Alum Cave Bluff Trail To Mt. Leconte
Published March 22nd, 2007 in Hiking, Hiking Log, Smoky Mountains, TravelMy wife, son and I were in Gatlinburg for 5 days for Spring Break. Since we were there for so long, I was excited that I would have a chance to do some hiking in the park. I decided I was going to hike up to Alum Cave Bluff on Monday morning. With the time having changed recently, the official sunrise time was around 7:45. I awoke around 6:30 and left the chalet around 7. I made it to the trail head around 7:30 and, after making sure my pack was in order and doing a little stretching, i was on my way. Temperature was around 25 degrees according to my small thermometer.
See my photos from this hike on Flickr. You can also on this hike.
The first mile of the trip went by rather quickly. In 30 minutes I was sitting next to Styx Branch and about to climb the stairs through Arch Rock. In another 45 minutes, I was climbing up into the bluff. The temperature the night before was below freezing in Gatlinburg, so I am sure it was well below that here at the bluff. There were large ice cicles hanging from the top of the bluff, and the combination of the sun and rising temps had caused them to start melting. Just as I sat down for a quick break, I heard a large cluster of ice come crashing down near the top end of the bluff.
As I was sitting, two guys came up into the bluff. I remembered seeing them in the parking lot when I left the trailhead. They were hiking up to Leconte, then out Boulevard to the AT and out to Newfound Gap. They went on up the trail and I never caught up with them. They were the only people I would see all morning until I started back down the trail.
Originally, i had planned on hiking to the bluff and back down, but seeing that it only took me just over an hour to get 2 miles in, I decided to go ahead and hike the rest of the way up. I made my way up the trail, taking another quick breather at Gracie’s Pulpit before ascending through Huggins Hell.
There was lots of ice on the trail, especially as I approached and passed the Upper Steps. There were even some sections between the upper steps and cliff top that were heavily iced with no safety cables. This made for some tricky maneuvering on the descent.
I hit the Rainbow Falls trail intersection around 10:30 (3 hours into the hike) and made my way to the Lodge to check things out. The trail out to Cliff Top was under about 2 inches of ice, as well as the trail intersection up towards High Top and Myrtle Point. I decided not to attempt those and just went down and relaxed on the porch of the Lodge office. I saw a few people moving around the lodge doing work, so I didn’t bother them. There was also a man showing around a group of 4 that looked like they may be working at the lodge this year.
I packed up and left the lodge around 11. I passed a hiker below Cliff Top. I passed two more as I approached the Upper Steps. On the way down, I saw more and more people that I assume just got a later start. I was back at the car around 1:00 and on my way back to the chalet to soak my legs in the hot tub before heading out to Cades Cove with the Family.
This was my first hike up Alum Cave Bluff Trail and up to Leconte and I am already planning our next trip so that I can hike it again and make my way up to the actual summits. Maybe I can even make it an overnight stay at the lodge.
You can also check out the video i shot on the way up the mountain.
Nice, thanks. Glad that you foinally gopt to the lodge.