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Mt. LeConte – the wordy post

Posted on | July 18, 2007 | 3 Comments

I hope you’re not sick of the pictures.  I should be kind and put them in a Flickr folder and just link to that but I’m a giver.  If your one love is fiber, here’s what I have for you today

Yes, I’m attempting toe-ups again.  This time using yarn I dyed while flirting with the idea of selling handpainted yarn, until I realized how much work is involved  and how I would have to forfeit sleep, eating and my current tv series addiction (Sopranos) and you know – I can’t live without food.  So, there’s some obvious pooling going on here.  Me no likey.  What I *do* like about it is that I can see how well some of the colors go together for future dye projects - I’m really digging that gold/brown/olive combo, for instance.  But yes, I ripped these back to the toe and am trying out another stitch pattern.  Will report back after a few more repeats.

Oh!  I do have one more fiber-related item.  This is in the office at LeConte Lodge:

I think looms are really cool, mostly because I have no idea how they work and stand a snowball’s chance in hell of owning one.  The sign says “Please don’t mess with the loom!  Thank you, the weavers.”  I messed with the threads enough to see if they were dusty – they were not.  So someone either hikes up to LeConte to weave, or this is the handiwork of an employee of the Lodge.  Cool.

Okay, now the rest of the trip report.  Poor SB didn’t get hardly any sleep Sunday night, what with the boy talking in his sleep (arguing with people, sitting straight up in bed and trying to climb out, etc.) and me snoring (yes I do that sometimes, it’s awful).  So he started off the day with just a couple hours of sleep, and about 8 miles to hike.  Lovely.

This is the connector trail that leaves LeConte Lodge and took us to our outbound trail, Bullhead.  I took this picture to show that a large portion of the trails in the Smokies are covered in rocks, or scree, like this, making footing somewhat difficult, especially when wet.  It’s not bad if you’re hiking on level ground, but that rarely occurs.  Even though Bullhead is the second longest trail leading to/from LeConte, it’s our favorite because it’s the least traveled (we didn’t see one other person) and the 4,000 foot decline in elevation is a tiny bit easier on the knees when it’s dispersed over a longer distance.  That’s not to say that my knees weren’t screaming and I don’t wince in pain every time I flex my calf muscles today.  Hiking has gotten much harder for me over the past two years and it’s 100% related to my weight gain and laziness.  Onto happier subjects…

The rhododendron were in full bloom

and at times the trail was littered with their fallen petals.

This is the first time that my son paid more attention to his actual surroundings than whacking things with sticks. 

He noticed the little snails (and appreciated them! and didn’t want to crush them underfoot!) and the pretty ferns and the birds and clouds and different trees.  He kept his sense of humor when SB and I were both tired and hurting and ready to be off the trail.  I was very proud and happy he was hiking with us.

We only saw one bear, and that was from the safety of our car early Sunday morning.  My camera was in the trunk in my backpack and I totally forgot that my cell phone has a camera, so no picture.  The bear was completely uninterested in us, strolled across the road and munched on foliage, then scampered off.  It was very cool.  We did see A TON of bear scat on the Bullhead Trail, but SB talked me out of taking a picture.  I told him I knew quite a few bloggers who would appreciate the fact that I HAD to take a picture of the scat, but he won out. 

All in all, it was a really great trip.  It brought home the fact (once again) that I need to get this body into shape if I want to continue an activity that I love.  And I do, especially now that Drew is really showing an appreciation for nature and before puberty hits and he no longer wants to do anything with us parental types.  I want to be the cool mom who hikes, even if I don’t climb trees!

There are four boys in this tree.  Can you find them all?

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