Day 177 -- Alum Cave Trail

Colby and I are sore and whiny.  We hiked 11 miles today to reach the top of Mount LeConte here in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park via the Alum Cave Trail.  It was amazing...and amazingly difficult.  But I am so glad that we got to experience it together.  The views were breathtaking and the geologic features were indicative of God's creativity.  Naturally, I left the cable for my camera at home, so even though we took a ton of pictures on our hike, I have none to share with you except for some lame ones that I stole from some other guy's website.  You'll just have to take my word for it that it was awesome and I'll post pictures later.  Promise.


Just one example of the amazing views from the trail on our way up to Mt. LeConte.  Lots of slippery rock ledges, so we hung on to that cable pretty tightly!

These are the stairs built into the inside of a giant rock.  The trail goes straight up through the bottom of the rock to the top. 
One of the really neat things about Mt. LeConte is that there is a lodge at the summit  (The LeConte Lodge)that has several one and two-room cabins for hikers to spend the night in at the top of the mountain.  They also serve lunches to day hikers.  Colby and I sat in a porch swing and watched the clouds roll in and surround us as we ate a snack of fruit snacks, granola bars, and goldfish crackers before heading back down.

Thank God for the Alum Cave Trail!

Lord, thank you for your creativity in designing our world.  Thank you for the beauty of the Smoky Mountains and for allowing us to experience it today on the Alum Cave Trail.  Thank you for keeping us safe during our hike.  Please help to mend our sore muscles that we can do some more in the days to come.  In your name I pray, Amen.

Comments

april. said…
YEAH! :)
June 17, 2011 at 10:40 AM
Suzanne Gibbs said…
You are so funny!!! I love you!!! I miss you and am so glad you're getting to spend some time with your man!! :)
June 18, 2011 at 11:11 PM
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