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| Many of us caught our first glimpse of the majestic heights of Mount Le Conte from the Carlos Campbell Overlook on Highway 441 south of Gatlinburg. |
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| A giant of the national park: Carlos Campbell |
Steve responded with this story from Jim Campbell: "My Dad, Carlos, hiked to the top of Mount Le Conte between 100 and 120 times. He said his dad once asked Harvey Broome how many times he had hiked to the Mt LeConte, and Harvey said "150 times" Carlos asked him how did he get to the top, Harvey said "by a trail", and then Carlos asked "how did you get to the trail?" "By car."
Carlos would always tease Harvey Broome who thought there should be no roads or trails. They had a lifelong friendly and warm teasing relationship, despite their differences in providing moderate vs. very limited accessibility to remote mountains. Our Le Conte honor roll lists Harvey with 65, a total I found in one of his hiking journals, probably "Out Under the Skies of the Great Smokies."
I also found a 1960 story in the Knoxville News-Sentinel where Campbell, at age 68, estimated he had climbed Le Conte 75 to 80 times. He said he has reached an age when he prefers to ride a horse to Le Conte and walk back. Since Carlos lived another 18 years, his son's estimate of 100 to 120 trips sounds plausible.
Steve wrote the opportunity to sit down with Jim Campbell was "one of my more amazing days in my 57 years in Oak Ridge, Tennessee." Mr. Campbell signed a 1960 edition of his father's book "Birth of a National Park" that belonged to Steve's father. "Any history book written since of the GSMNP borrowed heavily from this one," Steve posted on Facebook. "Jim, in his 90's is a treasure of what we call the 'Secret City': Oak Ridge, Tennessee, he knows every person in town. He and my Dad went to the University of Tennessee together in the late 1940's. We "chatted" today for 4 hours, seemed like 20 minutes. I was hoping Jim would tell me his recollections of his Dad's memories of Harvey Broome, Jim Thompson, Dutch Roth, David Chapman, Paul Fink, Horace Albright, Arno Cammerer, Arthur Stupka, Ben Morton, Benton McKaye, Myron Avery, and Colonel Townsend. He didn't. He told me his personal memories first hand of his relationship with all the above. I didn't realize he knew them all and vice versa. His Dad, Carlos Campbell has the best pedigree in the founding of the Smokies. He worked for the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce promoting the Smokies as a potential National Park from 1920 to 1922, then work for Jim Thompson as a photographer assistant carrying his 25 lb tripod into every corner of today's park. Then they both worked for Colonel David C. Chapman at the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association in the late 1920's. The GSMCA was the original organization promoting the Smokies as a National Park on the Tennessee side."
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| Jim Campbell signs his father's book "Birth of a National Park" for Steve Oliphant |
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IF YOU ARE READING THIS ON YOUR PHONE, you will need to switch from the mobile view to full screen (iPhone users click on "View web version" below) to see our Honor Roll, where we list dozens of men and women who have climbed Mount Le Conte at least 100 times.
