Date: 2003-05-18
From: Greasy Creek Gap

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Erin says:What a day! When we awoke it was no longer raining. Phew. The rainfly was actually pretty dry. We woke up at 9:30am, which is getting better for us after some late wake-ups recently. The day started with a steep climb up a rocky knob, the kind of climb where you have to use your hands to hoist yourself up and over big boulders. Craig and I took a short break at Hughes Gap in order to mentally prepare for our biggest climb of this section - Roan Mountain - the last 6,000+ footer we'll climb until Mt. Washington in NH. The actual climbing itself was about 2300 feet in 2.8 miles. Craig let me take off first and I began the ascent. It started as steep, long switchbacks on a narrow path carved between a sloping forest floor of short, leafy plants. As I got higher up the vegetation quickly changed to tall trees with enormous root systems. The trail was filled with roots, and this actually helped the climb by being able to step up onto the roots. Soon I was enveloped in fog and changing vegetation yet again - this time back to pines and red spruce. The fog/clouds made the trees really wet and they dripped all over me and my bag. The trail also got very muddy and slippery!I got to the top of Roan Mountain and Craig was about 5 minutes behind me. It was a fun climb for a hard mountain, I think the cooler temperatures from the fog helped. Craig and I got very chilly very quickly at the summit and pulled on our windshirts. We went to the site on the summit where there used to be a grand Cloudland Hotel - much like the Mt. Washington Hotel. The hotel there is no longer, but a chimney still exists. We also visited the bathrooms at the visitor parking lot (there is a road that also goes to the top) and we got water straight out of the faucets at the sink. Score! And toilet paper in the bathrooms. Yes! We didn't stay at the summit for very long because it was really cold and so foggy that we couldn't see any views. The hike down Roan on the north side for us was way easier than the hike up. The trail was groomed and had a nice sloping grade, lined with logs on each side. There were little bridges for all the stream crossings. It almost felt like it wasn't real, that we were on a movie set. We passed through more groves of tall red spruce trees, and once again the thick fog gave our surroundings a very surreal feel. Craig and I stopped for an early dinner at the bottom of Roan at Carver Gap. We dined on Cheddar Triscuits (oh, they are good), pepperoni, and pepper jack cheese. We also decided a little Scotch was in order after our hard day of climbing. So we sat in the foggy gap, put our feet up, and took a little break. Then we climbed several balds including Round Bald and Jane Bald. We felt like we were in England because we were surrounded by grassy sloping fields and billowing foggy clouds. Add to that that we were at 5800 ft. The A.T. maintaining club in this region had rerouted the trail over the balds due to erosion, so we were hiking on a groomed gravel pathway. It was very strange. For a brief while we climbed down out of the clouds as we passed through Grassy Ridge. We watched the sun appear through the thick clouds and create a wonderful polarized effect in the forest around us. We sat and took in the rich hues of orange, yellow, and green. The little white flowers creating a canopy on the forest floor smelled very sweet. Then we pushed on to Overmountain Shelter.We got to the shelter around 9pm, just as it was starting to get really dark. As we closed in on the shelter, it got extremely foggy again. Our packs and shoes were really wet from the wetness coming off the trees, bushes, and grass along the trail. The shelter is .3 miles off the trail down a steep path. We were searching for it, straining our eyes through the fog, and then suddenly we came upon this looming barn structure. Creepy. Overmountain Shelter is a huge old barn with room for at least 20 hikers. We hoped that we'd be the only ones here due to Trail Days, but alas there are other hikers on the trail and hikers staying at this shelter. We decided to set up the tent inside the bottom floor of the barn because of the blowing moisture everywhere. As soon as we stopped here, I got very chilly! Craig and I ate a cold dinner of Triscuits and pepperoni and cheese again because we were too shivery and tired to cook a hot meal. Everything is so wet from the fog. We are right in the middle of the clouds! It is so weird to see them blowing past you. Supposedly Overmountain has a great view of the valley down below, but we can't see lights or anything. Okay, so Craig and I just got a stern "quiet down" from a random hiker sleeping up above, so I guess our recounting of the day must stop. I swear we were only whispering. Plus, it's called earplugs. Ten bucks says that same hiker will be the loud one up at 5am rattling their gear around ready and raring to go. They always are.