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The view from the cliff tops of Mount Le Conte.
Summer heat and humidity can drive anyone to extremes. In the mountains, finding reprieve can be as simple as an altitude adjustment.
The third highest peak in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Mount Le Conte offers a peak experience—and cool temperatures—at its 6,593-foot summit. Though just a bit lower than Clingmans Dome (6,643 feet) and Mount Guyot (6,621 feet), Le Conte is the highest peak wholly within Tennessee, soaring 5,301 feet from its base near Gatlinburg to its peak, making it the “tallest” mountain in the park. The massif includes four subpeaks above 6,000 feet.
Why go: Average high temperatures in July hover around 68 degrees Fahrenheit with average lows of 48 degrees. The record high topped out at 85 degrees Fahrenheit on August 29, 1985.
It’s no surprise that the Le Conte area can get busy in the summer, with five unique trails, waterfalls, wildflowers, and panoramic views. If you are an experienced hiker, consider saving Le Conte for winter. But experience is key: A January or February day could start out around 35-40 degrees at the base, but the the peak could be wrapped in fog or snow with temperatures well below freezing. The coldest temperature ever recorded on Le Conte was -32 degrees Fahrenheit on January 13, 1986.
Backstory: Le Conte played an integral part in the creation of the national park. In 1924, hiker and explorer
Paul Adams joined the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association, a group advocating for a national park in the Smokies. In September of that year he led the Southern Appalachian National Park Commission from Washington, D.C., on an overnight trip to the summit. The group spent the night in a large tent near the location of the present-day lodge and descended the next day by way of the Alum Cave trail, then brand new. Impressed, the Commission recommended the Smokies as a site for the creation of a new national park in the east.
It would take another decade for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to come to fruition, but the very next year, 1925, LeConte resort began as a large tent site. In 1926, Jack Huff of Gatlinburg began construction of the lodge, which was operated by the Huff family until 1960. (Stokely Hospitality Enterprises now operates the lodge.)
Room with a view: The LeConte Lodge is the highest inn in the eastern United States, but the only way you can get there is to walk. The rustic accommodations include seven small one-room cabins and three multi-room lodges. There is no running water or electricity. Meals are served in the lodge dining room, and there is a flush toilet. But don’t just pack your bags and hit the trail. Reservations, especially on weekends, are generally booked a year in advance.
Get there: Five trails lead to the summit of Le Conte and/or the lodge. None of the trails are easy. The trails from shortest to longest are Alum Cave Trail, a moderately strenuous 4.9 miles long; the moderate 5.4-mile-long Boulevard Trail; the moderately strenuous 6.6-mile Rainbow Falls; Bullhead Trail, 6.9 miles and moderately strenuous (often the least traveled path); and Trillium Gap at 8.9 miles and moderately strenuous (though this trail can be shortened to 6.5 miles by parking at the Trillium gap parking area).
Bottom line: Le Conte is a place of extremes: extreme beauty, extreme weather—and an extremely powerful sense of place.