Date: 2017-04-02
From: Roan High knob sheltet

To: Mountain Harbour B&B, TN
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: few clouds

4/2/17 Mountain Harbour Hostel, TNMiles hiked: 393.7, Miles to go: 1796.1We were kind of slow getting started this morning. I think that it stayed dark in the loft of the fully enclosed shelter, so we slept later. By the time we ate breakfast and packed up, it was going on 9 AM. We headed out in full sunshine and warmer temperatures than when we went to bed. After 1.5 miles of hiking, we reached Carter Gap and the beginning of several miles of open balds on the Roan Highlands. It was a gorgeous day with full sun and highs in the 70s. Being such a beautiful day and a weekend to boot, we saw tons of weekend hikers, including a physical education class from Appalachian State University. One student and I had a friendly disagreement over whether Appy State or WVU are the "true" Mountaineers. I think we all know the answer to that one!1st Sgt and I were enjoying the balds and talking to other hikers so much that we kind of dawdled a little longer than we planned. At one point, we talked to a Southbound section hiker who told us that he had met Winter at the Overmountain Shelter this morning. We were both relieved to hear that she had made it to the shelter last night (yeah, we can't help ourselves - we are both dads). We stopped for lunch at Stan Murray Shelter, where we shared the picnic table with a young woman from Green Bay named Big Rocks and a German woman from Trier named Powerhouse. We had actually met her the night before last and she had been very excited to find out that, not only was I familiar with her hometown, I had visited it. After lunch, we stopped in to check out the Overmountain Shelter. It is probably th coolest shelter we've seen so far on the AT. It is an old barn that was converted to a shelter by the Tennessee Eastman Hiking Club in 1983. It sleeps about 30 people and has incredible views of the valley below and the balds above. It even has incredible views from the privy, which doesn't have a door or a roof and only about 4 foot high walls, so you get the full view of your surroundings during your morning Constitutional . When we checked the shelter register, we found that Winter had left us a note letting us know she had made it safely to the shelter at 10:20 pm the previous evening. After visiting Overmountain Shelter, we still had about 7 miles left to hike and two big climbs over Little Hump and Big Hump and the afternoon was slipping away. So, we got down to business and started hiking in earnest. The climbs over the Humps were tough; but, soon enough, we were starting the five mile descent to US Rt 19. The descent was pretty rocky at first; but, the farther down the mountain we came, the more the treadway smoothed out. At mile marker 390.7, we crossed the TN/NC border for the final time. We have been flitting back and forth across the border since the Smokies. We have finally bid NC farewell for good. Two states down and 12 to go. We finally reached US Rt 19 and hiked 0.3 miles down the road to the Mountain Harbour B&B and Hiker Hostel. 1st Sgt's wife had made reservations for us yesterday after she found out that Ringer had found his wallet. We are going to zero here tomorrow and wait for Ringer to arrive with the wallet.   They had already quit serving dinner from the food truck; but, we were able to buy frozen pizza, sodas, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream in the General Store, so we were set. The proprietor, Shannon, showed us to our room in the main house and even cooked our pizza and washed our laundry while we showered and cleaned up. The rest of the evening was spent in pleasant conversation with Shannon and one of the other guests. They are calling for thunderstorms and 1-2 inches of rain tomorrow, so it will be a good day to take a zero. I just hope Ringer can make it over the Humps tomorrow to deliver the wallet...