Date: 2004-04-27
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: light rain

What a great day!It started in the 40's, clear and windy. It was the first time in days that I slept wearing my balaclava and fleece top to stay warm.At first the temperature rose, getting nearly to sixty, but as I made the 2,500 foot climb up Roan Mountain it got colder and even windier. As I neared the top the trail plunged into a pine thicket. The wind began gusting and great dark clouds drifted overhead, turning the pine grove into gloom and raising worries about thunderstorms brewing up. Nothing like the thought of getting caught on an exposed peak in lighting to lend excitement to one's hike! I pushed up to the top as fast as I could. At the top I ran into snow flurries instead of thundershowers and relaxed a bit.I took a chilly moment to admire the site of the hotel that once stood on the summit, then went to Roan High Knob shelter for lunch. It is the highest shelter on the AT and once was a firewatch cabin. The Smokys gang were there as well but after lunch quickly hiked out of sight. They tend to go faster but take long breaks so we end up with about the same mileage.The real bonus of the day came after Roan Mountain. I came upon three huge balds in a row, nearly 6,000 feet high. It was wonderful hiking over one great dome of grass in the sky after another. The cloud ceiling had risen enough that the view was incredible. The spine of the smokys had made me feel remote from the world with little to see but more Smokys whereas this made me feel on top of the world perched high above peopled valleys watching cloud shadows drift across the landscape. The chill gusty wind only added to the atmosphere. I had no film left, but I doubt any camera could do justice to the magnificent vistas.I ended the day at Overmountain Shelter. I had thought the name just meant it was a mountain away from the highway, but a sign explained that the "Overmountain Men" were Revolutionary War militia from beyond the crest of the Appalachians and that the gap the shelter was located in is where the AT intersects the route they took on the way to winning the Battle of King's Mountain.The shelter itself is a converted barn with lots of room. At first I was going to stay downstairs where there was light and a nice view, but the cold wind drove me up to the dark but more sheltered loft. Someone showed me what ramps look like, those two leafed garlic tasting onion like plant that grow in the mountains. So I was finally able to pick some and slice them to add to my supper.Didi, whom I had seen at Miss Janet's, had just left there that morning and said good weather was predicted but that it was supposed to freeze in Erwin tonight. That means it will be even colder here. So I put my groundsheet and a spaceblanket under my mattress. I also emptied my filter bottle so it would not leak and put it into my sleeping bag to keep the filter element from freezing and cracking. Speaking of the filter, at an earlier stop I disassembled it and rinsed out the grit that had accumultated in between the primary and secondary filters. After that it was its old happy self again! That is one less worry.