Date: 2012-02-17
From: Greasy Creek Friendly

To: Carver's Gap
Miles today: 10.6

As we had arranged the night before, Connie shuttled me to Carvers Gap, just north of Roan Mountain. Connie is very knowledgeable about the local doings and history and filled me in on some of the details as she pointed out various points of interest. The area was beautiful even in this "dead" part of the year. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be in the spring with new growth and flowers or in the fall with the trees in flaming colors, but I had to be content with the sight of giant icicles and ice floes on the cutting for the road as we approached the gap.Connie dropped me off, and I headed right on up. I was surprised to see only a little snow on the side of the mountain. Evidently yesterday's rain had melted most of the snow. Unfortunately a lot had refrozen on the trail making the hiking slow going.After slipping and sliding and working my way gingerly around large patches of ice, I finally stopped and put on the traction devices for my boots. It was the first time I'd tried them, and I was very well pleased. I was still careful while I walked, but my progress was much faster.I had just started again when I began meeting members of a group that had hiked in from Hughes Gap yesterday and had spent the night at Roan Mountain Shelter, reputed to be coldest shelter on the entire trail. They had arrived very wet and spent a long time getting a fire going to warm up and dry out. They described it so vividly that I was quite happy to have been at the hostel. In fact, I was looking forward to being back there tonight. At the top I took the short blue-blazed trail to the site of the old Cloudland Hotel. The views were somewhat limited and hazy, but pleasant. The day was warming up and held the promise of spring, even if was still chilly and breezy.I started down the other side and soon encountered some rocky sections, made more interesting by the ice and snow that had accumulated on them. Care was required to make it down them safely, but the traction devices helped quite a bit.Soon after, I hit a newly relocated section of Trail that I had heard about. It was so new, in fact, that I didn't see any white blazes anywhere. I walked on watching carefully for blazes. I stopped and consulted my map to make sure there weren't any other trails in the area that I might have strayed onto. It's a good thing that I had heard there is a new section here or I would have assumed I was lost! The Trail, however, knew exactly what it was doing and switchbacked down nicely. A very large fallen tree in Ash Gap made a nice place for lunch. By now there was almost no snow on the ground, and this area was sheltered from the wind, so I relaxed for a bit before going on. Since I was hiking back to the hostel there was plenty of time. I knew that even if I arrived after dark, I'd have a warm, dry place to stay, with no water to fetch and filter and a microwave with which to heat my dinner.From Ash Gap the Trail dropped down to Hughes Gap, across the road, and then began to climb. It was pleasant walking and I took my time, sitting sometimes to enjoy the views.Then it was downward again to Greasy Creek Gap and on down to the Greasy Creek Friendly. I was happy to see that the unpleasant neighbor had not blocked the way or caused any trouble. Connie had showed me the signs that the neighbor is believed to have put up on the Trail, saying that the hostel was closed due to sickness/death in the family/bedbugs/etc. Unfortunately those signs have driven away much of her business at times. I hope other hikers will make use of the "Friendly" and hear some of Connie's stories.The hostel was a welcome sight when I got there. After some hot tea and dinner I got busy packing for an early start tomorrow.   One of Connie's neighbors, a friendly, pleasant one, would be shuttling me back to Carvers Gap where I would once again hike the "right" way - northward.