It is Friday morning, September 8th, 2006,
we arrive at the Alum Cave Bluff Trail parking area around 10:00 am.Our clan
consisted of me Greg Bryant, my father Bill Bryant, sister Kim Hamlett
and sister Wendy Adkins. Our brother Scott was not able to make this trip with
us. Of the five of us , four are veteran hikers on Le Conte with the exception
of Kim, today was her initiation day.. The plan is
that we hike up together, but I was staying at the Le Conte Shelter for
the night and they would return to the parking lot in the afternoon. As
with all families whom live apart and join together for special events, we
were especially in thought of our Mother, Betty, who passed away in 2003 , she
always loved her trips to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Although this was Wendy's
second hike on Le Conte she was still skeptical of the
signage , but that all changed as we proceeded on the Trail around 10:20
am. The weather was a mix of clouds and sun and the temp around the mid 50's
and the waters of the Little Pigeon River, Alum Cave Creek and Styx Branch
were music to the ears. You just don't get any better than this ! We arrived
at the Arch Rock section and took a break and was joined by Ranger Katie who
was hiking up for her weekend duties. Ranger Katie hiked with us and shared
her information and knowledge and answered our questions . What a
privilege it was to have such a professional NPS Ranger hike with us.
It's 2:00 pm and we make
it to the Boulevard Trail Junction and are ready to
take a leisurely stroll around the Lodge area. As we walk down the steps off
the Trail we notice the ongoing construction of the front porch additions to
the cabins, a nice touch. There are several people milling about and word was
the Woody Group of about 58 people were staying at the Lodge facilities
tonight. I think they have been gathering annually for over Twenty years. We
proceed to the Dining Hall steps and ask a gentlemen to
take our photograph with the Lodge signage in the background, as so
many people do. We enter the Dining Hall and walk out to the rear deck to discover
that the Lama's are in their staging area. I told my sisters I heard
that Lama's would spit on you, or maybe
that was a Camel, irregardless they kept their distance. As we walk back
through the Dining Hall and smell the aroma of food we realize we haven't eaten
yet, so onward to the office to eat, but first Dad wants
a picture of three of his kids, again. We pile into the office/rec room at
a large table and unload the packs and chow down
.
After the meal break we
go out on the deck and notice there are less clouds and more blue skies
and sun, this is good, especially for me on a full moon night. The temp is 61
degrees.
We hike up to Cliff
Tops and check out the views and then on to the
shelter so I can show my sisters where I will sleep while
they sleep in a nice comfy bed at the Maples Motel back in Pigeon Forge. As
per backcountry camping rules and regulations I use the "Hangem
High" cable system to hoist up my food and personal smell items as
well as the back pack later. This should keep the some of the critters and
bears at bay. When we were at the shelter area we heard this loud noise in the
sky and through the clouds and partial blue sky a screaming B-52
Bomber zoomed by, a little to close to that mountain top I thought. I
believe since 9-11 that the GSMNP is under a no fly zone for Commercial
aircraft. It's now approaching 4:00 pm and it's time for my siblings and
father to make the descent on the ACBT. They stop at the
office for a brief swing and a refill at the water spigot and I walk
with them through the flat area to their first descent, it was about 4:30 pm.
See you guys tomorrow! Dad, Kim and Wendy later told me they had a great hike
down with some great views as the weather
continued to improve. They cooled there feet in
the Styx Branch and returned to the car at about 7:30
pm.
Meanwhile, I was taking
my seat at Cliff Tops and prepared for an awesome sunset
and an excellent presentation by Ranger Katie with a
crowd of at least 40 to 50 others in attendance. Ranger
Katie concluded her presentation with the question "What beckons you
to The Great Smoky Mountains" ,in which I'm sure many thoughts went
through the peoples minds. Upon returning to the shelter there were to be five
of us for the night, a cool guy from Knoxville, TN that went by the name of
Carver , a Methodist Minister (formerly an attorney) by the name of John from
Gainesville ,GA and a young couple , David and Anita. We had a great
evening talking and telling stories under a clear full moon night on top of
Mt. Le Conte. After a good night's sleep my plan was to get up , eat breakfast
, and walk the half mile down to Myrtle Point for the Sunrise. I woke up
around 5:00 am, the temp was a brisk 45ish degrees, so I remained in my
sleeping bag until about 6:00 am. I got up and out as quiet as possible and
walked out to the bear cables and retrieved my food bag and had breakfast
under the full moon.
Around 6:30 am I
headed down the Boulevard Trail with flashlight in hand on to Myrtle Point.
When I arrived, there were three gentleman there that said they night hiked up
the ACBT at midnight and got to Myrtle Point around 4:00 am, how cool was
that! Once at Myrtle Point the show began, the moon was
settling to the West and the sun was pushing it's way up through the
cloud line in the East. By this time Myrtle Point was full of people, the
majority from the Woody Group at the Lodge, and a new day
begins. Afterwards, on the walk back to the shelter, I
place a rock on the top of the cairn at High Top, helping the cause. On my
arrival back to the shelter, my shelter mates are still snoozing, so again I
quietly began to pack my gear for departure. It was apparent I might not
have been as quiet as I thought as they began to wake up, so before I
left I asked if I could take a picture of ourselves.
There were no objections, with the exception of Anita, in which I was
receiving this scowled look from her. I then realized that requesting to take
a picture of a girl that just woke up from sleeping in a sleeping bag in a
shelter on a big mountain...just ain't cool! I said goodbye, enjoyed it and
was off and at the Lodge area at 8:00 am. I returned via the Rainbow Falls
Trail which was a nice quiet hike, a lot of small rocks on the trail. I only
passed four other hikers on their way up between the Lodge and Rainbow
Falls. The hiker traffic began to increase from the Falls to the Trailhead
parking lot. I stopped and spoke to two young couples who had spotted a bear
near the parking area, man were they excited, the girls frightened , but the
guys were Daniel Boone's, give that guy a "coonskin hat"! I
finally arrived to the parking lot at 11:40 am and had called the clan earlier
on the trail and told them it looked like around a noon pick up. They
showed up around 12:45 pm to pick Big brother up with a hot cup of coffee to
boot. As we left on the Roaring Fork Rd we ran into a Bear Jam, must have
been the same Bear those young couples told me about. The bear was foraging
hard and didn't pay a bit of attention to the people in the cars. What a great
mountain.............Mt. Le Conte!
Thanks Ed for your time, website, and
devotion to this Mountain and the people you meet. Hope to see you on the
Trail.
Greg Bryant Roanoke, VA
