Date: 2003-04-29
From: CARVER'S GAP

To: HUGHES GAP
Miles today: 4.6

We woke up at our car camping spot at Roan Mountain State Park. We had nice hot showers last night and cereal for breakfast. We left one car at Hughes Gap and drove up to Carver Gap and got ready. Left at eight forty five. Kind of cool, cloudy day, breezy. 9:40am we get to the Roan Knob shelter.And sitting there making pancakes, is Hoopla, we've met before at Roaring Fork shelter a long time ago. So we talk to him and Boy Named Sue. He came through, he had camped out about a half mile up from Hughes Gap and just came in this morning to Sit for a minute. So we left there at 10:05 and headed back down to the A T trail. It's like a tenth of a mile off the trail on this rooty, rocky shelter trail. And its very cold up there this morning. not very enjoyable to sit out. With a cloud blowing through, cold wind. So now we're going to be mostly going down today. most of the trail is the old wagon route up to the Cloudland hotel. Popular back in 1880, tore down in 1915. It is a real nice trail because of that. We found out at the shelter journal that the old Geezers had come thru yesterday for lunch. So we wont be seeing them TODAY. And we are heading down now. It is windy and cold, later. Got to the Cloudland hotel site at ten thirty. Took a walk around , just a few bits of foundation left Of this old hotel. there's a crew up there, since there's a road comes up to it. Has a crew working on the picnic area bathrooms. No tourists today, its all cool and cloudy with just me and Cindy walking through. Now we're heading down again, ten forty four. 11:14 we're at Ash gap, one point eight miles from the car. Met a couple of hikers going up this hill. And it is steep, they were working hard to get to the top. So we will take a break and then zip down to our car. going to be a very early day for us. It's not cloudy down here off the top. I mean the clouds are not right on top of us, they are up there. Its warmer down here by 10 degrees. A lot of Spring Beautys in this gap. I will take a picture. we're going out of ASH gap here at eleven thirty four, let's call it. About an hour to the car. OK it's twelve forty three and we had a nice twenty minute talk with Vermont Pete. Doing a through hike , he's a retired guy and just decided to get out on the trail. not with his wife, he said you can't walk with your wife. That would be unbelievable, he would not want to try it. And from Montpellier, Vt, the capital he said. I didn't know that. And we just talked about hiking and gear and he's giving suggestions on what to do, if we wanted to come up and do some hiking on the trail in Vermont, New Hampshire area. and a very entertaining guy. We are off to the car now, now really really late. and yes he wouldn't quit talking. Its 1:07pm, the Sun's popped out. Its warm down here. Cindy says she sees our car. so we're About three minutes away from being done with this hike. We get in our car and, We had trouble figuring what we wanted to do next. and I said lets go do this three point nine miles over by 321 at the Watauga Dam. So we drove back around over there, and we are sitting in the car. And we are saying its too late, we can't do all that, and get anywhere else for a good Hike the next day, which would be our last day. And here, Bob Peoples (Kinkora Hostel) comes driving up and he lets out a bunch of people, bunch of hikers. I am looking at them, they look familiar, and some of the young girls we had met on the trail previously. On Max Patch.  so I got out and, first the guy was Steppenwolf, we just met the day before on the trail. and he kind of waved at me and I waved at him. But Bob People's (Kinkora) was talking to them. trying to get people on the trial. And settle up with everybody. and then finally one of the girls saw me, and she was all smiles and waving, so when they finally got all their stuff done they came over and I talked on them. and they were telling us about how they had done some trail maintenance that day and it was really neat and different. The two girls which one of them is Hover. The other girl could be Erin. It is 4:00pm in the afternoon and they were going to slack pack Pond Flats and the Laurel Creek gorge, which is like nine miles long. and they thought, no problem, that's what they were doing. Steppenwolf was taking the day off and he was going to start out the next morning right there from Kinkora and just go north out of there with the pack and everything. Two hikers took off north. The gal looked familiar but I don't know who it was, could be Romeo and Juliet. after that , we decided to drive up to get close to Damascus. So we thought that the interstate was the good way to go. OK Terry thought the interstate was a good way to go. so we get up there to exit seventeen, we think. We stopped in Abington, VA. Ended up at Super eight motel there. Get cleaned up and we went over to Shoney's which is right there. And just pigged out, and it was all good, it was really too much. So we came back to our room and want right to bed on that full stomach. Well not right to bed, but after our fun, we did.