Date: 2011-05-05
From: Carver's Gap

To: TN Rte 19E
Miles today: 13.7

Got up at 6:00 and ready to leave by 6:30. Steve and Anne were very kind hosts but Anne is a school teacher and does not serve breakfast during the school year bec0ause she has to be at school by 7:00. So, Steve drove us hikers back to town and dropped me off at Bob's Dairyland for breakfast. The owner had told me he might be able to give me a ride back to the Trail, if it wasn't too busy. I had a big breakfast with plenty of coffee for an hour or so, but it just kept getting more and more busy. I finally left about 8:00 and walked a half mile or so to the road I needed and stuck out my thumb. About an hout later I was back at the Trail at Carver's Gap.I had realized late last night I had left my hiking poles leaning on the rail fence at the gap yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately they were gone this morning. They didn't take long to dissappear. Hopefully some needy thru-hiker will carry them to Maine again. It'l just be weird walking without poles from now on.The trail up Round Bald was wonderful. Still a thick layer of rime ice plastered to the upwind side of every tree, bush, and sign post. It was cold, I showed 36°, but with a clear blue sky it would warm up fast. This was the perfect day to walk this section, which is perhaps the longest section of Balds outside the Smokies. My gamble of going in to town yeterday to wait out the weather paid had off, that is except for having lost my poles.The rest of the day was slow going. I stopped way too often for pictures, and walked way too slow looking at the views. But, this section was part of the reason I chose to hike this part of the trail and I didn't want to rush through it. Had a late lunch on the summit of Hump Mt where I'd camped in '07, then headed downhill towards the Doll Flats campsite. Instead of stopping to camp at this wonderful spot I kept going and finally arrived at the 2oute 19E road crossing. 3 Hats and Moma Hat were there and staying at the Hostel just down the road. They were so enthusiastic about the breakfast that I decided to tent at the hostel and take advantage of the meal. Just as I was getting checked in to the Hostel the town shuttle was ready to leave so I hopped in and joined the crown headed for the barbeque joint in Roan Mt, TN. We drove right past Bob's Dairyland where I ate this AM, and I was beginning to feel a bit too familiar with this little town!Back at the hostel, itt was full, probably 20 hikers staying in and camped around the grounds. It is a working horse and goat farm, with the loft of the barn done over into a very comfortable hiker hostel.I finally met Middlebury, a hiker whose name I've been seeing in trail registers the whole time I've been on the trail. Apparently she was wearing a Middlebury College ball cap her husband gave her and the name stuck. She is a CVU grad ('71) but no longer lives in VT. Unfoetunately, she is holed up here with very bad shin splints after slack packing 30 miles in 2 days out of Uncle Johhny's around Erwin. I've been trying to convince her to take a couple more days off to let it heal before walking again, but the urge to keep heading northbound is hard to resist when everyone around you is pushing on. Hopefully she'll heal up and be able to keep going.