Date: 2004-06-14
From: Doll Flats

To: Carver's Gap
Miles today: 14.4

Monday, June 14. What a hike we had today! Nice skies again as we packed up from the cozy site by the spring. Greenie asked had we heard all the gunshots last night? Yes, I think I hear one or two..."It went on for a looong time...there were many shots...where are we anyways?" she said. Who knows. We packed up and left around 8:20 and proceeded to hike Doll Flats...only to discover after an hour's difficult climb that we were only at SR 19 and that 1/2 mile later came upon the shelter we thought we'd missed yesterday. What a long face we had! This meant that our hike for today would be more than 2 miles longer. Doesn't sound too serious except that we had studied the topo and we already knew we would be climbing all day long to get back to Carver's Gap. Doll Flats was a tedious climb with many rocks to negotiate and the forest was dark and to make matters worse, it started raining. Greenie, MB and I put on our best facade to encourage the other. No complaints...just one foot in front of the other and we left one another alone with out thoughts. How could we have miscalculated the mileage yesterday? Something must be off with the trail guide and I was going to ask Bob Peoples at Kinkora tonight if we ever make it.Finally Northbounders came skipping down the rocks "Hey! you're about to come upon a bald...a series of balds, in fact. You'll feel like you're in Scotland!" and off they went. Great! we wanted out of this dark place. Rain stopped and those guys were right. We looked up to Hump Mt (elev 5,587) and from afar saw cows grazing along the trail. Our spirits picked up and as we approached the cows we notice long horns. "Hey? Do cows have horns?" "Some do, but none I know of has such long ones." Bulls. And they are ON the trail. Let's have Greenie go first. She has a red pack. "Let's just see what happens". But Greenie would not go. Mike's Brother volunteered to lead the conga line. We agreed to stick real close to one another so that we appeared really BIG. MB, Greenie and me, Juno in the rear. The bulls were almost ON the trail and one big brown one was ON it. Once we started up the mountain, the bovine halted all activity and watched us move with their big eyes. The bull on the trail would not give way so our leader gave wide berth and in a full, deep voice I heard him say, "Moooooooo". In my fiercest, most forceful whisper, I said: "Do not do that again, Dan." The bull's rump moved ever so slightly but that was to allow him to turn and look at mine. Once I felt safer, I turned and took a pic. By this time they were all back on task...chewing away. The bald was fantastic for views - the Toe and the Doe valleys with clouds meandering around. The climb was wearisome though. The trail is heavily eroded due to use and was narrow and deep...allowing only 1 boot in the space. It was not wide enought to have 2 boots, so you had to be deliberate to place one foot in front of the other. We climbed and climbed and clouds kept swirling around. Then came the descent -- the same narrow trail--down to Bradley Gap---and up again to Little Hump Mt (5,450). More great views but our legs were tired and we knew we had more climbing ahead and more dark forests. We arrived at Overmountain Shelter at 4:30ish. MB reported on seeing a doe, flushing a grouse and there by the shelter, spotted a green and brown snake. Overmountain Shelter is located near Yellow Gap and apparently here in the early 18th century the Overmountain Men defied the King's orders, and made a real estate deal with the Cherokee to settle west of the mountains. This band of men fought off the British...this is MB's area of expertise but something happened in our history over here. Here at the shelter we knew we had 5 more miles to go to Carver's Gap. We also knew we needed to climb to Grassy Ridge (elev 6,189) before we began the descent. At best we would do this by 7:30. That would be a 30 minute mile climbing with about 37 lbs on our backs. MB thought it would take him til 8PM. We ate the remainder of all snacks, downed the remaining Gatorade and headed down only to head up again to Grassy Ridge. The clouds so enshrouded us now, visibility was maybe 10-12 feet and narrowing. "I think I'm in heaven, Sharon." "What?" "Look up...see...nothing there. We're on TOP. Look down...see only clouds. Look around" Around were rhododendrums in full bloom on both sides...no taller than we were...This had to be as high as you could go. We walked the ridge it seems for too long. The climb down HAD to be near. Finally we started a slow descent and as we rounded this area, we bump into 3 40+ish men who came out of the clouds just as we had. They looked stunned to see these 2 60+ish ladies in sleeveless tops (it was cold up there by now) come out of nowhere. "Where are you going?" "Carver's Gap". "It'll take you about 40 minutes". It was now 7PM. We said our goodbye's and started off when the last of the 3 men said "Wait". He told us of a big, big rock after which the trail would widen and there would be a gradual descent. He was stunned...we could tell by his look and was trying to give us encouragement. Greenie and I both appreciated it. "Thanks...hey...you'll see my husband coming behind us. Tell him you saw us and we are only a few minutes ahead, OK?" He said he would and off we went again. It was just as he said and as we trudged down the Rhododendrom Gardens, I blurted "I see it, Sharon, I see my Saab". And it's little security light was flickering madly at us. It was 7:30. MB made it out by 7:45. I never saw him until he was actually in the road. The Gardens were now completly clouded in.. We drove off to Elizabethton for takeout pizza, a whirl around the Winn-Dixie and were back at Kinkora by 9PM. We ate our pizzas, showered and went to bed. We promised ourselves a zero day tomorrow as other hikers were talking about slackpacking 9 miles. We can't we said. We're dead.