Hiking Alum Cave Trail to Mt. LeConte in winter

In this video, Jerry and I hiked the Alum Cave trail to Mt. Leconte. This was during the winter so the lodge was closed. We started early that morning but there was a lot of snow and ice on the ground so it was slow going. At the top of LeConte, we ran into a gentleman I met on the Appalachian Trail during my thru hike, Wildcat who is the winter caretaker of the lodge. After spending a little time at the top, we headed down wearing crampons, but a few miles down I made the mistake of taking them off because I thought most of the snow had melted and ended up slipping on ice and twisting my ankle. It was very slow going the rest of the way which is why we finished in the dark. I chose not to have a voiceover or speak and instead did what is known as "silent hiking" - this way you can enjoy the sounds of nature without the distraction of conversation and loud music. I do have some very soft, calm background music in this video but it's pretty faint. Hope you enjoy the sounds of nature and a little ASMR. Sometimes silence is golden. Alum Cave to Mt. LeConte Hike: Newfound Gap Rd Location: Great Smoky Mountains Date: 2/2/25 Trails hiked: Alum Cave Trail (map link below) Miles hiked: 11 miles #hiking #greatsmokymountains #mtleconte Trail map: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/te... Related Videos: https://studio.youtube.com/video/Z8lX... https://studio.youtube.com/video/avZi... Help support my channel by becoming a member to receive additional perks like early access to videos and replies on all video comments. Join now:    / @gretchenpardon   My links: https://campsite.bio/hikingwithbraids