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The 2005 "Buds Trip" took place over Memorial Day Weekend. The group had not been able to get together in 2004, so we were all ready to get together for a few days to kick off our summer. We secured the Silver Maple Tree cabin (same as 2003) for Saturday through Tuesday nights, and everybody proceeded to beautiful Tennessee. I've been participating in these trips since 1999, and I can't imagine that I could enjoy them any more than I do. When we get together, we have a great time. We act like we are 15 years younger than we really are -- and frankly I think that is something that EVERYBODY needs to do. This is a great group of guys, and I'm proud to call them friends. Marc and I both flew in to Knoxville on Friday evening (Marc from his home in Rhode Island, me from my home in Denver). We picked up our luggage and the rental car and headed to the nearby Hooters to wait for Mike, Eric, and Dave. They were driving down from Indianapolis and were enjoying the fantastic Memorial Day Weekend getaway traffic. Brad would be joining us the next day as he was driving up from his home in Florida. The Indy guys finally arrived in Knoxville and after sitting at Hooters, gorging ourselves on chicken wings, and planning out our hikes for the next few days, we headed to the hotel where we'd stay before driving to Gatlinburg the next morning. Day 1 -- Ramsey Cascades After getting the keys to the cabin, the five of us headed over to the Ramsey Cascades trailhead. We've traditionally undertaken this moderately strenuous eight-mile rountrip hike on "off-days," but we figured that with our somewhat late start, it would be a good warmup hike for the rest of the weekend. This was my third trip to the falls, and I always enjoy the hike and the reward of sitting at the falls and having some lunch. Marc, Eric, and I took off from the trailhead at "Marc Speed" (in other words, Marc takes off while Eric and I try to keep up with him). Dave and Mike took off at "Dave and Mike Speed" (in other words, they are evolved enough to know better than to try to keep up with Marc). Writing this trip report two years after the fact, I can't remember how long it took us to get to the falls, but Marc, Eric, and I were able to get to the falls and relax for awhile before heading back down the trail. We passed Dave and Mike just as we were leaving the falls.
Day 2 -- Rocky Top and Thunderhead Mountain via the Bote Mountain Trail The hike up to Rocky Top and Thunderhead Mountain was new to all of us. Rather than falling back on ALL of the old reliable Smoky Mountain hikes, we did some research before the trip and determined that the Rocky Top hike would be sufficiently challenging for the hardcore hikers among us. Joining me on this hike were Marc, Eric, and Brad. Dave and Mike decided to take a rest day, as they were conserving energy for the challenging Day 4 hike. The four of us hopped in the car early, and headed over to the trailhead right outside the entrance to Cades Cove. Eric had been a little concerned about the roundtrip distance of fifteen miles, but Marc and I had convinced him to come along by questioning his manhood. Works every time! If you want a great workout, this is the hike for you. The elevation gain is consistent without being lung-busting. We set a really good pace for the whole day. I can't remember how long the whole hike took, but I can remember being very pleased with the effort, and we all really enjoyed the entire hike. The overcast skies helped keep the temperature manageable. We all agreed that this hike was one that we'd certainly do again.
Day 3 -- Rainbow Falls The third day brought a bit of an off-day for us. Those of us who had hiked fifteen strenuous miles the previous day needed something a little bit shorter. Mike and Dave wanted a good warm-up for the next day. We settled on the five mile roundtrip to the Rainbow Falls. The Rainbow Falls area is really quite beautiful. Once we reached the falls, some of us scrambled up to the base of the falls and walked behind them. After finishing with the hike, we all headed back to the cabin for showers and then we drove to Pigeon Forge for lunch and some Go-Kart racing.
Day 4 -- Mt. LeConte via Newfound Gap and The Boulevard Day Four brought us to the hike we'd been anticipating -- the trip to Mt. LeConte from Newfound Gap. Traditionally, we hike to the summit of Mt. LeConte on the final day. Marc and I had found this easier route to Mt. LeConte on the previous trip. While the hike is easier due to the higher elevation of the trailhead at Newfound Gap than at the Mt. LeConte trailhead, this trail adds several miles to the hike. This hike is a point-to-point hike, so we had to park a car at the endpoint as well as at the trailhead. Marc, Eric, Brad and I were planning to take off from the trailhead at "Marc Speed" and take the 1.5 mile spur trail to Charlie's Bunion (for a total of 16 miles), while Dave and Mike would follow at "Dave and Mike Speed" while skipping the spur trail to the Bunion (for a total of 13 miles). This would theoretically give them the chance to get ahead of us while we hiked out to the Bunion, relaxed, and then headed back to the Boulevard trail. We expected that we'd catch them on the Boulevard and then hike with them to the summit of LeConte and back down to the LeConte trailhead. Our early start enabled us to beat most other hikers and beat the heat that began in the mid-morning. The lead group reached the Bunion in good time and relaxed for a few minutes. We still had over 12 miles of hiking in front of us, and we wanted to see how quickly we could catch Dave and Mike. We headed back to the Boulevard and began the easy hike on the rolling ridge toward the summit of LeConte. At one point, we were quite sure that Dave and Mike had turned back (they had planned on turning back if they didn't feel like they'd make it), as we had not seen a trace of them with the exception of one potential clue toward the beginning of the Boulevard trail. As we neared the final climb toward the summit, we broke out into a clearing and saw Dave and Mike just ahead of us on the trail. They had not turned back after all! Dave was sitting and not looking good. He wasn't feeling well, but he was toughing his way through it. I was incredibly proud of both Dave and Mike. They had really persevered through a difficult hike, and nearly all of the rest of the hike was downhill. The six of us continued together to the summit of LeConte where we sat for a few minutes to rest our aching feet and legs and to fuel up for the remaining five downhill miles. The summit was quite "buggy" as it has been the past few times, so we made our visit quick and then headed back down to the trailhead. Marc and I ran ahead of the others and jumped into Mike's van and drove back up to Newfound Gap to grab Brad's vehicle before driving back down to meet the rest of the weary crew as they arrived at the trailhead. As is custom, we treated ourselves to another great final evening dinner at "The Peddler" in Gatlinburg and toasted another fantastic "Buds Trip."
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This site was last updated 05/27/07
