I'm back on Mt. LeConte after a wonderful Christmas.  The hike down Rainbow Falls was difficult to say the least.  There was a lot of snow and patchy ice.  We had some really high winds as well.  but I made it down and Henry made it up safely.  I had a really nice Christmas with my family and Millie.  Mom really spoiled me with some fantastic meals!  I do wish that I could have come down on Wednesday and had some more time to spend with Millie and my family but the weather wouldn't permit it.  It's really a blessing to be able to spend some time with family and friends.

    I got to hike back up the Alum Cave Trail today with my friends Anne and Phil.  Thanks for a great hike!  I always enjoy time on the trail with you.  There wasn't as much snow and ice in the trail as I expected.  But there was an amazing amount of blow down.  The high winds that came through Thursday night really put a lot of trees across the trail.  Fortunately there wasn't anything we couldn't climb over or under!

    Despite all the trees we had to climb over and crawl under, we had a really fun hike.  There were some fantastic views of the Smokies today.  It wasn't too cold.  We followed the Thursday Hiking Group up the trail.  We stayed behind them so they could break trail and clear out some of the snow!  Thanks Thursday Hiking Group!  We all had a cup of Hot Chocolate together at the top.  They brought me lots of goodies!  Fruit, fudge, banana bread, ham biscuits!  Wow!  I love the Thursday Hikers!  What a wonderful day.  I'm glad to be back on LeConte.