Date: 2012-05-28
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Mountain Harbour B&B, Roan Mountain, TN
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: clear sky

Day 33: We finished!! At 2:15pm we arrived at the B&B that is our final destination for this hike. To start the day, we awoke to a blustery, cool, foggy morning. The wonderful views of the previous evening had been replaced by a grey, misty mass. We packed up and hit the trail at 7:30am (Do you notice a pattern here?!!). We immediately began our first climb of the day of 900 feet to Little Hump Mountain. Unfortunately this mountain was a big bald. Normally that would be a positive because we would be out of the "Green Tunnel" and actually have a view. However on this morning all we got was a better view of the fog and more exposed to the gusty wind. In fact we were often fighting to stay upright. The wind was coming from our right, so we would lean that direction to counter the force of the wind. As a wind would gust we had to lean more..after the wind gust passed we would lean less...at least that was the theory!! The reality was that we never knew when a wind gust would come, so it would push us to the left until we could counteract it by leaning more to the right. Then the gust would end and we would be leaning too much so we move to the right. Spider characterized our movement down the trail looked like a couple of drunken sailors!!Once over Little Hump Mountain we dropped back into the trees and got a respite from the wind...that is until we arrived at Bradley Gap and got a look at Little Hump Mountain's big brother, Hump Mountain...650 foot climb of wide open bald. The sun was beginning to break through in places and we realized that what we thought was fog was, in fact, low clouds and what we were experiencing was a weather front going through...Oh please don't make us put on our rainwear again!! As we started up the mountain, we could not see the top because it was shrouded in fast moving clouds. Fortunately the higher we climbed the less cloudy it got. By the time we reached the summit, the sky had turned to partly cloudy, the wind had reduced significantly and we had great views in all directions...who would have thought??After enjoy the views we started our 2700 foot descent. The first part was a gentle down on the bald then it got steeper. We were now the leeward side of the mountain and the further we descended the warmer it got...now we wanted the cool wind!! We finally finished our descent at about 2pm at highway US 19E. We walked 0.3 miles down the highway to the Mountain Harbour B&B and Hostel. Spider had made reservations at this B&B for two nights before we left California and also arranged for them to transport us to the regional airport on Wednesday. This B&B has three bedrooms for guests and has converted the loft of the barn into a hiker hostel with a small kitchen area, shower and toilet facilities. We are staying in their largest guest room complete with a kingsize bed, sitting area and bathroom with jacuzzi tub!! As you can tell, we are rewarding ourselves for making our trekking goal!!Upon arrival at the B&B, we were given the tour then told we could put our dirty clothes in the basket they provided and they would launder them...Wahoo!! They also offered that a pulled pork sandwich was available for lunch...does life get any better?? We ate lunch on the deck of the B&B, took a shower and lounged on the veranda talking to a couple of the other guests/hikers. One is a hiker who met at a shelter about 10 days ago. He was doing more miles per day than we so we figured he was long gone. However he strained his Achilles tendon and had to take several days off at the B&B to get back to hiking form. At 5pm the free daily shuttle left for town and the opportunity for dinner. I use the term "town" somewhat loosely since it was only about ten places of business. One of those businesses was a restaurant, Bob's Dairyland. Spider had read about this place in preparing for the hike. They are famous for there burger called the "Holy Cow"...and he had to try one!! Coupled with a chocolate shake it was more than even a hungry Spider could eat!! ET had a more sedate "Big Cheeseburger". Back at the B&B, we read the newspaper and watched some TV in our room...we are really out of touch with what is going on in the world!!...Eli Manning is going to Denver?....I'll Have Another is going for the Triple Crown?...Thunderstorms are predicted for eastern Tennesee...Oh that's right, we're under a roof now so I don't care!!We are looking forward to sleeping in a bed for more than a couple of nights.