Date: 2013-07-07
From: Greasy Creek Gap

To: Roan High Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: light rain

Day 15Today was the day to hike to the top of Roan Mountain and stay at Roan High Knob Shelter, at 6194 feet it was the highest altitude shelter on the whole trail. I got lost on the way back to the AT from the hostel. A sign on a tree said this trail connects back to the AT. It connected to a wider trail and I turned right onto that trail assuming it was the AT. I hiked for almost a mile and did not see any white blazes. I had been thinking the past few days how spotting a white blaze had become strangely comforting, knowing that while I wasn't yet where I wanted to be, I was at least headed in the right direction. Seeing no white blazes I decided to backtrack. I ended up all the way back at the gap and then I saw a white blaze and headed in the right direction. By mid afternoon I was at the top of Roam Mountain. So were the clouds. There is a parking lot, picnic tables, and modern restrooms. The talk on the trail leading up to Roan Mountain was to be sure to use the ¢real restrooms.¢ As I got out my second lunch of the day and spread my things out on the picnic table the thunder and lightning began. I decided this might be a good time to make use of the modern restrooms. First I sat outside the restroom door under cover and ate lunch as the rain began coming down. Then I used the sink to take a ¢bath.¢ I knew the shelter was only about a mile or so further so I thought I could get some of the smell off of me before getting there. I found a discarded long sleeved, technical fiber shirt on the bathroom and it did not smell ¢¦ at least it did not smell as bad as I did. It was probably left by another hiker making use of running water to clean up. I decided to keep it knowing that it would probably be a cool night with rain and high altitudes. I could sleep wearing two long sleeve shirts. The rain had not stopped so I treated myself to a Snickers bar. I usually save those for my "third" lunch stop, but the situation seemed to call for a special treat. Soon the rain slowed to a trickle so I hit the trail. I passed the remnants of a chimney in the middle of the trail, apparently a famous landmark. I hit the blue blaze side trail to the Roan High Knob Shelter. The blue blaze trail went up, up, up into a spruce forest. The trail itself seemed to be a streamed and with all the rain it was flowing pretty strong. The shelter was an actual cabin with two windows and an actual door. The ground around the shelter was soft and spongy with from layers of soft pine needles. If it weren¢t for the ongoing monsoons, it would have been a great place to pitch a tent. There were four of us in the shelter that night. The other three were all heading south. One of them had started in Massachusetts in April. He was the first one to bed and the first one out in the morning. It seemed to rain all night but by morning it was just misty. The enclosed cabin made it warmer, or at least cut the wind, but the cabin was just as damp inside as the air was outside. Even with the damp air and the rain, it was an amazing location for a shelter. It also seemed eerily similar to the mountain in the book I am reading, The Fifth Mountain, in which the to of the mountain is always engulfed with clouds.