Date: 2005-05-05
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: light rain

I was up and gone this day by 7:30. It was an early start indeed. My intent was to try to get up and over Roan Mtn before the weather came in. I stopped at "Little Rock Knob" (4920 feet) a vista that over looked the area I just hiked through. You could also look back and see the shelter that I just spent the night in. Once again the leaves were not yet out at this elevation and the vistas were excellent. Once the leaves were out and fully developed the "Peek a Boo" views were all but gone. Now though, you could look left or right and see great distances from time to time. Later on we walked through what we called, "Tree Tunnels". I noticed as well that there was indeed a storm coming in from the South West. Slim (Pete, my roomy from Erwin) caught up to me and passed me by. He said that he too wanted to get up and over Roan before the storm set in, (Wasn't a bad idea at all Pete). I agreed and off we both went just a few minutes apart. We "leap frog 'd" with each other over the remainder of the day. Leap frogging is where you both pass each other up from time to time over the length of the day's hike. It was an indicator for sure on who you would see that night at or near the shelter.   Roan mountain was still five miles away with over 2000 feet of elevation to climb and the storm behind me was coming on fast, I put it in to high gear. Feeling much better I was able to concentrate on summiting this big old critter. I passed Fig and Just Visiting, they left before me this morning. They were always one of the first to leave camp. One would cook while the other packed up plus, they stayed in the shelter and did not have to deal with any tents like yours truly. I climbed from Hughes gap, 2 miles strait up (so it seemed), without stopping. It took an hour and 20 minutes to summit. There was one false hill that faked me out but I new it wasn't the top (it came along to soon). Thick pine trees, dwarfed by the elevation, are always good indicators that you are near the top. It started to snow as I crested over the summit and when I finally did take a break, it was definitely time to "snivel up" a few layers of clothing. I dressed near the parking lot and continued to move on heading for the "Roan High Knob Shelter". It was just off the trail and worth going to because it had a spring near by. As I arrived I found Turbo Joe was there. He was singing on top of his lungs, playing the Harmonica and smoking cigarettes (hiking his hike). We talked for a bit as the weather turned much worse. The temperature was falling fast and we both agreed it was time to get off the top of this mountain. I wrote before that Turbo Joe got his name because he was fast. The North side of Roan is an old Jeep trail full of rocks. That boy's upper body was gliding along well but his legs were moving a mile a minute. We kept up that pace all the way to "Carvers Gap" and once there he went to find a ride to town, I continued on.   As I was about to cross the road I found a note placed on a hand rail that simply read this, "Batch.. I had enough.. left the trail". The weather must have got to him I figured, it surely was miserable. I was sorry then to read that he left the trail, he was an inspiration to us all. A few days later I saw him in a town called Roan Mountain Tennesee near where I took a Nero. He told me he was back on the trail. He said his wife convinced him to continue on. I was so happy to see him, it made my day.   Soon after crossing the road I came upon Slim who was eating his lunch hunkered down among the few trees there. We both agreed that the best thing to do was to push on and get over the Balds (Round and Jane) that were ahead of us and drop down in to the tree line. I put on my poncho and it covered me and my back pack. It worked fine in the rain but in this side-ways blowing wind, it blew the thing in circles around my body. One minute it was on right, the next the hood was in front of my face. It went on like this for the next hour or so. I tell you by the time I did get in to the tree line my butt was whipped. I figured this must have been the norm because the trees there were growing into twists. The trail was in terrible shape as well. Erosion was the big damage maker, there was evidence that there are plans to repair (Survey tapes with instructions for fixing that part of the trail) and there were a lot of them. It was good to be out of that powerful wind and when I got to the Over Mountain Shelter at 3 PM I decided to stay the evening.    The wind was still hawking, dropping the temp fast and we (everyone there) set up our tents inside of the barn. This shelter is a barn, the famous "Red Barn". Two things to note: first in our American History, this is where "The Over Mountain Men", 1000 strong came over from the West to fight the British during the Revolutionary War. 1000 men with their own weapons and horses during the winter and fought for our independence (hats off to 'em). Second note there was a film shot here, in part, back in 1983. Kurt Russell and Lloyd Bridges filmed a movie called "Winter People".    By 7:30 there were over 30 people in the barn and a number of them set up their tents outside. I hung my poncho on the wall to keep the wind out. It did finally settle down some enough to be able to get outside and enjoy the sunset. The people I recall there were Bottle Rocket, Fishin Fred (From the Trail Magic back on Albert Mountain), Sweet 16, Coyote, Underground, Slim, Sleeveless, Roamer and Coho.