Date: 2013-04-08
From: Greasy Creek Friendly

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: scattered clouds

(In which Roan Mountain is disappointing and I camp at a barn)I wake up early, retire back to sleep, and wake up again at 0930. Disappointed at myself for sleeping in, I join Connie in the house. While I am preparing to eat breakfast, we are joined by Woodrow. Peanut Butter arrives shortly afterward, but Jelly is not with him. She became I'll overnight, just like myself and many other hikers in this area have. Peanut Butter is letting her rest and trying to get her off the Trail and back to here to recover. Connie will help him shuttle her from Iron Mountain Gap back to here, and they will take a private room to let her recover.I eat breakfast, pay up, and get moving shortly afterward. It is a pretty late start to the day, but I am still ambitious with my planned miles. I originally planned to camp at Roan High Knob Shelter because it is at the highest elevation of all the shelters on the Appalachian Trail. After two unexpected zero days for illness, I don't think I should take such a short day just to camp there. Now I am considering Overmountain Shelter, or if I cannot reach that I can stop at the Stan Murray Shelter. Of course, with my hammock I can camp anywhere I want. Shelters just give me good points to meet up with other hikers that are moving nearby.The hiking starts out at around 1100 with the walk back up the woods road to get to the Trail. It feels like a much shorter walk going uphill today in daylight than it did going downhill last night by headlamp. Once I am back to the Trail I ascend past nearby Clyde Smith Shelter to Little Rock Knob. Once I am over the summit I realize my only views were a couple small openings in the trees south of the summit. It was not a remarkable view so I had expected a better photo opportunity ahead and had not stopped there. I am bummed to have missed the only views from this mountain, but do not want to go back to them. A long climb up Roan Mountain is waiting for me.The Trail descends over 900 feet to Hughes Gap and a state road. This is quite a tease, as immediately afterward is a long climb, gaining almost 2200 and bringing me above 6000 feet for the last time until New Hampshire. It is a tiring climb, and the day is very warm. This is the first time I take off my glasses, storing them close at hand in my lens bag. Until any photos present themselves, I would rather walk with a very blurred world than constantly wipe sweat from my face. My prescription is strong and my glasses sit close to my face, meaning that sweat moves easily from eyebrows to lenses. If I am not wearing glasses I don't have to be concerned about the sweat running down my face.There is a short break at around 5500 feet where the Trail descends slightly into Ash Gap. I break here to check out the scene and try a few photos. Woodrow overtakes me while I am here. He is faring much better than me going uphill and departs while I am packing my camera. I have cooled off by now but pack my glasses too - I will be sweating hard soon enough. I drop into Ash Gap for the final prolonged climb up Roan. There is still an elevation gain of almost a thousand feet in the next mile.Partway up this climb I run into increasing amounts of ice covering the Trail. I have been seeing small patches of snow lingering nearby since probably 5000 feet, but I am surprised to run into abundant ice now. My glasses go back on now, as I slowly pick my way across patches of ice. At this pace I am not sweating, at least. Most previous ice was encountered while going downhill, on the north slope of the mountains. The Trail here is running compass south, so I am climbing up the north slope. Ascending on ice is more difficult than descending, and my mind finds itself occupied thinking about the simple physics of that reality. I think it has to do with the angle at which my feet are pushing off or landing on the ice, but I will spare the readers that science.After slowly picking my way through the ice for a while, the woods abruptly open up and display a large manicured clearing. I have reached the end of the climb. Woodrow is breaking here, and I investigate the clearing. There is a sign indicating that a grand hotel once stood here. Unfortunately no trace is visible. A little way further up there is a lonely chimney standing so close to the Trail that I am disappointed to find no white blaze on it. However, hikers have had the presence of mind to use the chimney even if it is attached to no structure. The fireplace is half covered with snow, but I can see it has had recent use.The snow is deep on the Trail on this side of the mountain. Fortunately it is packed hard and I do not sink in much. However it is still a frustrating process walking on this old, packed snow on a warm day. Sometimes my foot will not sink in at all, or sometimes my heel or outside of my foot will break the surface. Sometimes this only happens when I step off and put my full weight on one foot, staggering me for my next step. It could be worse though, and either way I have to keep moving north. I pass by the side trail to Roan High Knob Shelter. In these conditions, I want to get down to lower elevation today and be done with the snow.Woodrow catches up to me on the downhill and I let him move ahead. Woodrow moves fast, and I pace him downhill. Frequently I slip on the unstable snow, but fortunately I catch myself every time. It is not a long descent, as Carvers Gap and the state road there lie at over 5500 feet. As I arrive in the gap I stop for a break and Woodrow pulls away. There is a rare treat at this spot, and I can look up the next mountain and see that it will make for great photography. Round Bald is a short, easy climb with views most of the way up. The terrain is mixed up slightly as the Trail winds through a spruce forest on the way to the summit.At the top, I can trace the Trail across an unbroken bald saddle to the next mountaintop, Jane Bald. This bald offers similar panoramic views, and I can look north to Grassy Ridge Bald. There is a half-mile side trail to the summit, and that summit could be the last time I see a 6000-foot elevation for a while. However it is getting late in the afternoon and I want to reach Overmountain Shelter before it is very late. I head downhill, filtering some water from a stream nearby. The water at Stan Murray Shelter is my only other option for water before I reach Overmountain, and that source is noted to be unreliable.Stan Murray Shelter sits on the ridge as I descend toward Overmountain Shelter. I am not pleased by what I see here. The shelter is small and the sleeping platform looks rough. There is plenty of trash strewn about the site. Plenty of brush and branches lay about the place, gathered for a fire but never burned or cleared away. I wonder how many hikers actually stay here instead of pushing on to Overmountain. There is no register, so I cannot even estimate. I stop for only a moment before following the ridge uphill for the last climb of the day.The shelter is 0.3 mile off on a side trail. It is a barn with a large open sleeping platform on the lower level and stairs leading to a large enclosed upstairs. The barn sits in a large clearing with views down the mountainside to distant ridges and valleys. I decide to hammock and find a suitable spot near the edge of the clearing. Once my camp is set up, I mingle with some of the others. There are many unfamiliar folks tenting far from the barn that interact with nobody else, but tenting near them are Woodrow, Sconnie, and Chino. Near the barn the only familiar face is Dozer, who I am surprised to see here. He had to take some time off to do something at home, but is back on the Trail with one of his 2012 southbound companions, Funyuns. Funyuns has completed Springer to Damascus and Katahdin to Harpers Ferry and is filling in the section in between this year.I hang around the fire by the barn until dark and dismiss myself to my hammock. There is a mail drop waiting in Elk Park, and I want to get there early to deal with that. It is a nice night and I am going to sleep in only one layer, not even dealing with an emergency blanket around my feet.Peace,