The Great Smokies

July 29-30, 2007 -Smokie Mountain Park, Tn.

After working so hard all weekend at the resort, a Smokie mountain hike was in order. A car rental from the Nashville airport, and a 4 hour drive, was all it took to get there, but being prepared was another matter. The lodge atop destination: mt. LeConte, demanded nearly 100$ for the night's stay, so naturally, we concluded that it would be cheaper to grocery shop, buy some equipment and stay in the free shack. The local camping shop in Gatlinburg, however, had the market cornered, so we did things, more or less, the hard way. It turns out, that sleeping in shorts, and an undersized fleece blanket equates to a long night at 6500'.

destination mt. LeConte, time off...6:45pm

a few nice scenes along the way


rainbow falls (3.0 mb video)	behind the curtain (1.5 mb video)	just a trickle falls

willie falls (1.2 mb video)

smokie trails (2.1 mb video)

it started to get dark near the summit

stirring the cauldron, for a midnight meal

Our accomodations for the night, the free shack at the top, turned out to be just a glorified 'lean to'; open at one end to the cool night air, and was full of strangers...a total of 9 were booked. We hated to disturb their restfull sleep at such at late hour, but they simply had to be counted...