Date: 2014-05-04
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

Today was a great day! First off, the weather was fantastic, I felt strong, and I hiked over some amazing mountains. I awoke at 6:45am, got packed up, had breakfast, and was hiking by 7:30am. The first few miles took me over Little Rock Knob, and then I began the long hard climb up Roan Mountain, which is the last 6000+ foot peak I'll go over until Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, still 1,477 trail miles north. The climb up was long, but at least most of it was on switchbacks, except for the last 1.2 miles to the summit, which were straight up. I had lunch at Roan High Knob Shelter, the highest shelter on the AT. It was 4-sided, and even had a door (99% of shelters on the AT are three-sided with no door). I met Ferris here, and hung out with him for a bit. The descent was made very hard because of the terrain. The trail was a large rock and scree field that made the hike down slow going. At the bottom was Carvers Gap, right on the TN/NC border. I laid down near the road and soaked up the sunshine. It was cold and windy above 6000 feet, but at 5300 feet down in the gap, it was warm, but windy as hell! I hung out there with PapaDoc, Not Chicago, Peter Pan, Bilbo Baggins, Ferris, and Shark. At around 2pm, I hiked on with Papa Doc and Not Chicago. We were about to hike over some of the most photographed and anticipated miles of the entire trail - the Roan Highlands. We began climbing Round Bald, a massive bald at 5,818 feet in elevation. The views from the top were out of this world. Truly, they were stunning, and no photo can do it justice. Then, we continued to the next bald, Jane Bald, which is even higher than Round Bald. I was hiking through massive treeless meadows on top of mountains. No trees grow on the summits of these mountains, hence the name "balds." I enjoyed endless 360 degree views for miles and miles. It was so windy though that several times it was all I could do to stay upright and on the trail. Trekking poles were essential in keeping myself from being blown over. The pictures I took will not be able to truly capture the beauty and feeling of the Roan Highlands.After Jane Bald, I began to descent from the lofty heights of the balds and re-entered the forest. A few miles later, I arrived at Stan Murray Shelter, but continued another 1.9 miles to Overmountain Shelter, named after the Overmountain Boys of the American Revolution, who marched right past this place on their way to the battle at Kings Mountain. The shelter itself is a large barn that has been converted to an AT shelter. Here tonight with me are Tomahawk, Dr. Vargas, Shane, Lasso, Snakebite, One Hitter, Turbo, PoHo, Zone, Captain Planet, and Ferris. I'm tented in front of the barn like most of the others. We built a nice fire and used Tomahawk's crank radio to listen to music. The stars are so bright tonight too. It is beautiful here. I'm a lucky man to be here. Tomorrow I go over 2 more balds before descending off of the Roan Highlands. I'll also be leaving NC tomorrow for good. The trail has been going in and out of TN and NC for the past 200 or so miles, but 6 miles into tomorrow's hike, and I'll be in TN until I hit the VA border in a few days. I'm making progress!