Date: 2003-05-02
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Ash Gap
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We set out today with the ambitious target of reaching the shelter at the top of Roan Mountain, a total of 14 miles and a climb of 2,500 feet at the end. Much of the day was a bit of a grind, the exception, for me at least, being the forest on Iron Mountain this morning. The trees, mainly maple and buckeye I think, seemed more mature and well spaced than much of what we pass through. The forest floor held many miniature purple delphiniums about a foot tall, and isolated pckets of fern. It struck me as looking quite like a deciduous English forest. Thunder had been rumbling in the distance for some time this afternoon, and the skies darkened ominously as we were climbing Little Rock Knob. Coming as it does immediately before the formidable Roan Mountain, this mountain is under-rated, but is every bit the equal of Albert Mountain for difficulty. You are constantly using all fours to scramble forward, grabbing on to the next rock or small tree to haul yourself up. For much of it, the "trail" is sunk behind a wall of rock and earth, 6-10 feet high, on our left as we climbed. Here and there, there is a break in the wall which provides a promontory to look out on the world beyond. At the first of these points, I realised that the other side of the wall was a cliff face.  Some way behind the others, "Chafe Master" and I were scaling this section when the storm hit us. "Chafe Master" said he heard it coming before it arrived, with a "sound like a freight car". I had just arrived at a promontory, insanely thought "Why don't I take a picture?", and was doing that when the blast of air knocked me back a couple of paces. I jumped back on to the trail and the protection of the rock wall, and rain cover for the pack, rain jacket and trousers went on in record quick time. For once, the trousers didn't snag on every part of my boots as I put them on. It started raining heavily. At the promontory, it flew past horizontally. The lightning flashed behind the murky, low rain clouds for the most part, but, when it was closer, I watched it fork and streak while I sat waiting for it all to pass. After half an hour the thunderstorm seemed to be moving away, although the rain was still drumming down, so I decided to get moving. About five minutes later, the trail levelled off and I was striding along, looking through the pouring rain at the pathway ahead, when I was stunned by the most incredible flash of light. Dazzled, I instinctively crouched down just as, in that very next instant, an almighty crack of thunder went off right above my head, or so it seemed. I didn't see where the lightning struck but that was close! Carrying on, several minutes after that, I saw "Chafe Master" and Verity coming back up the track towards me minus their packs. "Oh no, what's happened?" I thought, but quickly realised they were coming back to make sure I was alright after that last strike. I was quite moved by their concern, especially "Chafe Master J", since he was still walking in shorts (I learned later that he had mailed home his rain trousers a few days ago), and, quite apart from the cold, he must by now be shipping water into his boots. The storm passed, clearer sky could be seen in the distance, and the six of us gathered at Hughes Gap - "Dimple Rock", "Wrong Way", "Two Speeds", "Chafe Master", Verity and me - to decide what we should do next. "That storm was a real doozie!" declared "Chafe" admiringly, pouring a quantity of water from each boot. A road leading to lodging was an option at this point, but we decided to scale Roan Mountain in the remaining daylight, ideally reaching a shelter shortly beyond the summit, failing which a designated camping area at Ash Gap about two thirds of the way up the mountain.In the event, the "KC" girls have pressed for the summit, the other four of us have settled at Ash Gap, which is a fine camping area, after a heavy mist descended part of the way up. Hopefully "Dimple Rock" and "Wrong Way" have made it to the shelter, where "Moo", "42" and "Foxy" should also be spending the night.