tricky the trail is that you can't just cruise down it fast) and FoF had done a number on her ankle! This trip produced my second favorite pic.
So slomack wanted to know if I would do it again ... sure I would ... if she went along!
;)