Date: 2017-09-24
From: Roan High Knob Shelter

To: Beauty Spot Mountain Campsite
Miles today: 24.4

It was cold last night, but the crisp air felt good and made the wrapped up sensation of being in my sleeping bag more pleasant. I slept well. I got up at about 6 a.m., made breakfast, packed up, chatted with and said farewell to Cuckoo. She left to hike down to the Carver's Gap Parking Lot 1 mile North where she would meet a friend who would hike with her for the next three days. Shortly afterward I hiked out southbound, at about 7:30 a.m.It wasn't long before I got to the top of the southern summit of Roan Mountain. This was the site of a grand Hotel in the late 1800. Visitors would travel by narrow gauge train to the town of Roan Mountain where they would then take a carriage for the remaining 12 mile trip to the hotel. Today, all that remains are the ruins. One small chimney stands almost right on the trail, and there is a grassy field where the hotel itself once stood. Five years ago there were probably fantastic views from there, but today the surrounding trees have grown up enough to block most of the scenery. Pictures.About 9:30 am I ran into a hiker going north, and we chatted for a few minutes. She asked, "Are you GI Joe?"  And I said, "Yes." She said her trail name was Pickles, and she was going south as a flip flopper who started sobo from Harpers Ferry about a week after I did. She had been reading my entries in the shelter log books all along the trail. We talked about our hiking plans and who else we had seen on the trail. She said she was slack packing for today, but was in fact headed south now in general.I stopped for a snack around noon when I reached the peak of Iron Mountain sometime before 12:30 p.m. It was fully wooded like most of the trail so far today, and it offered no views except what I could make out between the trees. I continued to walk slowly as I took some time to update my journal and upload pictures. Then, around 1 p.m. I called Uncle Johnny's Hostel in Erwin Tennessee in order to lock in a place to stay tomorrow night.About 2:10 I reached a reliable water source just prior to the Cherry Gap shelter, so I drank the last of my second liter of water and filled, filtered and treated two more liters. About 2:45 p.m., as I was approaching a rare viewpoint in today's hike, I heard some voices. One of them said, "I said it was an animal." I saw that it was three women. I said, "It is an animal!" And one of them exclaimed, "It is a hairy beast!" And yet another one said, "But it looks like a friendly one!" Hahahaha! I paused and took in the view for a moment and then wished the group of women a good hike, and moved on. Sometime for 3:15 p.m., I arrived at the Cherry Gap shelter. I was disappointed that there was no logbook to put my mark in. However, I was surprised to find Annawyn (sp?) there. Her mother, Story Seeker, also showed up before I moved on. I had last seen them at the Rice Field shelter in Virginia. It seems like a long time ago. Annawyn explains that they were doing flip flop sections. They had spent a couple days in Uncle Johnny D's Hostel, and they liked it a lot. Her father had been able to join them there. She also explained that they had installed an electrical outlet and light switch in the Chestnut Knob shelter. I had seen this kind of joke at a number of different shelters, but I never knew who had done it. I got back on the trail about 3:40. My goal was to reduce the miles I would have to hike tomorrow to get to Uncle Johnny's, which was about 17 miles from the Cherry Gap shelter.Sometime before 5 I reached the summit of Unaka Mountain. As I descended the southern side, I came to a campground where I saw two guys looking at a Christmas tree. This was not just a conifer. It was actually decorated with Christmas ornaments. On a nearby tree there was a poster indicating that this was a memorial to someone named Max Norell. Apparently Max, who had been born in 1994 died in May of 2016.  His loved ones evidently we're hoping that his spirit would continue to be able to touch people.About 5:30 I reached Beauty Spot Gap, where there was a small parking area on a dirt road. Across from there was a small campsite, and adjacent to the campsite there was a blue blaze trail that went to a water source. I consumed the remainder of the liter I was working on and then I filled all of my bottles. Now carrying 4 full liters, more than 8 pounds of water, my pack was heavy. Then, I kept going.I reached the top of Beauty Spot Mountain at about 6:10 p.m. As soon as I broke into the clearing I saw two women (one maybe 40s, the other 60-ish), a photographer and a young woman in a white nightgown-styled dress. They looked at me and giggled. I looked at the amazing vista in the background and said, "Beautiful view, I approve." They giggled again. The young woman in the white dress, the subject of the photographer, was Megan. The two ladies standing by were Candy, and Shea, perhaps mom and grandmother. I asked if it was okay to take their pictures and they said sure. (Picture)I headed a few hundred yards further into the center of the clearing and picked a campsite with views to both east and west. And then I set up for the night. As I was setting up I saw the several other groups of people coming out and taking pictures of young women in the same style burgundy dress that Megan had now changed into. I asked one group about this and learned that this was a popular spot for high school senior year pictures.After setting up I watched the sunset and made dinner and took pictures. Then I went to bed.