Post 900 Hike #100: Alum Cave to LeConte & Return

This is a snow hike that Bob Bolinger, BZ Lane, and I have been trying to schedule for two weeks; we were finally able to do it. It is the same hike that Bob and I did on 12/30/09; we did it then in order that I would have some good ice pictures to show at my presentation at WWW in Pigeon Forge on 1/11/10. On that hike we encountered more ice on trail than we had ever experienced; however, today we expected that much of the ice would be covered by snow; it was and much was melting for the temperature was at least in the high 40's at lower elevations.

Cecil Rowe and Charlie Woodward joined us; Cecil and I left his house ~0715. About one hour later we arrived at Sugarlands Visitor Center--BZ was waiting and Bob and Charlie arrived momentarily. Not sure what time we arrived at Alum Cave Parking Lot for we made one sojourn first; we all put on our ice crampons before hitting the trail.

BZ and I went ahead; at ~2.2 mi. we were just walking in front of Alum Cave Bluff when some big ice "particles" fell from the cave's lip in front of us. These were big hunks; if one of them were to hit either of us on the head, it would probably have been our last hike. We hustled to the shelter of the cave to wait to warn our three cohorts when they arrived; while we were waiting no other ice hunks fell and I took this picture.



If one closely examines the next picture one will see a little nitch in the mountain against the sky (~45% of the way across from L to R). This picture is meaningful to me because (1) it puts our hike in perspective--our terminus was ~0.5 mi. beyond this point and (2) on 12/30/09 Bob coaxed me into walking back to him around a corner of a precipice past this point (that picture is now my desktop on my 3-computers).



Believe BZ and I arrived at LeConte Lodge ~1230. We ate our lunch on the porch of a cabin; as you'll note on the picture of the lodge, its porch was too laden with snow to sit on it. The elevation at the junction of Alum Cave trail with Rainbow Falls trail is ~6,300 ft.; at this point I assume it's at least a tad higher. (Ironically, Bob and I ate our lunch on the same cabin porch on 12/30/09).



After we had finished our lunch we wanted to move because we were getting cold and we also thought that we had better check on our 3-cohorts. Just as we were about to leave they showed up. However, because we wanted to get our blood moving again, BZ and I started our downward trip. The last picture presented shows BZ in somewhat of a foggy haze just a few hundred yards from the lodge and cabins on the level section of Alum Cave Trail.



The return trip was somewhat uneventful, although neither of us likes to go downhill on snow and ice. As previously stated, much of the ice that Bob and I saw on 12/30/09 was covered with snow, for we have had a lot of snow in the GSMNP this winter (see entries for prior 2010 hikes/X-C ski entries). For example, although Alum Cave offers a cable to grasp in some its sections, at times the cable was either at the level of our boots (because of deep ice and snow) or reachable only if we had arms 2-5 times as long as ours. It has been a very unique winter in the GSMNP.