Date: 2017-07-08
From: Carver's Gap

To: Iron Mountain Gap
Miles today: 16.0

Today I woke up around 6 after having odd dreams that the senior pastor at my church was my biological father. Even in my dream I knew how ridiculous that was. Anyway, I got up quickly to take a SHOWER!!!! That's right, folks. It was nice despite the millipedes in there with me. With my glasses off, I thought they were some kind of worm - and I was a little nervous that it was some kind of parasitic worm. Yuck! I was relieved to see millipedes. haha I ate breakfast and got dressed and Steven did the same. We left around 8 and headed to the town of Roan Mountain so I could put gas in my car. Then to Iron Mountain Gap.At the Gap, I decided to change to my long sleeved shirt. I didn't need any more sun! My arms are burnt pretty badly and the sun hurt my arms when I was in the car. I'm pretty sure hoarse cries of, "It burns us!" were heard. We hiked mostly in silence which is typical for us, and when it got too steep I let Count go ahead of me.I never got too hot wearing my long sleeves as there was a breeze all day long. The definite highlight of the day was seeing a doe on the trail. I took her picture and shut off my camera JUST as her small, spotted fawn popped out of the understory onto the trail. It startled when it saw us and leapt away. Count spotted it and I took a few pictures. Not sure if any came out, though.Soon enough came the part I was dreading - over 2,000 feet of continuous up to Roan Mtn. Luckily, the breeze picked up and though I was sweaty, I never felt overheated. I had to stop and rest a few times, but was elated to have overcome the first hump a lot sooner than I expected. Then, as we were coming out of Ash Gap the entire forest changed. If you had plunked me down in those woods, I'd have sworn you put me in Maine! The trail became rocky and rooty, the trees were all coniferous, the mist clouded up my glasses so I couldn't wear them, and a fog surrounded us. It was also damp, but so is everywhere else here. Soon it was sprinkling on us and the higher we hiked, the cooler it became. We heard distant thunder. This usually spurs me on, but I couldn't move any faster that I was already going. We came to what we presume were overlooks, but only saw fog. The Roan High Knob shelter was 0.1 off the trail, but we wanted to check it out. I also wanted to get there before a thunderstorm rolled in. A woman had told us you can see beautiful sunsets from there (not that we were going to get one - ha!) It was a two story shelter, but there were no open views. There were two section hikers there putting on rain gear, and after a brief talk of the weather, they left. We each ate a Snickers bar and headed down to Carvers Gap after hearing more thunder. The trail was a stream in many places, but it was almost all rocks, so our feet didn't get soaked like yesterday. We encountered a young boy (who I assume was a Boy Scout from his neckerchief) and an older sibling or dad. The boy said, "What are you doing out here?" The older guy said, "Same thing as you!" and at the same time I said, "Hiking the Appalachian Trail!" They were heading to the shelter for the night. I was pretty darn cold by this point. My fingers and nose were cold, so I kept up the pace to keep warm. It started spitting rain again. We got to the Gap and there were TONS of cars there, despite the fog and drizzle. We decided to try to stay at Rock Creek Campground. Luckily there were sites available! We are in B13. I was feeling kind of ill by the time we arrived. I could barely eat my dinner. I wondered if I was car sick or sun sick or maybe sick from the stench of Count's shoes. Whatever the cause, I feel better now. :)