LeConte Descent

Delivery day on Mt. Leconte, and the Llama caravan has already delivered and is resting at LeConte Lodge. Used because their soft pad feet damage the trail less than the hooved donkeys, llamas have been used in the GSMNP for about 37 years to make deliveries to the Lodge.

I should have taken more pictures of the trail. Its grade was easy and many places without rocks. I took this picture because of the carpet of moss found on much of this north slope.

I was simply fascinated with the Carolina Bugbane.

 I observed to my daughter that it reminded me of a plant in Costa Rica, Sombrilla de Pobre (Poor Man's Umbrella) but with much smaller leaves. I wish there was a person in the picture for scale. The leaves were five feet across.

Back in the Southern Appalachians, the trail eased down to Trillium Gap. We took a side trip out to Brushy Mtn about 0.2 miles.* I wanted to show my daughter the 360 degree view of the front range, the Great Valley, and the front of Mt. LeConte. But in the intervening years from when I had been there last, the Heath Bald had been overtaken by Laurel and Rhododendron and even some small trees. Following is a view off toward the Northeast. You could not see the valley at all and Mt. LeConte not so well as I would have liked.

My daughter did spy the benchmark, the first we had seen of the day. 

The Heath growing up through the lichen had a very curious look.

It was a nice distraction from our sore muscles to rest at Grotto Falls.

You can see the shallow grotto in the shadows behind my right shoulder.

I particularly like this picture for some reason. It speaks of seclusion and discovery.

A man took our picture behind the falls. The angle that he chose got a little carried away with the "behind" part.

What is the fascination with stacking rocks in the creek? It is a relatively new phenomenon in these parts. We used to build little dams to back up the creek for wading when I was young. Now you see these carefully constructed stacks. Do they have a meaning or do people just do it because they have seen others do it and it is a challenge to stack them?

Mountain creeks are a source of life and serenity.

We made it out before dark. I had two hours of driving to get home. Another good, challenging, peaceful, contemplative day in nature. If I don't tire of time in the woods observing at a distance God's beauty through His works, I never will grow tired of being in His presence for eternity. Dear reader, be sure that you know Him through His Son, Jesus, so that you too may abide with Him forever.

*Given a roundtrip of 0.4 miles, that means our hike was actually 16.0 miles. Awesome!