First Snow of the Season in the Southeast

6000 feet or so. It's a beautiful hike, especially along the boulevard.

There has even been a little bit today down at the Newfound Gap, which is just over 5,000 feet.

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LeConte - LINK

IMO pretty neat that there is a borderline subalpine climate 3.5 hrs from Atlanta

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I've put in reservation requests several times (they usually open up in October - I don't know if I missed this year), but never gotten in.

Anyone ever stayed there or have any scoop on scoring reservations outside of their rather arcane request set up?

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Other weather and mountain dorks may enjoy the daily updates from LeConte

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I love this site this time of year.

Fun fact: It rarely gets hotter than 70-75 degrees up top.

Journal from 25 August

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The heat wave will continue to roll in the Smokies today and lead into the final weekend of August. The lodge has endured its longest stretch of consecutive days in the lower to mid 70s this week, with ascents of the mountain feeling extra humid of late.

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Thanks for sharing. Love stuff like this. Especially in the smokies. Spent a lot of time in that park as a kid. My family had a house in gatlinburg since the early 70’s but we lost it in those fires back in 2015.

That is beautiful!

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IMO pretty neat that there is a borderline subalpine climate 3.5 hrs from Atlanta

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A lot of people don't think about this.

Mt Driskill normally gets it’s first snowfall towards the end of the month.

Me, my son and my wife did the hike from the Alum Cave Trail up to the lodge as a day hike a few years ago. Found a nice quite spot and ate our lunch, refilled some water bottles for the hike down on the pump. I think it is about 11-12 miles roundtrip and a lot of man made stairs to aid in the steep spots.

The Smokies are basically hills

Been up to the lodge a few times in my life. It’s a great hike.