3.04.2007

Yesterday, Barry and I went into the Great Smoky Mountain National Forest, and hiked up LeConte, a 6,593 foot peak. It is one of the highest peaks in the area, and offers some extrordinary views, both from the top, and throughout the hike.


A bridge over a clear stream, on the way to the trailhead.


The trail follows an amazingly clear stream for the first part of the hike.



Along the way, there is a cool rock archway, which the path leads through.








We crossed the stream many times.


Excellent views abounded.



We came to a rather large overhanging rock face, and espied many icicles hanging off the lip.





One had to be careful, since the trail passed right through the dripline, and every so often, a big chunk of ice would break off and tumble to the ground.


A tree in the dripline also displayed the solid form of H2O in a spectacular fashion.


The overhang made for a feeling of being in a large cave.



Icicles.



The trail



We wanted to hike to this little protrusion, but didn't have enough time, probably because I was taking so many pictures.



Near the summit, we came upon a veritable village of cabins, each one with an excellent view of the surrounding vista.




At the summit


It was so windy that when I put my arms up, i nearly fell on my face from the sudden effect of the extra sail footage.


Barry wisely keeps his arms down.

4 comments:

Christy Joy said...

Glad you didn't sail away! Though it looks like it might have been fun to parachute off that as long as there was a place to land :)

Jonas said...

Johonn,
the number of pictures posted is extraordinary, as is their quality. All's well in Peru, what about Southern?

Julianne said...

That looks like Tennessee's greatest asset. Did you see other people there? How far is this place from SAU?

Jonathan Gerrans said...

CJK: Well, it would have been a long flight before you parachute or hang glided to the plain where you could be found, but it would have been really fun.

Jonas: I thank you for your generous comment on my paltry skills at photography...I was wishing for an art major to be there to properly capture the amazing sights! Southern is great, though really busy. Will be looking forward to seeing you this summer!

Julianne: I definitely agree! That corner of the state makes up for the rest, in my opinion, although the rest isn't really all that bad, but the mountains we passed through are breathtaking! It is about a 2 to 3.5 hour drive, depending whether you stick to the freeway or go through the mountains.

Now I shall go to bed, since I have been traveling from Florida on a bus since the morning.

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