Date: 2017-05-13
From: Roan Mountain B&B + Carvers Gap

To: Doll Flats
Miles today: 11.8

From Fatboy:I didn't want to.  We spent a wonderful, restful night in a king size bed with the softest sheets I've ever slept on.  They were made of bamboo and Ginger and I will definitely be getting some of those for out bed at home.  We had coffee in bed and then joined the rest of the hikers for pancakes, yogurt, fruit, eggs, juice, and more coffee.  It was glorious to be clean, well-rested, and well-fed.  The weather outside was dismal.  It wasn't raining but it felt cold to me and the sky was gray with clouds obscuring the mountaintops.  I didn't want to leave civilization to go back to slogging through the mud carrying a pack and getting dripped on.  Ugh!  I didn't say anything and we left for our drop off back at Carver's Gap.  We supposedly had some beautiful scenery that we were passing over but the visibility was about 50 yards.  We hiked on.  We knew we were supposed to pass over several balds and we soon came to Jane's Bald.  We continued to be in the midst of a cloud so walking across this bald was a non-event.  We passed Overmountain Shelter and it was interesting.  It's an old barn and has the largest capacity of any shelter on the trail.  It is big and has an upstairs that would hold a lot of hikers if the weather was bad.  It also has a privy which is interesting because none of the other shelters on this section of the trail have these.  Ginger went to the privy and when she returned she told me it was "nice."  I decided to use the privy too.  Imagine my surprise when I found a broken toilet seat with the lid lying on the floor next to it, no roof, and only three sides that were much less than waist high when I was standing.  There wasn't even a door!  I had to tease Ginger about how her standards had changed so dramatically in such a short time.  As we were leaving this shelter there were multiple hikers approaching.  It looked like this was going to be where the party was tonight so I'm glad we were pushing on.  We did get some pretty photos of the barn in the mist as we were leaving.  Climbing the trail after the shelter the sky began to clear and we found ourselves in the midst of a beautiful, windy, but sunny day.  The trail passed through some brushy areas that had the most wild strawberry plants in bloom that I've ever seen in one place.  Between the blackberry bushes that are everywhere and these strawberries there are going to be some happy animals who get to gorge themselves with fruit.  I've been telling Ginger about how little I enjoy store bought strawberries for a long time because they don't have any flavor.  I can't wait to share a wild, ripe strawberry with her so she'll know what I mean.  We did get some spectacular views of mountaintops in the distance and did see the balds we were going to cross.  First we came to Little Hump Mountain and it was beautiful.  The trail is a narrow but deep track that's worn into the hillside and becomes a muddy mess and ankle twister in places on these balds.  We try to keep our hike as low impact on the environment as possible but sometimes we walked off the track to avoid the muddiest places.  We saw Hump Mountain from Little Hump and hiked on.  It's hard to describe the views from these mountains because I run out of adjectives.  Photos don't really do it justice either.  You really have to see it for yourself.  We did pause at some boulders near the top of one of the peaks and I found a seat on a sun warm rock that was as comfortable as any recliner I've ever sat in.  Ginger has a picture so there is proof.  We passed multiple groups who had tents set up on the peaks so they could watch the sunset.  It was that pretty!  We had determined that we would camp in a meadow called Doll Flats.  This is right on the Tennessee and North Carolina border and it was the nicest campsite we've had yet.  There were only two other tents and they were a distance away.  What made this so great was the boulders.  They were a perfect place to sit and offered backrest and a windbreak to make cooking easy.  The water source was fairly close and we had a beautiful campsite.  It'll be difficult to find any campsites that come near the comfort and peace we felt here.