April 29

Roan, sweet Roan
Had a steep climb right out of the shelter this morning, up to Little Rock Knob.  KB probably had the right idea to get this out of the way last night, haha.  I got some really nice views from several rocky cliffs at the top.  From my elevation at 4900 feet, I descended down into Hughs Gap, for a loss of 900 feet.  Now the tough part would begin.  The assent of Roan High Knob.  I would be climbing up to almost 6200 feet in the next 4 miles.  To my surprise, the trail at the base of the climb had recently been relocated.  In some places you could see where the old AT used to be, in a direct assault of every bump, shoulder, and elbow of the mountain.  The trail now is smooth and meandering, slowly up and around the sides of the mountain.  It adds distance to the trail overall, but makes the climb much less brutal.  After what seemed like forever, I finally got up onto a ridge.  The sun was in and out of the clouds, so it was nice and cool.  The trail was really pretty here, lined in grass, with wild flowers everywhere.  Mistakenly, I thought, "wow, Roan wasn't that bad".  This wasn't Roan though.  I lost some elevation again, going down into Ash Gap.  I checked my book, and realized I still had Roan in front of me.  Sigh.  At least the trail has been nicely graded.  But that's where that ended.  The trail past Ash Gap was a tough, steep, rocky, rooty climb up and up for about 900 feet.  At this high elevation, the evergreens came out again, and it reminded me of the forests in the Smokies. Near the summit, I passed Toll House Gap, hoping that somebody would have some chocolate chip cookies, haha.  I finally got to the top of the mountain.  There was a parking area that wasn't open for the season yet.  I learned from from signage in the area that this used to be the location of the luxurious Cloudland Hotel, back in the late 1880's.  I started back on the trail, with another thru-hiker, Margaret.  Coming down the other side of the mountain, we both missed the sign that would have directed us to the highest shelter on the AT, Roan High Knob shelter.  Guess I got distracted somehow, oops!  We didn't realize our error until about a mile past it either, and didn't want to back track just for a photo.  She stopped for lunch on a rock, but I was out of water so I pushed on to some streams ahead at Carvers Gap.  Out of the gap, I began climbing Round Bald.  The summit of this mountain is at 5800 feet, and is the first of three balds that were lined up one right after another.  I had picked an outstanding place to have lunch!  360 degree views, on a grassy mountaintop.  I could see Mount Mitchell in the distance, the highest peak in NC, and the highest peak east of the Mississippi in fact.  I kind of wish the AT went over it.  Margaret caught back up and we hiked over the smaller Jane Bald.  Awesome!  Then we started up Grassy Ridge Bald.  The AT split off to the left halfway up the climb.  We took the 0.5 mile side trail, off the AT, up to the summit.  Totally worth it.  From the top of this massive, bald mountain, we could see forever in every direction.  I feel like there aren't adequate words to describe the views.  Several hikers I knew were planning to camp up here.  What a great spot!  I wasn't done for the day though, and pushed on down off of Grassy Ridge Bald toward Overmountain shelter.  At the shelter, Margaret caught back up with here hiking friends, Laffy Taffy and Fonsworth.  Fonsworth was hiking wearing a bowtie, pretty funny and unique, haha.  The shelter at Overmountain is incredible.  It's just a big red barn, that has been converted for hikers to sleep in.  The lower section of the barn has 2 platforms to sleep on that accommodate about 5 hikers each.  From this spot, you can look out into a gorgeous valley below, flanked on either side by huge mountain ridges.  There were several fire pits, and a picnic table.  Perfect setting for dinner.  A staircase would take you to the upper level, where the entire floor of the barn could accommodate dozens more hikers.  The book said this shelter could sleep 20, but realistically it's more like 50.  Not to mention the massive amount of tenting locations.  This is a unique shelter, in a postcard perfect setting.  The terrain I covered today, and stopping for the night here, has turned out to be probably the best day on the trail so far.  Spectacular!

View from Grassy Ridge Bald, looking back across Jane and Round Balds
toward Roan High Knob.