Page 34 - SMH 2018 3rd edition

For the Want of Hot Chocolate by Chris Mobley

Spending a night at the LeConte Lodge had been a bucket list item for us for a
long while. Being that we are not really planners, but more spontaneous with
our adventures, we jumped on some cancellations that popped up. With the
short notice and being the middle of the week, a babysitter was not possible. We
weren't sweating it too much though since Ian, 4 and Ava, 2 had been on the
park trails since they were born and were old pros.

We did know that while they like to hike, they also like to check out
every little thing along the way. Being November and short daylight, we
figured to have them on the trail at daylight and we would hopefully make
it to the lodge before dinner. To keep them motivated and moving along,
we kept reminding them that there was all the hot chocolate they could
drink waiting at the top. The proverbial carrot worked and Ian hiked the
entire way up the Alum trail and Ava hiked about half, while riding the
other half. They were welcomed into the lodge with great applause from
the other guests when we entered to check in. And of coarse, they had
several cups of hot chocolate and maybe a cookie or two.

Overnight there were some rather heavy rains, on top of the rain most of the hike up, so natu-
rally the hike down was made more interesting by all the new waterfalls beautifully shooting
across the trail. For a four year old, this was only a greater adventure and wetter the better! He
again did the entire hike on his own feet, with Ava about half. They just had to wait till we got
home for the hot chocolate reward.

34 Smoky Mountain Hiker