We sat in the shelter throughout the evening relaxing and eating dinner in the clouds and rain. Sharing our evening with a couple from Pittsburgh and their hiking partner. I took a short hike out to Cliff Tops, no views but a nice cloud walk. Mt. Le Conte is a massif with four peaks: High Top, Cliff Tops, Myrtle (or as the boys call it Mermaid) Point, and Balsam Point. We would summit 3 of those. A few games of 'Pass the Pigs' round out the night.
Before breakfast, Ian, Angie, Isaac and I would hike over High Top to Myrtle Point for a breathtaking above the clouds view just after sunrise. We take our time eating and packing up as we have a short 6 mile day to our next destination. The boys each place a rock on the growing 8 foot tall cairn on High Top. It is said that the hikers are trying to make Mt. Le Conte taller than Clingman's Dome (the Smokies highest point) one rock at a time. Our hike down the Boulevard trail is a long slow decent down a rocky ridgeline, ending in an extremely steep climb to the junction with the AT.
The boys take every opportunity though the week to turn over rocks to find salamanders. While examining one on the trail I spot, what from a distance looks like a rubber fishing worm in a tree behind Angie. It is a red-cheeked Jordan's Salamander. Our Shuttle said they are fairly rare, and only appear in the Smokies at elevation.
Just before the junction we divert to a scramble over the summit of Mt. Kepart to an area called the Jumpoff for lunch. The Jumpoff is a 3x12 foot overlook that has a view to die for. The sun is bright, the food good as we oogle the landscape and watch the people a couple miles across the valley play on Charlies Bunion (a destination on tomorrow's itinerary.)
My plans for yesterday's sunset on Cliff Top foiled by the rain. I seize the good weather and view we have and call Angie over to a small 2x2 foot precipice to ask for her hand. Sorry, no knee, there just wasn't room. After a short recovery she asks what I would do if she said no, push her? We hang out on the Jumpoff for another half hour before pushing to the Icewater Springs Shelter for the night.
Icewater Springs is packed. A couple Appalachian Trail thru-hikers, a couple AT section hikers, and a few other parties. We bask in the sun for a while recuperating. A deer wanders through the crowded shelter site uncaring about us humans. We decide to try to hike down to Sweat Heifer Falls for dinner. We turn back before the falls, hike back to the ridge and have dinner before nightfall. That is one steep trail.
Icewater is packed to the gills. The thru-hikers have moved on but there are still 16 in the shelter. The sunrise from our sleeping bags though is well worth the sardine conditions. After sunrise we quickly bail out of the shelter to make it to Charlies Bunion for breakfast.
Charlies Bunion is a rock outcropping offering views from Mt Guyot to the east and back to the Jumpoff and Mt. Kepart to the west. It is one of the 2 best dining rooms I've ever eaten at in my life.
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