Mt. Leconte trip report

“Hey everyone I got my mt. leconte trip report up why don't you go check it out and let me know what you think of my adventure.

My adventure”

“Nice going! Sounds like you had a great trip. The speed of your climb is fantastic, almost four times my speed there on a Christmas Eve.

At the cave I was worried because giant ice cycles were falling from the top right onto the trail. I recall one area of rocks/boulders where I had to slide up on my fanny. Some others ahead of me turned around, not willing to risk it on the ice. But my slowness allowed the afternoon sun to do a good job clearing some of the trail.

How were the winds and how deep was the snow on the top? Did you use your crsmpons? And what did you use for hiking sticks? Did the hiker make it to the top, the one who was lagging behind? Without rain gear I'm surprised that you were able to complete the trip.

You wrote a good trip report. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.”

“Great report. Way to stick out the weather.”

“that was a beautiful report!....thanks for sharing your adventure and a great shot of you and your dad.
I enjoyed that hike many a time, but never under icy conditions........way to persevere! ..
.the cabled section was freaky enough to me in DRY weather with a pack (once i went up there with my son in a baby backpack.....for some reason, i could not go across that section that day...)
really nice report....”

“What no rain gear? We don't need no stinkin' rain gear.

At least Ima didn't wuss out, errr...change his plans cause of rain like some other TTers did recently.

nudge nudge ;)

Cool trip dude, thanks for the report.”

“"The next eighteen hours were spent in our sleeping bags keeping warm."

dude.. come on now.. *doesn't say nothing.. but IS thinking something* .. you gotta prepare better.. :)”

“The worst trips usually turn out to be the best. However, you may want to consider keeping an emergency poncho tucked in a pocket of your backpack. It's not great but it's better than nothing at all.”

“No I was prepared TownDawg but with it pouring rain there's not much else to do but lay in your bag.

Nowslimmer,
The wind was kicking pretty good couldn't tell you how fast but the tarp that was on front looked like it was gonna rip off. I would say there is probably 8 inches of snow all together. There was snow then it rained and froze then it snowed again so there are a couple of different layers sitting up there right now.”

“hehe.. I hear ya.. I remember a trip we did back in May, where the fourth/fifth day out, it rained, and rained and rained..

"Everybody else that came into the shelter that night was as soaked as we were, and all they wanted was to dry socks, and shirts, and anything else they had wet. Which in the case of most was every single item they were carrying on their back. I remember Brooke was so wet and cold she just backed up to the fire and dried her whole self, wet shorts and all."

Mollies Ridge Shelter”

“I line the main comparment of my pack with a trash compactor bag.

Never had the contents of my pack get wet....even when I fell into water over my head or the time it rained all week.”

“I pack EVERYthing in Ziplocs.. it was not skully and me who were soaked..”

“Yeah, we just had wet socks.”

“I've seen your pack TD. I remember the ziplock assortment.

It's just I keep hearing the phrase "everything in my pack was soaked" For less cost than half a can of soda that problem would never happen again.”

“well skully will back me on this.. we saw Sooo many folks backpacking.. who were:

a) carrying WAY too much stuff
b) carrying their equipment in a non-efficient way

Luved the PAINT CANS!”

“The Paint Cans!!!



AHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!”

“They must have been doing a little shelter improvement.

Ya know what Spence Field shelter needs? A nice plate rail and some bunting over the bear fence.”

“the one we are talking about?.. this guy hauled in 4 paint cans of food.. was scared the BEARS might get his food.. Dang.. talk about heavy?”

“Some guy was packing them as bear cannisters.




AHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!”

“4 paint cans?!?!

Lemme guess, 4 day trip right? 1 per day?”

“His pack was AT LEAST 60lbs! He had to turn back and cut his trip short. It was too heavy, he couldn't finish.”

“well most of the shelters in GSMNP are under-going renovation based on the new bear philosophy and results changes in design.

the problem with the 'bear fence' of course is that it encouraged folks to bring all their dang food into the shelter..”

“mice need to eat too!”

“ya.. they had just hauled their butt all the way up the mountain.. as did this other couple.. they were recently married I think?.. and this was their FIRST trip I am pretty sure.. "We met Mark and Barbara from Manhattan, who were married recently, and thought this might be a nice honeymoon"

Oh my gosh.. it took BOTH of them to drag this ONE pack in.. literally DRAG.. and he was carrying the OTHER one.. I am sure they had 70lbs each.”

“Yeah you were telling me about that one.

TD- First backpacking trip?

Them- How did you know?

That story killed me. How could you tell indeed. Like all backpackers drag their packs down the trial.”

“It's really a shame we didn't get a picture of that. I've never seen anything like it. Their packs were as tall as they were and it took one on each end to move them. I don't know how they got them on much less hiked with them. But they had everything they could possibly need for an 11 day trip.”

“Me and Skully were standing there talking to 'ranger rick' about the time they walked up.. oh my gosh.. it was the image in my mind I will most likely NEVER forget.”

“I think we co-opted Imahiker's thread again.”

“Sorry Imahiker.”

“That Imahiker, what a swell guy!”

“Sound like he really perservered and had a great trip in spite of the weather conditions!”

“well it proves something.. if you can't think of anything to talk about.. go TAKE A HIKE. :)”

“That's next weekend for me.
Ocala ECT.”

“Paint cans, I can't believe it! What kind of idiot would bring paint cans. I tried to tell my dad to pack everything in garbage bags before we went. He just packed a few things. Everything else got wet. That was the only time I wished I had a pack cover because a backpack gets REALLY heavy when it is soaked with water.”

“"A backpack gets REALLY heavy when it is soaked with water."

imahikerdotcom
04:59:16 PM
01/23/02

Depends on your pack.. most materials nowadays do not take on water hardly at ALL.. so their weight does not change.. :)”