All

Waiting, waiting

OK, here we go

First stop - overnight with Bob and Kathy in Cincinnati.  The big guy is progressing well with his new hip.  
We watched Purdue beat IU after dinner at Cracker Barrel back at Bob

Getting ready to leave in the morning.  Two old dudes.

Mary Ann takes her shift at driving, over Jellico Mountain into Tennessee

At the rental agency picking up the key and the stove fuel we had shipped to them.

Larry unloads the last box into Leeland Ridge - our second year here.

The natural gas smell that greeted us when we opened the door turned out to be a blown out pilot light on the gas fireplace.  Larry gets it going after reading the directions (imagine that!).

Mary Ann organizes the kitchen

Checking the weather forecast and Facebook.  The house has a wireless network router for internet this year, which is a whole lot better than our Comcast air card connection.

Saturday morning - first hike - to the Walker Sister

Trail sign pose

Another trail sign pose

Winter in the mountains - still plenty of greenery

A vista back into Wears Valley, where we are staying, as the clouds lifted for a short time.

The Little Greenbrier Trail runs along the northern park boundary - we came upon one of the survey markers

A fork in the road - to the right the Little Greenbrier that we just came down, to the left the Little Brier Gap trail down to the cabin

Setting out lunch on the Walker Sister

A picture from the porch through the main room and out the back door.

Group hug time.  Are we really this crazy?  Still sleeting all the way back to the car.

We arrive at the Walker cabin.

We went to church in Townsend on Saturday night, because Sunday was supposed to be partly sunny and we could thus have a better hike.

St Francis is a mission parish of the parish in Alcoa, TN.  Unexpectedly the Deacon had a New York accent.  Preaching good, music bad.

Sunday morning greeted us with snow and ice, and closure of the roads into the part of the park where we planned to hike.  Partly sunny, not!

So on to the Lead Cove trailhead instead, which was open.

Larry takes the trail sign pose this time.  A tough 1.8 miles up to the Bote Mountain trail on the ridge.  And yes it is cold - 30 degrees at the parking lot.

A brief rest as we approach the crest, we think.  Note Mary Ann is hatless, indicating she has worked up a sweat to this point.  No snow during the hike for once.

Winter Wonderland 1

Winter Wonderland 2

Finally the crest!  Who picked this trail, anyway?  Thankfully for Larry

Lunch on the ridge.  Temperature somewhere around 28 degrees.  Perfect

Group shot using the timer and a handy tree limb.  Today

Winter Wonderland 3

Loading up at home

A perfect day for a hike.  We decide to returnvia the Bote Mountain trail to the Finley-Cane trail so as to avoid the perilous stream crossing we negotiated on the way up.

Junction of the Bote Mountain and Finley-Cane trails.  This was easy compared to 2006 when we did this route in reverse, in the rain and partly in the dark.  Yeah, we really did that.

Hiding pain and apprehension, Mary Ann puts on a good face for the trail sign pose.

Wait a minute, weren

Piece

No, this is not a third picture of the same crossing - it

Same #2 crossing.

Yep, you guessed it, a third crossing, this one about 100 yards from the car.  After searching for a better spot this is the best we could find.  Mary Ann volunteered to go first (honest).

Whew!  Back home at the cabin.  Enjoying the view of the valley from our porch.  Dressed appropriately Larry was very toasty.

Our second year at Leeland Ridge cabin

The backside of the place

On our way to the east end of the Park, through Cosby TN and over a finished section of the Foothills Parkway

The Waterville hydroelectric plant on the Pigeon River, on the way to the campground.

Big Creek Campground, where our trailhead is today

Big Creek.  You should have guessed this

Chestnut Branch trail along Chestnut Branch Creek up to the AT - alright!

Mom has trouble with her right ankle getting bruised by her boot - a blister gel patch may work.

Look at that - sunshine.  Finally.

A combination trail and creek saves space.  Plus a Foot Log overhead.

Well, it was sunny for awhile.  At the higher elevations we were back to clouds and snow.  Nothing was falling - well the snow was melting off of the trees and getting us.

Triumph - Larry gets to the Appalachian Trail. pacemaker and all.

Mary Ann enjoys the moment too.

A nice flat stretch of the AT, except no sun.  Little or no evidence of earlier hikers.

Davenport Gap Shelter on the AT, our lunch destination

Larry gets on with the cooking, and proceeds to burn the potato soup.  Dang.

Mary Ann inspects the interior appointments

Note the mouse barrier on the pack hanger just visible at the top, a typical AT shelter setup.  The mice crawl down the rope, drop on the cones and slide onto your pack anyway

Inside looking out through the bear fence.  These were all supposed to have been removed a few years ago.

Larry prepares to pack out some other slobs

Back to a lower elevation and a sunny trail again as we descend toward the eastern Park boundary

On the Park boundary road back to Big Creek.  A 5.5 mile loop.

Hey, an added perk - the road into Big Creek Campground is part of the Benton MacKaye trail.  MacKaye created the AT.  The BMT runs parallel to the AT through the Park on another ridge.

Like old times.  Note the reference to Hot Springs NC on the sign.  That was the endpoint of Larry

From the Foothills Parkway on the way home.  This is the ridge where the AT runs - the earlier pictures where from up there.

What a panorama, and the colors although rather grayish are still beautiful.

One more section

Mary Ann puts them in the page protectors and then into the binder.

Back at camp working up the scrapbook.  Mary Ann arranges the pages.

Larry glues them up.

One last stop.  Larry climbs the beginning of the AT on the other side of I-40 from the Park.

Tuesday morning - Larry decides to wash the zip-offs of his hiking pants.  Unbeknownst to some he is also an alternate for the Blue Man Group.

Up and at

Larry gets a better vantage point for this photo - see next picture.  One advantage of rainy weather is lots of water over the falls.

Just like one of those National Geographic guys, only better looking.

Before the rain came it was sunny.  Also he had a hard time standing back up after he took the waterfall picture.

The usual lunch routine, except Dad forgot to pack the crackers for the soup and the fuel bottles finally ran out.  Luckily the soup and tea water were plenty hot enough by then.

Fast forward to lunch after going to the Visitor Center.  This is Mynatt Park in Gatlinburg.  We needed a shelter because it was raining off and on.  Still windy - it took 8 matches to light the stove

Mom warms up with her tea.

We dressed for dinner to commemorate our 39th Anniversary.  We ate at Bennett

Looks like a scrapbook and Settlers of Catan day.  Wonder of wonders - a plow truck just went by.

Don

It

Wednesday morning - snowed in!

The scrapbook operation moves to the Lower Level - the pool table makes a good work area.

The Owner has done most of the finish work on this level since last year.

Larry finishes up the last pages for 2009

For a change of pace on a snowy day, lunch on the Lower Level

Big night at the cabin - it

A little tree identification.  No, that

Checking in on the basketball scene

Thursday morning - first one

Today

A pre-sunshine shot of Big Creek.  You can almost hear it

Midnight Pool, a very deep spot in the creek.  Note the blue-green color due to the depth