But the main trails patronized by tourists are the five different routes which lead up to the top of Mt. Le Conte, nearly 6600 feet high. Many people make it up and back in one day. But others, like myself add 95 per cent to the pleasure by staying on top all night.
People had told me the Alum Cave trail was the prettiest and most spectacular. So, the day before starting, I went over to Park Headquarters to inquire and get my bearings.
I wound up talking to Assistant Chief Ranger Harold Edwards. He wears a uniform and has a desk and lots of papers on it, so I believed every word he said.
He said it would take me five hours to climb the Alum Cave trail. He said it would be the longest five and a half miles I ever walked. He said it was very steep, and footing irregular.
Well, it is possible I misunderstood Ranger Edwards, but I doubt it. Also it is possible that I’m a better man than I thought. But that seems somewhat fantastic, since I think I’m practically perfect to start with. So I can only deduce that Ranger Edwards, in spite of being a nice fellow, simply has days when he isn’t all there.
For, instead of five hours, I was on top of Mt. Le Conte in two hours and 50 minutes. And since I had prepared myself for a terrible ordeal, it seemed like the shortest five and a half miles I ever walked. It was, in fact, smooth and nice all the way up.
Poor Mr. Edwards. I guess he meant well, but he just didn’t realize he was talking with one of the mountain-climbingest goats this side of Tibet.
BACK TO SLEEP
In preparation for this historic stroll I awoke at 7 a.m., yawned a couple of times, and went back to sleep for half an hour. Then I ate breakfast, read the morning paper, got those old gray pants out of the back of the car and, as a final gesture, put them on.
Also I filled up the little chamois pack sack which That Girl made for my gallant walk through the Rockies last year from the United States to Canada.