Mt. LeConte

In case you don't already know, James and I are big fans of the Smokey Mountains. We've been on many hikes in the park over the past nine years, all of which were beautiful and unique in their own ways, but I believe that our hike up Mt. LeConte takes the cake. Maybe it was the hike, maybe it was the company or maybe the combination of the two....but it was fantastic!! We had such a blast and it could NOT have been any more perfect! Big thanks to the hubs for planning and organizing it all! This is something that he's been trying to get reserved for years and finally, last fall we got the news that we got in and had a cabin reserved for 12 at the Lodge. There are other smaller cabins for couples or groups of four, but going with a big group was so much fun!

We hiked up the mountain on Friday. It took us just over 3 hours and we gained over 2,500 ft. The trail was marked "strenuous" and I'd say that is a good way to describe it. Challenging but not so much so that you don't enjoy it. I enjoyed every bit of it. 

Dinner was served Friday night at the lodge and we devoured a table full of delicious food. FYI - I believe they bring fresh food up on lamas a few times a week. There's no way up the mountain other than by foot or four legs. Then after a beautiful (but cold) sunset we turned in for the night. We awoke to a cool foggy morning and another delicious home-cooked meal for breakfast...pancakes, biscuits, eggs and ham. It was so yummy! 

Then a couple hour hike back down the mountain followed by Five Guys in Gatlinburg!

****WARNING**** PHOTO OVERLOAD

There were just so many that I couldn't narrow them down any further. Sorry! And thanks to Grant and Jessica Dasher for 99% of these. My phone (camera) died on the mountain and was unrecoverable so I lost all of my photos. 

Dinner the night before

Getting ready to head up!

Did I mention that we nearly froze waiting for the sun to set?

But it was worth it!

Night view from our deck of Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge

Fog burned off to reveal another beautiful day!

Erin's cute pregnant belly!

We did it!