Date: 2013-05-05
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: TN 19E
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: clear sky

9 miles, 4 hoursWoke up to more cold, wind, & rain. 8am start, looking to catch Roadrunner at campsite a few miles away, Pink Lady finished the hike with us last night & will join Hawk & I today. Uphill in light rain & fog. As we climb up first bald, wind gets super strong, rain shooting into our left sides, heavy fog, visibility is only in the tens of feet, we get to what we think is the summit only to see path flatten slightly then go up for another stretch. Ugh. Carefully placing each step to ensure remain standing. Finally we reach top then curl to right to descend slightly. View is supposedly nice here, not for us today unfortunately. There are brief moments when we are shielded from wind by trees, boulders or curvature of the hill. Begin ascent of 2ND bald, this one seems a bit steeper, wind & rain slam us from the right side this time. Wind is way stronger about a quarter of the way up. Hawk's original pack rain cover blew off yesterday, the replacement won't stay on due to wind. Force pressing against the side of my pack trying to twist me around, hard to move in a straight line forward. Pink is now having difficult time standing & walking on the path, frequently getting knocked down. We wait for her to catch up & let her lead, keeping in a tight pack so everyone stays in view, getting really unsafe now, watching out that no one gets blown off, slide or roll away out of sight into the fog. at that moment the strongest gust of the day blasted us, we get knocked to the side way off the trail, both me and Pink sprawl to hands knees to get wide base and low center of gravity and wait until gust subsides. Surprise attack, disorienting, kinda scary for a few moments. Though we are all close to each other, necessary to yell over the roar of the wind and rustling of jackets in order to be heard. Everyone is OK. We gather ourselves & continue up, cautious watching for another sneak attack gust. near the top path hooks to the right so we are now going right at the wind, looking strait down at my boots so stinging rain doesn't hit face. Rain starting to seep into boots. Beginning descent but super muddy & slippery so can't go as fast as usual, especially a bit down when there is about 40 minutes of rock scrambles, a particularly dangerous stretch in these conditions. After the campsite past Doll Flats there is one tricky spot with boulder climb downs, once past that, its was just slippery mud mostly, until we arrived at the road with much relief. The rain continued, but we were standing still waiting with Danger Pants and Ocho for shuttle into Elk Park / Newland. The wet clothes & feet, cold temperature and wind made for a very uncomfortable wait. Jackalope and Crash were at the road too, surprised when they said they would continue on down the trail. Was so happy when shuttle showed. Felt bad when I dragged by soaked and muddy self and pack into the nice leather seats of the SUV. After getting room at family owned & operated Shady Lawn Lodge (husband & wife owners are super down to earth & friendly and have the thickest southern drawl I've heard so far), getting cleaned and warmed up, off to Mason Jar diner for pulled pork plate with green beans and mashed potatoes & gravy with sweet tea, so good, love southern cooking, so good. Glad to be out of rain and hot showered, and in warm dry clothes with full belly. Feel like I can exhale now. Last couple days will definitely be remembered.