Mt. LeConte

We have climbed this mountain many times before today - this was my 28th time and Martha's 8th time - both solo and with many others.

But that is nothing compared to many renown hikers who have made this climb multiple times.  I remember especially Ed Wright, who famously climbed Mt. LeConte 1310 times, and whom I actually met on one occasion.  In fact, I think I am memorialized in one of this old posts, if they are still out there somewhere, because he used to talk to everybody he met on the trail, find out their names and where they were from, and post it on his website when he returned home.  Although Ed died in 2009, his website is still in operation and folks can post accounts of their hikes there:

http://www.mtleconte.com/

Another great hiker who came up here often was Margaret Stevenson, who made the climb 718 times.  Her hiking boots were bronzed when she died and they are on display in the lodge:

I wear my hiking boots out too quickly for them to be preserved and bronzed, and in any case I can never come close to these amazing feats.

How can a man or a woman climb the same mountain so many times?  The answer is that it is always different, every single time, a fact which I know from my own handful of climbs.  You can be in sunshine or clouds, or clouds and fog drifting across the trail, or walking in a fairy-tale of hoar-frost or blooming myrtle in the holy silence, or feet crunching in snow in May, or a mixture of all of these.  Today we found ourselves walking a trail littered with gorgeous purple rhododendron, like bridal bouquets thrown carelessly away after some phenomenal wedding which we were late in attending. 

And this time we were entertained by this lovely deer up at the lodge, calmly munching away at the wildflowers, as unconcerned at our presence as if we were diners at an adjoining table in a restaurant.

That should be our attitude in reverently climbing this mountain:  not, "Been there, done that," but "What new and amazing thing will we discover around the next curve in the trail?"  Which is how we should live every day of our lives.