Snowfall adds beauty, work at LeConte Lodge

Deep snow at LeConte Lodge (Photo from High on LeConte blog site)

We missed the event by four days, but that’s the way things happen.

Wifey and I last week spent a few days in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We camped at Smokemont, just north of Cherokee, NC, for two nights The skies were clear, the temperatures on the cool side. I loved it.

Not quite rocking chair weather (Photo from High on LeConte blog site)

Earlier this year I told wifey that sometime in December or January, when snowfall was expected, I wanted to drive up and experience the beauty of the area in white.

Little did I know that the area was going to have an even earlier snowfall than usual. We left Monday morning and traveled to Marietta, Ga., to visit family. Weather reports indicated that north Georgia was possibly going to get a dusting of snow.

Skies turn clear following snowfall (Photo from High on LeConte blog site)

But what happened where we were camping, was unbelievable. A foot or more of snow fell in the area. We didn’t realize that would happen when up there, and because of other obligations, we had to head on home.

Portions of the park were closed, Interstate 40 through the mountain pass was closed, as was other avenues of travel.

Gatlinburg had snow. Cherokee had snow. And we didn’t.  

Snow piles up at LeConte Lodge (Photo from High on LeConte blog site)

But we did learn of a website that would give us daily updates of what is going on at the higher elevations.

On the top of Mt. LeConte is a lodge of sorts. We hiked up to it years ago, but never got around to spending the night.

Well, we found out that there are those who spend all winter there, taking care of the place and hosting travelers. And they have a daily blog called  “High on LeConte”  (www.highonleconte.com/daily-posts)

Since I found out about their blog, I decided to steal a few pictures so others will know about their site and enjoy the beauty of the elevated areas during the year.

They offer an online store that allows ordering of different kinds of merchandise.

We have never met bloggers Chris and Allyson Virden, but hope to some day, although we would probably have to run across them at a lower elevation. Age sort of keeps us off the mountain tops.

We can only wish them the best of luck as they take care of one of the great places in the park.

Next post: November 11, 2014