LeConte Lodge/Shelter

I finally decided to put myself on the list for reservations at the Lodge. I have no idea how far down the list I am, but they allow you to sign up for three dates and as cancellations occur, you move up the list. The last time I checked, it was like three years long. I might get lucky on one of the dates and shorten that curve. Then I can stay at the lodge in my life time, lol.

In the mean time, I managed to snag a reservation at the shelter for the end of the month. I have stayed in the shelter a few times so nothing new there for me, but it will be the first time NGB has summited LeConte.

Has anyone stayed at the Lodge?

I never stayed at the lodge, but I had an interesting night at the shelter a couple of Februaries ago. That is a fun place to camp, no fires allowed anymore. Stay warm! I love LeConte.

From what I heard, they walled up the fireplace in the LeConte Shelter because someone fried hamburgers in there and they couldn't stop the bears from licking the rocks.

The fire ban comes from too many yahoos trying to cut down green trees for firewood.

I stayed at the shelter many, many years ago in March and a blizzard erupted. We were damn fortunate to get out of there. I have also stayed there when it was about -15 out. I have since limited my trips to the LeConte Shelter to late April thru Early October. There are plenty of places at lower elevations I can hike in the winter. I hike the upper elevations mostly in the summer.

I've stayed at the lodge in one of the cabins, long time ago (20+ years). Awesome food. One of the best peach cobblers I've ever had. And yeah, a lot of bears. I watched one of the cooks backhand one outside the kitchen.

I've never even been to GSMNP

Gotta get there Zac! Riding the state line of North Carolina and Tennessee is a trip!

No kidding. Won't be this year though. I'm already out of vacay days at least until August.

Just let me know when you are going to be here. If I can't squeeze in a hike, I can probably manage to provide a shuttle if needed.

When Opie and I camped there in 2004 in February, I packed a 20* bag, because Gatlinburg was only getting down in the 40s. Well, it got down to neg 7 on the summit and it snowed all night like all hell. Getting to the summit via the Bulls Head took us about 8 hours. I remember eating dinner and trying to eat it as it was freezing before me. The wind was blowing so hard that even though there were tarps at the front of the lean-to, the snow and rim ice was blowing through and whacking me in the face all night. I never shivered so much in my life, before or since. That was easily the coldest night of my life. And as a bonus, there was a dude from GA camping with us and he couldn't stop talking about a book of the deaths in GSMNP and the chapter just on LeConte... yay, nothing like hypothermia stories when you're borderline hypothermic.

I was lucky to be alive the next day.

Dude, taking a 20 degree bag to LeConte in February is never a good idea. Not being overly critical, but it gets nasty up there, quick, in the winter.

I stayed at the LeConte shelter a couple of years ago in October and it was dang cold too. Got down to about 15 at night. The sunset from the rocks was amazing. I would love to get back up there during the summer.

I was a newbie then.. I would never make that mistake now. I wouldn't go up to Leconte in the summer with a 20* bag.

LOL, well, I will go up there in the Summer with a 20 degree bag, but you can bet that I will be watching the forecast pretty close before I go up there at the end of this month. If I even remotely suspect a cold snap, I will take the heavy hardware.

yay, nothing like hypothermia stories when you're borderline hypothermic.

Borderline my eye!

ENS didn't even ask to spoon once that night...he wasn't that bad off.

I did have an inkling of noobism when he pulled out his canister stove in the -7 degree weather.

ENS, we should plan a return trip to find your pot...lol

lol

I do want a return trip!

I hope we get even colder weather and more snow.. this time the Alum Cave Trail.

I am a expert at Freezing My Ass Off.

LeConte should be down near freezing next weekend overnight. Hopefully, it will be clear.

Lat time I was there it was March, it was snowing and I had a 35 deg bag and a liner.

The gear budget went up radically upon my return to lower elevations.

I am taking a 20 degree bag. I just never know what to expect on LeConte.

eww sounds exciting. I'd like to get down that way and actually do some hiking.....maybe we could plan a trip??????

Would you need a 15 degree bag in June perhaps? I'm not lugging my other bag up any more hills (too big, and too heavy).

In June, even on LeConte, I wouldn't expect it to be below 40.

It was warm last night. Weather pretty much sucked though. We got drenched coming out this morning. It was NGB's first trip to LeConte. I was hoping she would be able to catch at least a few views, but it wasn't in the cards.

Oh sorry to hear that.

There is always next time.

Coming back through Maryville today, I got a good look at LeConte and the snow cap. It was around 50 up there Saturday night in the Shelter.

15 last night and 1" of snow. Missed the last snow hike of the season by two days.