The Night Hike

After work on Monday Michael and I packed our fannie packs and then headed North on I40 bound for the mountains.  Mom had scheduled and organized a night hike to Mt. LeConte.  Mom, Greg, Emily and Zac took one car to the mountains while Michael and I took another.   A few miles outside of Knoxville we came to a complete stop so I hopped out of the car to see if I could find out what was going on. A friendly truck driver told us that a tractor trailer truck had caught on fire.  We sat in traffic for close to an hour and half (if I remember correctly).   Mom's car had a lot of fun playing "two truths and lie" during their wait, while I had my own kind of fun - pumping while trying to hide from the "friendly" truck driver.  Soon after the traffic stopped, the rain started.  Here we are in the middle of a drought and the one day we don't need rain we get a monsoon.  Greg made the comment that the "signs" were telling us to turn around.  In the middle of a drought we get a down pour and in the middle of a down pour a truck catches fire.  We muscled on inspite of the omens.

Since we lost so much time in the traffic jam, we decided to forgo our dinner at Mellow Mushroom and opted for Sonic burgers under the awning.

 Emily and Zac at Sonic.

We pulled into the Alum Cave parking lot at around 11:30 CST.  Waiting for us was Tracey, Jerry, Josh and Dustin.  We all loaded into Jerry and Tracey's van and drove to the Newfound Gap parking lot.  On the way up we got stopped by some road workers and had to get "piloted" up.  When we got to the parking lot we all geared up; Michael really hated his "fanny pack."  I thought he looked  marvelous.   Then we took our group "start" picture.    To get our blood going, Jerry turned on a little "Gonna Fly Now." 

Mom and Emily at the start of the trail head.

Mom picked this night to hike because the moon was scheduled to be full.  She was absolutely right - we had a full moon -  covered by clouds. So we hiked by the light of the "hazy" moon. We all had either flashlights or headlamps that lit the way well. I caught some grief over the flashlight that I borrowed from Finn - it looks like a firefly.   We took Boulevard to the top.  I have hiked Boulevard before but forgot how covered it is.  We spent most of the hike in heavy tree cover and tall grass on either side of the trail.  At times we thought we had lost the trail due to the tall grass.

We traveled in two groups.  The first, lead the entire way by Zac, consisted of:  Zac, Emily, Me, Michael, Josh and Dustin - in that order.  Even when we would stop for a water break we all fell back into this formation.  I'm sorry Josh and Dustin if we went too slow.  The second, led by Mom was: Mom, Tracy, Jerry and Greg.  We youngsters thought we were really smokin' our parents.  We took off  and lost them pretty quickly.  However, no matter where we were on the trail, if there was break in the conversation we could hear Mom and Tracey's voice not too far off in the distance.  When we turned around we could see the light of their headlamps and realized that they were hot on our heels.   I was impressed with their pace. 

We had a nice hike up.  Boulevard does not have any natural resting points so we never stopped for more that a few minutes at a time on the trail to drink water.  I don't think that stopped to sit once.  We had high spirits for most the hike. We talked about our favorite TV shows, crazy people in the woods, snake bites and how irritated we were that we seemed to be going downhill as much as uphill.  There were no mile markers on the trail, and we couldn't see anything past a few feet around us, so we had no idea where we were most of the time.  I assumed that we were making good time. Around 3:00 a.m. we all came to the conclusion that we weren't quite as far as we thought we were.  (I think at the time I though we had traveled sixish miles.)  You could literally hear the morale being sucked out of the proverbial room.  Not ten minutes later we came to a marker.  We learned that our destination, Myrtle Point, was only .2 miles away!  I couldn't believe it.

The hike up was surreal.  It felt like from the time we started to the time we reached the top was only about an hour.  I literally thought that we had been on the trail for 30 minutes when we had been hiking for over an hour and a half.  I guess that is what night hiking will do to you.  Taking into account the darkness, the unfamiliarity with the trail, the lack of natural markers, the lack of mile markers and the extreme fatigue (though I didn't feel it at the time) I'm not surprised that I was a little disoriented as to time.   I will admit that at first I was a little edgy.  Cowardly as I am, I made sure that I traveled in the middle of the pack - I did not want to lead. The darkness combined with the shadows thrown from our flashlights made my eyes play tricks on me. I did get a little jumpy from time to time.  I psyched myself out thinking about snakes in the high grass and crazy mountain people living in the foliage.  I just knew that someone was lurking in the shadows listening waiting to grab us. (I have watched far too many scary movies.)  I always felt better when the adults caught up because I knew that Uncle Jerry was packing :)  I was also "packing."  I grabbed one of the pocket knives that Papa gave me and stuck it in my pocket before taking off.   Before getting started I wasn't scared at all - but there is something about the dark that caused me to be a little more nervous that normal. It certainly didn't help that every so often Zac would swat at something in front of him.  Mostly it was bats.  I have never seen so many bats in my life.  Poor Zac, he had a totally different experience that the rest of us.  Since we were following we all could see not only our light, but the lights in front of us.  Zac had to make the entire trip looking ahead in complete darkness. 

Thankfully, the nerves all but subsided after about an hour.   I didn't even watch for snakes anymore.  I have to admit that the darkness is what ended up making the trip so much fun.  

We arrived at Myrtle Point a little after 4:00 our time.  The sun was set to rise at 5:22 (our time).  We were so worried that we wouldn't make it in time.  As it turns out we made it in plenty of time.  I used the cover of dark to pump while Em, Zac and Michael ragged me about it.  15 minutes later the adults arrived.  (Nothing in this world makes me feel like more of child than going to LeConte.  There are two distinct groups of hikers:  the parents and the kids.  As always, the kids ran ahead.)  The adults, of course, made it before sunrise too.  

Mom and Greg at the Point.

It was, as to be expected, quite chilly on top.  Once we were settled, we snuggled close for warmth and fell asleep.  I don't think I had laid down for more than a minute before I was out like a light.  I was not the only one.  

Greg, trying to keep warm.

The sun did rise around 5:22. 

A picture of me at 5:22.  Yes, that's right, I slept right through it.

Next we hiked the .9 miles to LeConte Lodge.

Josh, right before the cranky lodge keeper barked at him to get off the rail.  At least we got the picture - not too shabby.

Next we ate breakfast at the lodge.  I had a turkey sandwich and some of Mom's gorp.  After lunch, the scene was pretty dismal.  Me, Michael, Zac, Emily, Dustin and Josh fell asleep on the deck; some in chairs, some sprawled out all over the place.  We learned that when the dinner bell rang, the lodge patrons came outside to find us littering the deck.  Tracey told me that they stared at us for a long time with the most perplexed looks on their faces. I wish I could've seen it.  I'm sure our rag-tag group of sleeping misfits was a sight to behold.

We had a monopoly on the deck.  While on the deck I overheard a group of people talking about the "people on the porch" that hiked at night.  They said it with a tone in their voice that made me think that they thought we were either really awesome of complete wackos.  Not sure which.

Before we headed out, some members of the group bought T-shirts and then we found a place to take a group picture.

The Night Hikers

Me and MJ right before we headed down the mountain.

We went down Alum Cave.  We started the descent at 8:30. I haven't been on Alum Cave in years. I forgot how steep it is.  Dustin made the most poignant statement of the entire hike - "the best call of the whole trip was not going up Alum Cave."  The trip down was great.  It started with everyone giving me grief about my shoes.  I made the informed decision to hike in my Merrell shoes. They are good outdoor shoes, but the tread is a little light. Since I haven't worn my boots since having children I was afraid of getting hot spots/blisters and opted instead for guaranteed comfort.  As we got started Emily snarkily said, "hey Erin, are you sure want to go down the mountain in those shoes?"  She proceed to infer that going "barefoot" would be better.  I am happy to report that I didn't fall, turn an ankle or get blisters.  I demanded an engraved apology at the bottom.

Me proving to Michael that it IS safe to drink the water once we reach a certain elevation.  However, Zac made me second guess myself so right after Emily snapped the picture I spit it out.  Point well made!

Almost done!

Once at the bottom, we cooled our aching feet in the freezing water.  Once Em got her shoes off she saw that she had earned an enormous blister.  Me and my shoes felt vindicated as I displayed my blister free feet.

It was a great trip; tiring but great.  I am so happy that I got an opportunity to do a night hike to LeConte.  Kudos to mom for planning it. Its one trip that I will never forget and always remember fondly.