No Pain, No Gain....

At 6:00 tomorrow morning, Li-yin and I will set out for Mt. LeConte in the Smoky Mountains. We'll drive for 2 hours and then hike 5.5 miles up to Mt. LeConte Lodge. We'll stay in a cabin just like this one. We'll have dinner, watch the sunset, mingle with folks in the Lodge, enjoy the gas heat in the cabins (last night it was 40 degrees) while sleeping, rise, eat breakfast and then hike a separate 8 mile trail on our descent (one that intersects and combines for a short distance with the Appalachian Trail). There's no rain forecasted for the weekend. This is good. The views will be wonderful as always (I've been hiking Mt. LeConte once a year for nearly 20 years), the stars will light up the sky at night, and if we're lucky, we'll see a bear or two and some white-tailed deer. However.....I have just gotten beyond a bad cold, have been under a little stress with my son moving to Las Vegas, and I've had lots of extra work typing in the evenings. I'm not prepared for this hike and my muscles are going to proudly scream, "I told you so" when I wake up Monday morning (incidentally, my 45th birthday), and find that I now walk like an 90 year old! I am most definitely not looking forward to a hike for which I am physically unprepared. The joy, however, will be in taking someone up to Mt. LeConte for the first time and experiencing it all over again for the first time with them. Li-yin, from Taiwan, loves to hike and is very excited about this little adventure. I don't think she realizes just how slow I'll be hiking. :)