Hike on Mt. LeConte sometime soon.. Anyb ody??

“I am looking to do a hike on Mt LeConte sometime soon. In the next few weeks. Anyone interested? I need some help to plan it. I want to climb the Bear Pen Hollow trail and then return on the Alum Cave trail. Anyone know anything about the Bear Pen Hollow trail? Where it is located and that kind of stuff? I heard it is pretty technical for the east. Its not an official park trail either. If possible I think it would be cool to get all the way out to Icewater spings to stay the night and check out the jumpoff and bunyan. Let me know if anyone is interested, and what ideas you have, what dates are good, etc etc...”

“Hi nashvillehiker! Here's a link to a wild country forum where there's a guy (griztrax, aka gt) who lives in your general area and is extremely knowledgeable about your area and constantly hikes through these mountains. I hope I'm not out-a-bounds here by providing a link to a specific forum, but you may find it a valuable resource to add to your website lists. Oh, and by the way, you'll find you and griztrax would have much in common when it comes to ideology! He's a great guy. Hope this helps.

griztrax's wild country forum”

“I don't know anything about the Bear Pen Hollow trail, but I did half the Alum trail after New Year's. I had a blast making a day hike of it. Parts of it would have been challenging if the trail had been snow or ice-covered.”

“Buck, glad to see you back. I made mention of you in another thread just now and was wondering whatever happened to you.”

“Thanks Buck.. I'll take a look at that.

The Bear Pen Hollow trail is apparently the first/oldest trail to the summit of LeConte. It is not maintained by the park. Its a very steep and technical trail. I love the Alum Cave trail. Once up on top of LeConte the Boulevard is awesome too.

Anyone want to do this hike? I am open for ideas and suggestions. Nothing is set in stone.”

“Hi dayhiker! Thanks for askin'! I didn't see the post you're referrin' to. As for me, I died in a tragic climbing accident but after three days in the grave, God raised me from the dead and sent me back to TT to set this place straight. I had to take like 42 showers to get rid of the stink, but I'm back. Sporadically anyway. I still may wanna keep the "possible troll" status, just to be mysterious. OOoooOOOoooo!”

“Buck, I'm starting to play with some effects on my camera. Here are a few pictures”

“hey, I am a moron for asking.. but what is a troll?”

“That's when someone uses another handle to either stir up trouble or yank someones chain in a fun way. The guys that are good at it will ask a question that's just believable enough to get responses. I don't think you're a troll, but an example would be I want to hike to a 6600' peak in the South during winter, but need help planning the trip and want to go in 2 weeks. You'll have people give good advice and you'll have people that think you're just messing with ya. I do wish I had the gear for trips at elevation in the Smokies during winter. Maybe next year.

There are 3 people whose knowledge of the Smokies leaves everyone else in the dust. They are humanpackmule, nowslimmer, and smokygirl. I'm betting one of them will respond soon.

Good luck with your trip.”

“(sarcasm) What? How could their knowledge leave everyone else in the dust? I've been there! So what if it was only 4 nights total? Doesn't that qualify me for expert status? (end sarcasm)

Actually dayhiker is right. They offered a lot of insight when I was planning my trip...”

“I have some insight into the smokies. Been there several times and love old Leconte.. Favorate mountain. I want to hike her in every season, hence trying to plan a hike with in the next few weeks. I love 6000 footers. Favorate elevation.”

“I'm searching for the coolest hike in the smokies”

“I have still yet to get over to LeConte. About a year ago I had a thread named something like "Favorite hikes of the Smokies". I was basically asking what everyones favorite 3 day trips were and got some great responses.”

“Didn't mean to sound like you didn't know the Smokys, only that I can't compare to the three dayhiker mentioned.

I can only speak much of two hikes: Chasteen and Alum. Alum's easily my favorite. I don't think I'd hike Chasteen again, but I would take a day to complete Alum next time.”

“Bear pen hollow trail isn't on any of my maps. It must either be an old trail that is now an unmaintained trail or a manway. Treebait has an old hiking guide of the area that it might be listed in if it the former case. I'll try and look it up for you

This site has a trip report on that trail but his info sucks on detail

I know someone else who might know about it. I'll see if he's heard of it.

Alum cave is a nice trail, especially in winter as you should get less traffic. Be aware that it has a lot of seeps (as in water) that freeze over in winter. I'd suggest bringing instep crampons just in case. Last time I hiked that trail it was pretty trecherous due to the ice. I didn't have any ice creepers (crampons) but we made it down just fine. You should be fine too if you just take it easy but crampons would make it a little easier.”

“Bear Pen Hollow is not an official park trail and is unmaintained. From what I have heard of it, it was the first route to the top. Its on the south face and goes up the headwall and from what it sounds is pretty much scrambling through low brush. I may need to get a new pack for it since mine is an external. I love alum cave trail. I haven't done Rainbow falls yet though. Thanks for your help.”

“Thanks Humpbackmule for the site suggestion. I saw that yesterday and is where I got the idea. You're right about the fact the info sucks. No friggin details at all.”

“I posted you a response to your Bear Pen Hollow Questions on Griztrax. I hike with Dave aka GT the forum moderator. He is a great guy. Many of my hiking buddies from our core group post on that forum. I didn't make the connection with the post on here til a few minutes ago. I won't hike Bear Pen Hollow with you for love nor money. Not enough on it to see to suit my tastes. I will tell you that if you need maps of the hike and info...... You need to purchase a copy of Ken Wise's book The Comprehensive Guide to Hiking the Smokies. Its the Bible for those with a taste for hardcore offtrail Smokies stuff. The history is excellent. Directions in it ....... well.....
Lets put it this way. They're sketchy, but if you can make them work for ya..... you'll be glad you tried. I'll go Winter hiking in the SMokies with ya . I can provide some other suggestions for something with some pucker factor for you. LOL”

“The Bear Pen Hollow trail was just a suggestion. I am open to ideas. I like hiking out LeConte. If you or anyone has other suggestions that they want to make that's awesome. I really just want do a winter hike in the smokies.”

“I personally want to ascend Mt. LeConte via Lowes Creek and/or Cannon Creek. Lots to see up those drainages. Then I'd hit The Boulevard Trail up top where those creeks fizzle out. Head for the Summit. Lowes Creek would probably be my pick for Winter between the two. Some challenging boulder forms there. Get Slowwalk over on griztrax to tell you about doing Alum Cave Bluff with her sister in Winter! One crampon a piece on the outside foot and they made darn good time! She rocks!”

“What's the weather like around March 1st? I'm fixin' up a possible hike down there....then.”

“Changeable comes to mind. It is still quite cold and icy especially at elevation. I would not be suprised in March to still find icy spots and snow on the routes to the top. I'd say the Alum Cave Bluff trail would still have a good chance of being treacherous. Crampons would be helpful and cold weather preparations in order even if it seemed balmy at the time.”

“March is the most chageable month there. I've been there in shorts and a tshirt and I've been there in snow up to my knees. You just need to watch the weather.”

“Let's do Lowes Creek then. That sounds like a mighty fine idea. Now when is a good time for everyone? I can only go on weekends and I would like to go as soon as possible. I want some pictures of LeConte with snow on top. I hope to get a good number of people on this trip. At which shelter would everyone like to crash? I was thinking Icewater spring.”

“does anybody want to do a winter hike on Mt. LeConte sometime in the next few weeks? Or anywhere in the Somies for that matter?”