Your Hiking Stories: The Boulevard Trail

I hiked the Boulevard trail in April of 2006 with two friends. In my opinion it was brutal. Maybe it was because of an awful thunderstorm. The trail was pretty worn. We had just gotten past the Sweat Heifer trail when the storm hit. In retrospect, we should have gone to the Ice Water Springs shelter till it passed. I much prefer either Rainbow or Trillium Gap trail to go to Leconte. My favorite trail is Bullhead on the way down. That was my second trip up the Boulevard. I have never done the Alum Cave Trail. I much prefer not having the crowds.

T. Davis

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I hiked the Alum Cave Trail when my knees were rubbing bone on bone. I still hiked it [Alum Cave Trail] instead of the Boulevard. No question about it the Alum Cave Trail is steeper but a couple of miles or more shorter.

Of my 1308 round trips to LeConte, I have only hiked the Boulevard ONCE! did not like it.

E. Wright

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In my opinion, the Boulevard Trail is the best “hot weather” trail in the Smokies. It is the most level trail to LeConte. The temperature is probably never above 70 degrees at Newfound Gap, and I really like the high elevation stands of spruce and fir surrounded by sunny plots of ferns all along the trail. Usually I just go up to Myrtle Point, which is one of my favorite look-outs, and return along the Boulevard to Newfound Gap.

P. Layman

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We hiked Boulevard to LeConte and then down Alum on a beautiful October day in 2002. It was our longest day ever on the mountain. The views were beautiful, all in all the hike was a bit more difficult than we anticipated. My daughter and I were petrified when we reached the slide, the trail seemed so narrow and the drop off was endless, but we made it across one step at a time. The elevation description is a bit deceptive that along with the length allowed very little time to rest at the lodge before heading down Alum. We made it off the mountain at dusk exhausted. We have talked of doing Boulevard again but the ease and familiarity of the Alum Trail seems to always win out when we want to hike LeConte.

Judy

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I did that exact hike back in June of 2006. There was a group of people from church that were going up Alum Cave that day, so me and a couple of friends arranged for us to be picked up at Newfound Gap and we'd shuttle back to Alum Cave. We started out Alum Cave at about 9:00 am. We tried to keep a fast pace and reached the top at about 11:15. We waited about an hour and 15 minutes before the first of the group from church made the summit. In the meantime, we went up to Cliff Tops and High Top and then had lunch to kill the time.

On the way back "down", we checked out the shelter and Myrtle Point. None of us had done The Boulevard, so we all needed it to reach the 900 mile mark. I rarely cramp up when hiking, but this is one of the trails that made me cramp up. As the elevation profile shows, it goes up and down a lot. I thought I was getting enough water, but I guess not. I had filled my Camelback up at the lodge, but was completely dry about a half mile BEFORE the trail meets up with the AT.

Justin

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If you've hiked The Boulevard trail to or from Mt. LeConte then send me your opinion and I'll add it to this listing for others to enjoy.

Click to Email Al Smith