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Three friends finish The Tour de LeConte

The route covers more than 44 miles with a 24-hour deadline

SEVIER COUNTY, Tenn. — Their adventure required training, willpower, and endurance.

Three friends came together to take on Mount LeConte. 

What they have in common is a love of photography, hiking... and something else. 

"Hey, we're all named Adam. Let's just hike together," Adam Ozment said. 

Adam "Oz" Ozment is a physical therapist assistant.

Adam "Hoss" Williamson is a mechanical engineer.

Adam "Gravett" Gravett is a general contractor. 

Shared names and a shared goal. 

"A 44-miler is kind of new to me. I think it's new to these guys too really," Hoss said. 

Actually 44.5 miles.

Hike six trails on Mount LeConte in the Smokies. Finish in 24-hours or less.

The Tour de LeConte.

Credit: Adam Gravett
The Tour de LeConte features stunning views

"We hatched the idea, trained for about six months, saw the weather starting to get a little warmer than we wanted, worked really hard to get all of our schedules to line up which was probably the most difficult thing of the whole process," Gravett said. 

They gradually increased their mileage during six months of training.

"I'm the least organized of this whole bunch. Generally, organization takes about three minutes to get in the car and take off," Gravett said. 

Hoss is the organizer who came up with a chart showing when they needed to finish each trail, starting fast then slowing down.

They took rest breaks, stayed hydrated, and ate lots of carbs.

Oz said, "We had a lot of Cliff bars, a lot of pop tarts, beef jerky, a lot of gummy bears."

Credit: Adam Gravett
Sunrise along Trillium Gap Trail

The best part for Gravett was when they reached the Hallelujah turn on Alum Cave Trail. They realized they had just 9-miles to go.

"We knew it was downhill from there. We didn't realize how difficult that last downhill was going to be," Gravett said. 

Credit: Adam Gravett
Hallelujah turn on Alum Cave Trail

Hoss said, "We were doing it for each other, not just doing it for ourselves. So if I was to quit they would have had to quit too because we had this motto 'in together, out together.' If we started this together we were going to complete it together or none of us was going to complete it." 

Oz said, "It got hard toward the end but we pushed each other. Sternly but not too stern." 

The three collapsed to the ground for a short break with one mile to go.

"That was the worst point. I was like I am going to have to crawl out of here this last mile," Hoss said. 

They built in an hour and a half of wiggle room. The three Adams finished The Tour de LeConte in 23-hours one-minute. 

"It felt really good to accomplish that. Something I never thought I would be able to do, ever," Hoss said. "I think I was just barely able to make it into the car once we got to the end. So it was pretty bad." 

But mostly good. In fact, Oz, Hoss, and Gravett want to hike The Tour de LeConte next year even faster. 

"We've got a great Park out here, right here in our backyard. Just enjoy it," Oz said. 

Credit: Adam Gravett
Their fitness tracker showed they took almost 110,000 steps

How many steps did they take on their hike from May first to May second? Their device counted almost 110,000.

You can reach the three Adams on Instagram:

@adamgravett

@gravettadam

@smokyshiker

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