Date: 2003-05-03
From: Roan High Knob Shelter

To: Elk Park, NC
Miles today: 15.1

Although we had hung up our clothing in the shelter, it hadn't totally dried, and it was wet and clammy when we put it on -- nasty way to start the day! But it was no longer raining so we hit the trail. We read in the guidebook that there was a public restroom in just a mile or so, at Carvers Gap, so we waited to wash up and brush our teeth until we got there. When we got there, there was just a privy and a stream -- not exactly what we expected, but we made due. As we were all standing around brushing our teeth, a van full of tourists pulled up, and as they poured out of the van they looked at us like we were animals in an exhibit, saying "Now over there are thru-hikers." For real. Some of them came over and started asking us questions, others just stared. We hiked up a couple of balds, Round Bald and Jane Bald -- we love the balds! Then we came to the Overmountain Shelter. We had heard it was in the movie "The People Under the Stairs" so we went to check it out even though it was .5m off the trail. The shelter was an incredible old barn and could fit tons of people. The shelter's setting was incredible, in a valley between 2 mountains filled with wild flowers that made us want to move in. We took a long lunch there and basked in the sun and the setting. Then we got ready to drag ourselves away, only to get caught up in the meadow. Finally started hiking again. Wrong Way read in the guidebook that there was a steakhouse just 9 miles away --maybe we could go for dinner? We didn't want to bust our butts to get there if it would be closed, so Moo whipped out the cell phone -- he was able to get service and call, and the restaurant was open until 9:00. Now the question was, could we get there in time?First we had to go up a bald called Little Hump Mountain, which was incredible. Then we went into a valley, then up Hump Mountain, another bald. Hump Mtn. definitely made the other mountain seem little -- it was huge! We got to what we thought was the top and took a break, then kept hiking, only to realize there was a lot more. We finally came over the top and saw the plaque, then made our way over to Doll Flats -- at that point 42 and Foxie were behind Moo, Dimple Rock, and Wrong Way. Moo and the others called 42 and Foxie over to check something out, and when we got around a rock, we saw these enormous longhorns right in the middle of the trail! There were about 20 of them, and they were huge, with absolutely massive horns, and some of them even had rings in their noses. Amazing! Wrong Way was pretty nervous about walking right by them. Moo had no such fear -- he kept talking about how he could communicate w/ them b/c he was Moo and he started moo-ing, and one longhorn did moo in response. Moo put his Leki poles on top of his head, making like a cow (Wrong Way was not amused). We reasoned w/ Wrong Way that the longhorns couldn't be dangerous b/c they wouldn't allow dangerous animals to be pastured along the trail, but she wasn't buying it. We started going through, taking lots of photos along the way. Then we came to one longhorn smack in the middle of the trail, rubbing its back against a post that had a white blaze on it, and there was a calf nearby -- we didn't want to get anywhere between the longhorn and the calf, so we gave them a wide berth, even though it meant walking off the trail a bit. The longhorns just watched us as we made our way through their pasture.We had a long hike down the mountain, but got down in time to go to the steakhouse & hitched a ride there. Good steaks, good shrimp, mmm. Our plan was to hit the trail after dinner and hike in for just a mile or so and camp, but you know what happens to our plans . . . this one was thwarted by Wrong Way. Her back was hurting her, so she & Dimple Rock suggested we all get a hotel room. Having just eaten a huge meal and being all warm and toasty, we weren't hard to persuade. We got a ride from the restaurant owner to a motel about 9 miles away, the Shady Lawn Motel.At the Shady Lawn, we checked in with Herb. Moo asked where we could get some beer, but Herb told us we had crossed into a dry county. However, he told us that one of our fellow hikers had left some beer in the hiker box -- thank you Dirty Frank for the 6-pack! We got one room for the 5 of us (Moo, 42, DRock, Wrong Way, and Foxie), and in about 5 minutes we had all taken off our boots and the room reeked of feet -- nasty! We decided to put the boots in the closet to try to contain the smell, but it didn't work that well. Showered, relaxed, went to bed.