And Lived to Tell About It......

This is Catawba Rhododendron. It grows at higher elevations (4500 and above) in the Smoky Mountains.

This is Sand Myrtle (and also some more rhododendron).

It's June 17th at 8:00 in the morning and we've just started out on the 5.5 mile Alum Cave Bluff Trail to Mt. LeConte. I warned Li-yin that I would huff and puff a lot. I warned her that once we hiked beyond the halfway mark I'd probably start whining about how I was tired of going UP. I even acted out what it means to "whine" so she would know what I meant. :) She wanted to hike anyway, so away we went. Making the halfway point, the bluffs, by 10:00 was great. The remainder of the hike, however, took 3.5 hours. We stopped a lot: "hey, look at this view," "hey, I need some water," "hey, I need to put on some chapstick," (okay, you don't really have to stop to do that but whatever). You get the picture. :) More later, LB