A change of scenery

[krummholz]

I'm stuck in the house this weekend, looking forward to doing a hike sometime next week (I'm thinking Madison via Valley Way). In the meantime I was reminiscing about my experiences hiking in the Smokies. Years ago I had an adventure with the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club hiking off trail up through a stream gorge in high water conditions. We called it "the whitewater hike." If anyone else is tired of winter (already!) and wants to be transported to a hot July day in the Smokies, check out the following:
http://streamsandforests.wordpress.c...en-fork-gorge/

[Steve M]

I'm stuck in the house this weekend, looking forward to doing a hike sometime next week (I'm thinking Madison via Valley Way). In the meantime I was reminiscing about my experiences hiking in the Smokies. Years ago I had an adventure with the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club hiking off trail up through a stream gorge in high water conditions. We called it "the whitewater hike." If anyone else is tired of winter (already!) and wants to be transported to a hot July day in the Smokies, check out the following:
http://streamsandforests.wordpress.c...en-fork-gorge/

Winter hiking in the Smokies would be a great way to enjoy being out there yet not in perilous conditions. There are plenty of 4 and 5k's to enjoy.

[krummholz]

Yes, the Smokies are definitely a fine place for winter hiking! When I lived in the area I managed to get by with just a pair of instep crampons, no snowshoes. (Snowshoes probably would have come in handy some of the time, but people down there just didn't think in terms of using them, at least not when I lived down there.) The Smoky Mountains Hiking Club scheduled hikes every month of the year, it's just that we didn't do the epic off-trail hikes in the winter, like going up LeConte by rockhopping up the streams. (Which the club does every year in the summer.) I remember lots of beautiful hoar frost on the trees, and the beautiful frozen waterfalls. Rainbow Falls is famous for a huge cone of ice that builds up at the base when it's really cold.

[Steve M]

Yes, the Smokies are definitely a fine place for winter hiking! When I lived in the area I managed to get by with just a pair of instep crampons, no snowshoes. (Snowshoes probably would have come in handy some of the time, but people down there just didn't think in terms of using them, at least not when I lived down there.) The Smoky Mountains Hiking Club scheduled hikes every month of the year, it's just that we didn't do the epic off-trail hikes in the winter, like going up LeConte by rockhopping up the streams. (Which the club does every year in the summer.) I remember lots of beautiful hoar frost on the trees, and the beautiful frozen waterfalls. Rainbow Falls is famous for a huge cone of ice that builds up at the base when it's really cold.

I have never seen Rainbow falls in the winter, only the summer. That must be beautiful. It has been a while since I have been to the Smokies in the winter.