Thanks for all the step-ups and lunges over the past several months. These exercises prepared McKenzie and me for our annual winter assault up Mt LeConte (6593′ elevation) in the Great Smokies this past Saturday. We found the gate closed into the Park due to the winter storm but did not let this deter us as we shouldered our day packs and began a 3.5 mile hike up the road in the snow to the trailhead. After covering this distance in 50 minutes, we felt good about our chances to make it up and back down the mountain before dark. After enduring, rain, sleet, fog and snow including breaking trail in 8″ of snow for the last 2 miles, we reached the LeConte Lodge in 4 hrs and 50 minutes gaining almost 5000 feet in elevation over a distance of 10.2 miles. After a lunch and visiting with the winter caretaker, we were ready to begin our descent. Three hours and 33 minutes hiking in snowfall, we were back at our car. If you Google “Life on LeConte”, the Lodge caretaker has a blog with a brief description our our hike and pictures. We know that the step ups and lunges were the difference in our strength and stamina to complete this 20.4 day hike in 8 hrs 23 minutes of actual hiking (time). We do have one favor to ask… can we NOT have any box jumps, lunges or running on Monday or Tuesday if you get my drift?

Thanks for all the step-ups and walking lunges over the past several months! We were totally prepared for our winter assault on Mt LeConte (6593′ elevation) in the Great Smokies yesterday. The gate into the park was closed due to the winter storm but that did nor deter us from putting on our day packs at 8:20 am and setting off 3.5 miles up the snow covered road to the trailhead (Rainbow Falls Trail). We covered this distance in 50 minutes and felt good about our chances for making it to the top and back before dark. After enduring rain, sleet, fog and 8 ” of snow for the last two miles breaking trail, we reached the LeConte Lodge in 4 hours and 50 minutes having gained almost 5000 vertical feet in elevation over a distance of 10.2 miles. After taking an hour for lunch and visiting with the Lodge Caretaker, we headed back down the mountain in a snowstorm reaching the car in 3 hours and 33 minutes (we do every thing for time now). If you Google “Life on LeConte” the caretaker has a blog about his winter life on the mountain and our picture and a brief story about this weekend’s hike is listed. I know all those lunges and step-ups make the difference in our endurance and travel time. I just have one favor to ask… can we not have box jumps, lunges or running Monday or Tuesday? We are still feeling our 20.2 mile day hike.