This trip is back by popular demand. hopefully we will be able to hike up Alum cave trail to Mt. Leconte. The trail is roughly 5 miles with some beautiful scenery on the way up. more info on Alum cave trail can be found at: http://www.localhikes...
We will be meeting at REI in Kennesaw at 7pm and leaving at 7:15pm sharp on Friday night. depending on the time, we will camp the night at smokemont campsite or in a gatlinburg campsite ( hotel). in the morning breaking camp at 7am sharp and be on Alum cave trail by 8am. This is not a marathon so we will not be racing to the top. once at the top, hopefully we will have time to explore some trails and be able to watch the sunset from cliff tops and in the morning hike over to myrtle point to watch the sunrise. at 9am we will break camp and be on the trail by 10am and the ETA at the trailhead should be 4pm. that should put us back in the ATL not to late. if you have any questions you can reach me at 678-378-7760.
Trail difficulty: strenuous
Hike time: 6 hours
Items to bring: 2-liters of water, purifying tablets, backpacking stove, 1 breakfast, 2 lunches, snacks and 2 dinners and TP :-)
Winter items that you must have for your safety: hand & foot warmers, extra wool socks, rain gear, crampons, trekking poles, space blanket, 2 plastic bags, 20 degree or lower sleeping bag, sleeping pad and sunglasses or ski goggles. All of these items can be found at your local outfitter. also bring a tent for the first night depending on where we stay.
Directions: from REI in buford to Oconaluftee visitor center
Turn right to merge onto I-985 N, Continue onto US-23 N Entering North Carolina, Slight right to merge onto Sylva Rd/US-23 N/US-441 N/U.S 441 Bypass/US-64 E, Continue to follow US-441 N, Take the ramp onto Great Smoky Mountains Expy/US-441 N/US-74 W, Merge onto US-441 N via the ramp to Great Smoky Mts/National Park/Cherokee , Turn right at US-19 N/US-441 N, Take the 3rd left onto US-441 N
Destination will be on the left. We will meet here and then head up to our campsite as a group. drive time is estimated to 3 1/2 hours
Mileage: 310miles round trip. carpool cost is $24.00 based on 4 people per car.
camping cost for Friday night will be announced on February 10th. all money must be in cash and payed at the beginning of the trip.
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hey everyone. Lan and I had a great time up on Mt. Leconte. there was 31 inches of snow. we met some pretty cool people while up there. and when we got back to town we had really good pizza that one of our new friends introduced us too. can't wait to go again. oh yeah, we did not go up alum cave trail. we went up bullhead trail because 441 was closed do to the weather.
For everyone that didn't make it I'm sorry and hope to see you guys soon. We will try to plan something a little easier next month. Mathew and I had a ton of fun. It was an adventure the moment we met up. It was fun, challenging, exhausting, but very rewarding.
We finally made it to the hotel at 2:30 am. We left ATL around 5pm and has been in traffic since. Near the TN state line we came to a dead stop on interstate 75. Time for bed now and a fun hike tomorrow :)
hey guys, just got back from england and had a great time with my son. hope to see you all this weekend on Mt. Leconte
Almost talked back into it. Advised on how hard winter hiking is, frozen feet, frozen drinking water, etc. I'll have to be maybe. I'll let you know by deadline
Looks like we're gonna be hitting the road Saturday morning. Fawn, just borrow some of Lan's gear. It's easy enough to share. :)
Ariel, wow bro :( when are you planning on leaving?
Fawn, if that's the only reason you are not going then you should come. I have an extra fuel bottle and I'll share my stove.
Although I have plenty of warm clothes and maybe even a warm enough sleeping bag, I know I don't have the right cooking gear. Sorry to sign up and drop out, maybe I'll be ready for WINTER backpacking next year. Can't wait till Spring!!
Hey guys, I may have to drop out of this trip so I can hit the road to Colorado sooner. This trip took a lot out of me last time and I needed a few days to recover, some time I don't have now that I have to leave sooner than expected.
The forty below kit looks really cool and you'll really want to make sure you have drinking water on the trip... Winter weather dehydrates you without you realizing it! The neoprene nalgene cover I used didn't work so well. http://www.rei.com/product/649235 The water still froze and the cap froze on. I may resort to keeping my nalgenes in my pack and insulating them with clothing or something this time...
Yeah it does take a while to melt snow, especially when you hit powdery dry snow. It melts down to almost nothing so you have to keep refilling it to get it to water. It takes a lot of fuel, easily 3-4 times as much as you need during the summer, so bringing plenty of fuel is a really good idea. I use the midsize canister and that would be good for a trip of this duration.
I'm using the Simmerlite and I think Ariel got the Whisperlite Internationale. The Simmerlite is smaller but only uses white liquid fuel. The Whiperlite Internationale can burn a variety of liquid fuels.
Lan N do you have a preference on the type fuel cannister for your MSR stove? does it matter? Thanks http://cascadedesigns.com/msr/stoves/basecamp-stoves/cate...
Please note that it takes a long time and a lot of fuel to melt snow. Liquid stoves are strongly recommended over canister stoves. Ariel and I will both have our MSR stoves. You may just want to bring fuel and use ours.
The last time we went most of our water froze. Please make sure you have a good winter water system. www.sectionhiker.com is a great place for info. I will be testing out my new water system from 40below. Here is a link to it :
http://www.40below.co/product_detail_public.php?ProductID...
I will also be using a hose with insulation from REI. I think it will end up freezing though...
Frozen waterfall and snow!!! Loved the pics from your last trip. I'm in if I can get my winter sleeping bag and gear by then.
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