This past Friday and Saturday, Josh and I went hiking/backpacking with my sister and her husband. We hiked to the top of Mt. Leconte, in the Great Smoky Mountains, and stayed at Leconte Lodge.
Every muscle in my body hurts from the 13.3 miles of hiking, either straight up or straight down the side of a mountain, but the soreness is absolutely worth the overall experience. Leconte Lodge is almost entirely primitive. Your lodging is a rough-hewn one room cabin, stocked with wool blankets, and an oil lamp, and a basin to hold your hot water, that you carry in a bucket collected from an outside tap at the dining hall. No electricity. The main building, the lodge, is full of board games and books to read, and a large propane heater that keeps the room comfortably warm... which is nice, cause outside... it's COLD. With your accommodations, you are also served two meals - dinner and breakfast. The lodge is only accessible by foot, so all food, all conveniences, all of everything has to be carried in on foot, packed in by llamas, or dropped in by helicopter. Considering this, the food is really exceptional.
Though the weather was generally pretty cloudy the entire time we were there, we were able to see the most impressive sunrise, above the clouds, that I think I've ever seen. I also spent nearly three hours laying in a bed, in the middle of the afternoon, simply because there was nothing else to do. Nothing beats that. When you add in the way my sister and I totally took down our husbands in Trivial Pursuit (my sister answered all the questions, but I rolled the dice and moved our game piece, so I totally claim equal ownership of our win), the utter peace and tranquility that you can feel when you are surrounded by so much stillness and beauty, and the fact that we did not meet any bears (apparently that happens a lot), It was a truly remarkable weekend. If I had to complain about anything, it would be that it rained during our hike in, and while my sister's hair turned in to a wonderful mass of curly goodness, I looked like a wet kitten. Thank goodness it was cold, and not so silly for me to wear a hat. All the time.
The sunrise...
All that white behind us would be mountains if it hadn't been so cloudy...
What the view would be if it hadn't been cloudy...
One of the llamas...
The cabins, and the fog...
Geared up for the hike out...
All of us...
For further mountain tales, more pictures, and additional perspective, visit my sister's blog at http://www.imnotcrazymommy.blogspot.com/.
