Touring Le Conte for the 3rd time

Nathaniel Klumb once again celebrated Columbus Day by completing the Tour de Le Conte. Coming from Baton Rouge, La., Nate has completed the Tour three times, a total exceeded only by John Northrup, the general manager of Le Conte Lodge. On his first Tour in 2019, Nate started at 3 p.m. and finished the next day before lunch. In 2020, he started at 10 a.m. and finished before 2 a.m. This time, he started at 3:14 a.m. and went up Rainbow Falls Trail, down Boulevard, biked down U.S. 441, went up Alum, down Bullhead, up Trillium, and down Brushy Mountain. He finished in Greenbrier at 6:38 p.m., for a 48-mile time of 15 hours and 24 minutes. (See Nate’s route.) He finished in 15:24. That’s 16 minutes faster than his 2020 Tour, where he also included the side trails (Cliff Top, Myrtle Point, Brushy Mountain, and the Jump-Off). As a voice of experience, Nate recommends doing the “B” trails (Boulevard, Bullhead, and Brushy Mountain) as descents. In hindsight, he would recommend Trillium over Rainbow for the first leg. “I’ll never be one of the trail runners who can knock out a Tour in eight hours, and I’m just a casual hiker who certainly can’t hold a candle to John Northrup’s amazing exploits,” Nate said. “Still, as just a guy who likes Le Conte, I’m happy to have done the Tour three years in a row (and on the same weekend.)”