Mom and I starting our hike to Mt. LeConte Lodge early on a cloudy, wet, mid-Summer day.
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One positive aspect about the weather was that the colors along the trail were particularly vivid.
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One point seven miles down! Over six to go. :-(
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I was trying out my new LowePro Rover AW backpack. It was heavy with camera equipment: a SLR body, four lens, and a tripod, in addition to the 64oz of water and various overnight items. I didn't mean to test the pack's weather resistance so heavily on its inaugural run, but it held up ok with some drawbacks. The integral rain fly is a joke, and I ended up wrapping my rain jacket over the pack. The shoulder harness and hip belt were comfortable for the most part, but the shoulder straps required constant adjustment. I liked the hip pouch holding my Visor/GPS and lens caps.
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As the day wore on, the sunlight tried to burn through the clouds. It was unsuccessful, but did manage to brighten up the trail every now and then.
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We appreciated the occasional views that holes in the clouds offered.
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Mostly, we hiked through a solid cloud layer that sporadically dumped showers on us. I lost count of the number of times Mom took on and off her poncho.
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Almost three miles, and time to get off the Appalachian Trail
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The Boulevard Trail didn't present a very welcoming entrance. It was dark, overgrown, and rocky.
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The Catawba rhododendron were blooming, and contrasted nicely with all the summertime green.
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I just can't adequately convey how it felt to carry twelve pounds of camera gear up a mountain in order to capture images like this. :-)
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Eventually, the clouds did thin out enough for us to see some nearby peaks.
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LeConte is a tortured mountain. There were uprooted trees everywhere. It's amazing that the trees are able to grow as large as they do.
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The Boulevard Trail follows ridgelines from the Appalachian Trail across the shoulder of LeConte and up to the summit. The slopes to the sides of the trail were extreme at times. You didn't want to fall off.
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Looking northward into the Porters Flat watershed. At first, I thought this low spot on the trail was Alum Gap. However, it turned out we hadn't made it that far yet. The Boulevard is a very long trail.
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Taking a break at a spot I remember from the previous year's hike. Last August, the vegetation along the trail at this point was chest high. Thankfully, it wasn't so overgrown now.
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We'd been hiking for five and a half hours. Even my gear was tired by now. :-)
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The Boulevard Trail can be frustrating. It's like a roller-coaster. You gain the elevation just to lose it again over and over. Toward the end, though, the trail just heads up. We took it one step at a time
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Some of the landslides on LeConte are very impressive.
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It's hard to depict just how steep this slide is.
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