Date: 2015-03-29
From: Erwin, TN

To: Roan High Knob Shelter
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: clear sky

3/29, 10.3, Roan High KnobWhew! What a quick couple days its been. My brother topped off his visit this am with a fine breakfast at 7 am. Timing was perfect as they needed to get on the road, and so did I. After breakfast I took the opportunity to check in with worship at Crossroads, my home church. It was GREAT to hear Charlie Stevens this morning. We are still praying Charlie! I repacked my pack in between Skype messages with the church. I have six days of food again, and feel very overloaded. On the upside, I am pretty sure I won't be hungry. Six days should get me to Damascus where I will procure my first full resupply purchased on the trail. To this point I have largely been supplied by prepackaged meals mailed to me from home. I started my hike today where I left off LAST THURSDAY at Greasy Creek Hostel below Greasy Creek Gap. Wow I have been off trail a long time. Kathy dropped me there and after goodbyes and a photo, I was on trail at 12:30. My planned destination today is Roan High Knob Shelter, 10.3 miles away and over 2700 ft in total climbs. I hoped to make it to the shelter by 6 pm. Hiking felt great today so I guess my body needed two zero days where I largely ate and slept, and ate. Kathy was in to visit and made me a cool birthday cake. I used to always get a Butter Brickle cake for my birthday, but they quit making it years ago. Well my darling wife figured out that butter brickle is really similar to a spice cake, with crumbled Heath bits baked in. Mmmmmmmm....I ate half of the cake myself, but left enough for everyone else. My brother also fixed a huge dinner for us of which there were no leftovers either. Kathy commented that she had never seen me eat constantly like this but I guess I have really been burning it. My hike was largely uphill, but my legs felt great and I knew I was making pretty good time. Roan High Knob is visible during much of the hike, so I had opportunities to keep looking up at where I was headed. The trail was nicely graded switchbacks which made the hike more pleasant as well. I had many views of the lowlands as they dropped away and skies were clear and sunny, even though the temperature never broke 50 degrees today. I was cooling late afternoon as the sun dropped near the horizon and i donned my long sleeves to finish the hike. I arrived at the shelter trail at 5:30...and walked past it without seeing it. I hiked about a quarter mile further to a point where the trail begins to drop sharply and decided I must have missed the sign to the shelter. I was getting my iPad out to GPS my location when another hiker came up the hill with his dog. We visited for s minute and he confirmed that he had not passed a shelter, and expected it to be at the top of the hill we were on. About that time GPS confirmed, I had passed the shelter. I turned and hiked back up the hill and located the shelter trail...right next to a post with an arrow printed on it with the word, "shelter". I guess sometimes we have to turn around our direction in life in order to reach our destination. So I fi ally arrived at the shelter at 6 pm. I was, and still am the only one here and according to the shelter log, the first since last Thursday. The Friday forecast for 1-3 inches up here was a little off...it looks more like 2-4 with drifts to 6 inches. He trail has been hiked since the snow, but there were very few tracks at the shelter and the trail to the water had not been used. I checked my thermometer when I arrived and the temp had dropped to 29 degrees with clear skies so I quickly put my water filter in my jacket to prevent it from freezing. The shelter is an old caretakers cabin so it has four walls and a door. Unfortunately the only sleeping surfaces are a mice infested loft and the floor below. I decided to set my tent up inside the shelter to add a little warmth, and keep the mice at bay. I am laying in my sleeping bag now, warm except for my typing fingers, and expect to fall asleep listening to the winds outside, and the pesky mice upstairs. Tomorrow I plan to hike 16 miles, largely back down hill, to near Roan Mountain, Tennessee. That will mark the last I will see of North Carolina as I will then be in Tennessee until I reach the Virginia border late this week. Its great to be back on the trail and I look forward to what may come..Silverback.