Date: 2009-04-09
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 22.1
Weather: clear sky

Thu Apr 9, Day 30: The mice were very active in the shelter last night. I counted four running back and forth near the rafters before dark. Eveyone in the shelter slept head towards the door (except me) because they are afraid of the little critters. Not me, I am their friend. Not one ran across my face but they did scurry around my sleeping bag. I still have ear plugs - Hooray!!!There were three new hikers in the shelter last night. Smiley, Carolina, and Fortune. Sam the Jam and Hightop have been around awhile and are putting in high mileage days. My goal for today was to hike about 16 miles to the Roan High Knob Shelter which is the highest shelter on the AT at 6,285¢, it even has four walls. There's still plenty of snow to contend with. Melting snow is tricky to hike in. It saturates the trail and causes a slippery mess, plus there are drifts that come up to my knees. You burn more energy hiking in snow since you are continuously lifting your legs up high. I've fallen my share of times - it's not fun. There there is the snow melting from the trees. Some of it comes off as liquid, some as clumps of snow. It's like the trees are throwing snowballs at you! They're pretty good shots too. I've had several land on my neck and slide down my back...cold!!I move slowly up the trail. The Roan Mountain climb is a killer, 900' of vertical in the last mile and a half hiking before the summit. At times I was just following boot prints of other hikers that had blazed the trail ahead of me. We were off the trail more than we were on it, just going blaze to blaze, trying to pick our way through the snow. Then the worst thing happens - I miss the shelter! Oh no!! The weather was so bad I missed the sign to the shelter. When I popped out of the woods onto TN143/NC261 at Carver's Gap, I knew I had overshot Roan High Knob by a mile and a half.At Carver's Gap I run into Gumby and Mougli. There's a parking lot here so I take my pack off to rest and eat a Snicker's bar. Before long a guy named Jeff comes up and offers us some Trail Magic. Jeff thru-hiked the trail in 2005 under the trail name El Jefe. He and his girlfriend Emily from Chicago came down and were camping in the area. They set up a tent with some Trail Magic for all the thru-hikers. Man it was great. They had cold beer, soft drinks, orange juice, cookies, Rice Krispy treats, fresh fruit, hot dogs, hamburgers, and chips. Jeff and Emily's Trail Magic Tent, click on picture to see full size Emily and JeffI had a burger, hot dog, apple, and soft drink along with a cold beer before pressing on. It just really hit the spot after working so hard to make it up and over Roan High Mountain in such miserable conditions. Spokes enjoying the Trail MagicPushed on to the Stan Murray Shelter but it was wet inside so I did another 1.7 miles to the Overmountain Shelter at Yellow Mountain Gap (4,682') to finish off a 22 mile day. This shelter sleeps 20, it's a great restored barn for thru-hikers. I've stayed here before on some previous hiking trips. I arrived late for me - 1930 hours. I'm wet and tired but thankful to be here. There are probably fifteen hikers in the shelter. I grab a spot in the upstairs loft, fetch four liters of water, and fix dinner. Overmountain ShelterIt's 2115 hours now, way past Hiker Midnight. The view tonight is stunning. The full moon is out and we can look over the pasture area off into the distance and see up over Little Hump and Big Hump Mountain, a couple of 5000'+ summits we'll face tomorrow. The forecast is for rain tomorrow, not sure how far I'll get down the trail. Depends on how slippery conditions are. Tidbits and Observations: I just did laundry in Erwin, TN (2 days ago) and already have a funky smell in my clothes. They say the "thru-hiker smell" gets impregnated in microfiber and is impossible to get out. Perhaps I've crossed that threshold? Click here for audio journal