Date: 2008-03-23
From: Ash Gap Campsite TN

To: Campsite just past Dolls Flat NC/TN
Miles today: 13.9

Day 35 ¢ Sunday March 23 ¢Campsite just past Dolls Flat NC/TN ¢ Miles Today: 13.9 Total Miles: 383.8Happy Easter. We were both warm in the tent last night. It was about 40 degrees inside the tent, but boy were we surprised when we realized it was about 25 degrees outside and our water bottles had a bit of ice in them. Luckily they were usable. The reason it was so much warmer in our tent is that we had, believe it or not, no wind last night. Such a new feeling for us. Another thing we realized is that we had ice crystals on the inner side of our rain fly. When we got out of the tent, the trees were covered in ice, which made for beautiful views until about midday when it started falling off the trees.   We awoke to several different sounds. Brakeman swears he heard church music playing so perhaps on a nearby mountaintop an Easter Sunday sunrise service took place. He says he also heard an animal wrestling around outside in the leaves - perhaps a deer. Our first ascent today was to Roan Mountain at 6285'. We had trail conditions just like what we had in the Smoky Mountains ¢ lots of roots, lots of erosion, lots of steep ascents and lots of ice still on the trail. But we made pretty good time and it was really neat at the top of Roan Mountain.At the summit of Roan Mountain was a cleared area with a plaque stating that the Cloudland Motel once stood there. It was built in 1885 and was in business for 20 years before it was dismantled and all the fine furnishings spread out over North Carolina and Tennessee. The dwelling bordered North Carolina and Tennessee. In the ballroom there was a line drawn down the room which signified which side of the room was in which state. This was important because liquor was legal in Tennessee, but not in North Carolina. Supposedly there was a sheriff who would police anybody who happened to stick a toe over on the wrong side while they were drinking. The guests arrived via a light rail train to within 16 miles and then they had a dusty stagecoach ride to the top. It was quite a feat to be able to get to the top of Roan Mountain to stay at this plush motel, which cost $2 a day (about $46 today), but if you stayed a full month, it was only $30 (about $693 today). Of course all of these tidbits are per our memory of our plaque reading, so the reader of this document is advised that we might be slightly inaccurate. Us? Nah.The trail down Roan Mountain on the north side was extremely well maintained with lots of little fancy bridges, water bars and gravel trail stuck on top of a rubber mesh, for erosion control. Later we realized that there's probably a lot of day hiker traffic up the northern side of Roan Mountain and thus the reason for the extra care in keeping the erosion under control. After coming down off Roan Mountain we quickly arrived at Carver¢s Gap, a wonderful series of grassy ridges or balds. They were just beautiful with all the ice coating low lying trees and shrubs. We took lots of pictures. We passed several weekend campers coming down off a grassy ridge back to their cars. Perhaps a family tradition to backpack on Easter weekend. We did not take the .3-mile trail to Overmountain Shelter, which is the famous red barn shelter donated by the landholder, but we did take a picture of the shelter as we climbed up Little Hump Mountain. Little Hump Mountain was basically a bald and from there we climbed to Hump Mountain, another bald. So we seemed just to go from bald to bald to bald this afternoon. At the junction to the trail for Overmountain Shelter, there was another plaque which talked about a group of Revolutionary War troops from Tennessee and North Carolina who went through this area and then over to King's Mountain North Carolina to fight the British in a very important battle which they won. Kings Mountain ¢ near our Harrisburg homestead! Wow.At the top of Hump Mountain (5587'), we were able to get cell phone reception and touch base with the outfitter at Neel's Gap to tell him which pole we need to replace on our tent. We were also able touch base with Harry for a few things for him to bring us when we see him at Damascus in one week.Grasshopper is winning the fall count. The score is now 5-1. Today we hiked a good bit in a wet, black soil, which is just like black ice. One time she went down on her knee and the other time she went feet up and flat on her backpack. Luckily, no body part hit the ground - the backpack took the full blow.   Brakeman says he's going to take her to a car wash and hose her off to get her clean before she's allowed in the tent. We arrived at our Doll Flats campsite on the Tennessee - North Carolina border at 4:45. We've not seen any thru-hikers since we left the shelter yesterday morning. We looked at our logbook and counted how many thru-hikers we've seen; only 10 and it seems right now we're in a lull between them all. The next shelter, Apple House Shelter, which is just a half mile off US Rt. 19E, has quite a history of problems as the land was taken by the government via eminent domain for the National Forest. Apparently there's a lot of bitterness still. Rumors state that shelters have been burned; objects thrown at the hikers staying in the shelter, trash dumped in the vicinity and shots fired in the air. Its well known by all hikers to stay away from US Rt. 19E, so we're 3 1/2 miles from there and we'll pass straight through that area tomorrow without stopping. Some gray clouds and heavier clouds formed during the afternoon. We're not quite sure if we'll have rain tonight or tomorrow. We have a long day tomorrow, nearly 17 miles, so hopefully the weather holds fairly decent. We hit the big 400-mile mark tomorrow! It's 7:00 and already just 35 degrees in the tent. Tonight all the water will be kept in the tent and Brakeman will sleep with the water filter. We're going to have a mighty cold start tomorrow morning. Goodnight from the Tennessee-North Carolina border.