Rainbow Falls Trail to Mt. LeConte

May 14, 2022

Left the house in Oak Ridge around 6:30 AM, heading to Maryville to pick up my friend Alan.  Going backroads to Gatlinburg, we headed to the trailhead, arriving at 8:45 ish.  After gearing up, we started hiking at around 9:00  The trail is a steady climb all the way to the top of Mt. LeConte.

Rainbow Falls

After a short break, we continued the climb under cloudy, threatening skies.  About an hour later, we came across a section of burned-up vegetation from a previous forest fire.

After this section, we encountered our first rain drops, the prompted us to stop, put on rain jackets and cover our packs.  Not long afterwards, it started raining, and continued for about an hour.  I love hiking in the rain, especially if the temps are mild.  The atmosphere created a mystical environment, and the trail soon becomes a creek.

At around 3 PM we finally reached our destination, the summit of Mt LeConte.  Of course had to get photo taken in front of the lodge

We stopped and rested, enjoyed a nice lunch and conversations with other hikers around that were staying overnight at the lodge.  Thankfully we were able to replenish our water bottles with nice filtered spring water, and we were treated to a beautiful return hike with the sun coming out for the rest of the hike.

Took us about 4 hours to return back to the trail head. A great day, great hike with a great friend. We definitely were pretty sore, but it was a good challenge as I continue to prepare for Maine.

Total hike was 13 miles. Elevation climb of 4,000 feet.

Here you can view my relieve mapping of the hike.

Mt.LeConte Hike