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| Chris Maulden with "the Gary tree" |
Chris Maulden of Knoxville marked his 50th birthday on Wednesday morning, Aug. 21, by climbing Mount Le Conte for the 50th time. The weather chimed in with a refreshing temperature of 50 degrees at the Lodge.
Though Chris may eventually climb Le Conte a hundred times, he is not just chasing a number. "My friend Gary passed away a few years ago, and we scattered his ashes at a location close to Cliff Tops, so I go up a few times a year," he said. "This has more to do with my friendship than with an accomplishment of 100 trips."
Gary Thaler was hiking the Alum Cave Trail with Maulden in 2010 when he became ill. Doctors at the LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville diagnosed a lethal genetic condition that attacked his internal organs. Gary survived for four years before he died at age 43, but he never had the opportunity to complete his hike. His family got permission to scatter his ashes in the national park, and Maulden did so around an evergreen sapling that now stands 13 feet and is nicknamed "the Gary tree."
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| Margaret Stevenson's 718th hike, at age 84 on May 21, 1997 |
It's not uncommon for hikers to celebrate their birthdays at Le Conte Lodge, even though it's not easy to bake a cake above 6,000 feet.
The earliest birthday hike we know about was by Paul Fink, who climbed Le Conte on his 29th birthday, June 8 1921, as part of an expedition to measure the mountaintop elevation. Paul thought Le Conte might be the highest mountain in the eastern U.S. His findings resulted in a triangulation by the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey, commissioned by the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, which established the elevation as 6,593 feet. See Paul's journal, Mountain Days.
Next was Cletus Garnes. "His first hike to Mount Le Conte was in August 1926, on his 12th birthday," Ed Wright wrote in his journal. That would have been the first year that Jack Huff operated LeConte Lodge. Garnes was 76 when he returned to the mountaintop with Wright in 1991.
Here are a few notables:
- REV. RUFUS MORGAN (1885-1983) of Franklin NC, climbed the mountain for his 92nd and 93rd birthdays, and his final hike Oct. 15, 1978 (via Trillium Gap Trail) was #174 for him. As far as we know, he is the oldest person to climb Le Conte. He actually made reservations to return for his 94th birthday, but had to cancel the trip for health reasons.
- GRACIE McNICOL (1891-1991) of Maryville TN, made the last of her 244 ascents on her 92nd birthday in 1983. She was also up there for her 90th and 91st. From 1955 through 1966, she celebrated 12 straight birthdays at the Lodge.
- LENORE GUNDY COSTELLO (born 1916) of Lake Alfred FL, climbed Le Conte on her 90th birthday in 2006. I do not have full details, but it appears she went via the Boulevard Trail.
- DICK McALILEY (1928-2014) celebrated his 85th birthday at the Lodge in 2013.
- A man named JENNINGS led a family group up Le Conte in 2012 for his 84th birthday.
- ED HUDSON (1917-2009) of Oak Ridge celebrated his 81st birthday by climbing Le Conte on May 20, 1998.
- ED WRIGHT (1925-2009) of Jensen Beach, Fla. (formerly of Oak Ridge), climbed the mountain on his 65th, 68th, 70th, 72nd, and 80th birthdays. The latter one in 2005 was #1,297 of his lifetime total of 1,310. Wright's friends and family have a memorial hike on his birthday, Sept. 1.
- ULA RAE MYNATT of Cosby, Tenn., celebrated her 80th birthday at the Lodge in 2011.
- JEAN ANN MILLER of Jackson, Tenn., celebrated her 79th birthday in 2012 by making her #239 climb along with her husband, Dr. Kip Miller.
- RAY CAMERON made his 20th hike on his 73rd birthday Aug. 27.
- BOB TURNEY made his 48th climb on his 72nd birthday, Aug. 11.
- DOROTHY BYWALEC NEWMAN climbed LeConte Oct. 1 to celebrate her 70th birthday.
- PAUL DINWIDDIE (1915-1995) of Knoxville celebrated his 67th birthday with his #66 climb in 1982. He eventually reached #750, with 708 of those after he turned 65.
- JO ANN CHRISTOPHER of Knoxville climbed Le Conte Sept. 9 to celebrate her 67th birthday. She signed in the logbook with "too many to count."
- ADAM GRAVETT made #55 on his 52nd birthday, Sept 21, 2019.
- DAVE WORTH completed the Tour Le Conte on his 26th birthday in 2011, covering 44 miles in 10:03:41.
- MARGARET STEVENSON (1912-2006) often had her party at the Lodge, but since her group usually hiked on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, the party was not always on her exact birthday, July 17. Friends still remember her birthday with an annual hike to the Lodge. Margaret's bronzed hiking boots and copies of her journal are on display in the Lodge office. She started climbing Le Conte at age 48 and continued until she was 84, when she decided the descent was too dangerous for her. She continued hiking elsewhere in the national park well into her 90s. Friends and fellow hikers have continued to celebrate her birthday, including her 100th in 2012, her 101st in 2013, 102nd in 2014, 103rd in 2015, and 104th in 2016.
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| Margaret Stevenson's bronzed hiking boots |
