Date: 2019-04-18
From: Cherry Gap shelter

To: Overmountain shelter
Miles today: 24.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Several woodpeckers provide a wake-up call to the tenters at Cherry Gap shelter. No one slept in the shelter given its dingier-than-usual appearance, litter, and likely mouse infestation. Good weather made the choice easy. I even left the rain fly off my tent and had no dew.Clammy hikes out early, as usual, with UNICEF and I scrambling to get going. Fast Lane must have stopped at a tentsite some miles back. We hope he's recovering from his stomach bug and able to catch up today. A number of hikers in our vicinity have had similar illnesses and felt better the next day. Whether giardia, norovirus, food-borne, or something else we can't be sure. The trail is relatively easy and UNICEF and I chat most of the morning through Iron Mountain Gap, where a blind curve highway presents a bigger danger than anything we've experienced in the woods, and over Iron Mountain's bumpy ridgeline to the Clyde Smith shelter for lunch. Along the way we pass Buzz, Rocketman, and Downhill collecting ramps (similar to onion) which they cook up for lunch with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.At lunch we get an updated weather forecast. The massive rainstorm expected late Friday has moved up a day and will now start tonight, dumping several inches of rain with wind gusts up to 55 mph. Finding a secure home for the night becomes a concern. My idea of camping on Grassy Knob Bald in the Roan Highlands seems unwise now.My energy is flagging over the miles before and after lunch. The sun is out for the second day and the temperature is rising. I need to cover some distance today to get to route 19E by midday tomorrow to meet my shuttle so I can get home for Easter. So I resign myself to pushing through the miles. I'm fizzling out getting over Little Rock Knob. I catch Clammy. He says it's only a quarter mile down to Hughes Gap where we can rest by the road. I can make it...I think.I don't want to say it, I don't even want to think it, but I really wish for trail magic and a cold drink. My body is crying out for something cold and something sweet. I banish the thought as soon as it comes - bad karma to wish for gifts.But even so, there is a car down in the dirt lot with its rear hatch open and a lady bringing out a cooler. She smiles as I come down the trail and asks if I'd like a snack? There's only one answer to that - Yes, ma'am! I'm her first customer and she just got here so she offers me the pickle jar while she bustles with other boxes. I shrug and open it and practically swallow a pickle whole. Then she asks if I want strawberry shortcake. Taken by surprise, I quickly remember there is only one right answer. She fills a cup with shortcake, fresh sliced strawberries, and whipped cream. It's amazing! Cold and sweet, everything I need! I have two, along with sodas, an orange, and cheetos. My fellow hikers soon catch up and everyone shares the love. Our trail angel's name is Kansas, an AT thruhiker from 2015 who now lives in Raleigh. She's also section-hiked the Mountains-to-Sea Trail which runs from Clingmans Dome to the Outer Banks.Here I learn that Rocketman and Buzz are married, and that Downhill is Buzz' mother. Thruhiking was her idea and she convinced her daughter to join her.Re-energized, I tackle the 2000+ foot climb up to Roan High Knob. It's steady and relatively easy uphill for the next three miles. I'm singing Cat Stevens songs for much of it ("If you want to sing out, sing out! If you want to be free, be fre-ee."). By 5500 feet elevation I've reentered spruce forest similar to Big Bald or Clingmans Dome. The trail is mostly rocks and boulders up here.Roan's summit is anticlimactic with no sweeping view. Instead there are multiple side trails leading to the site of the old Cloudland hotel, a nineteenth century resort. There is little to see but an historical marker. The parking lot beyond it looks like a ghost town. Tumbleweed blows across the lot (okay, spruce branches). The bathrooms are locked, water fountains shut off, even the trash bins are locked so I can't dump my food trash. The tourist road to the summit doesn't open until Memorial Day.I catch up with Clammy and UNICEF at Roan High Knob shelter. We are the only ones here. It's an enclosed cabin with a door and a sleeping attic that could easily fit 15 people. There is a pile of novels to while away the time. It looks like a perfect place to ride out the storm in comfort. But it's also seventeen miles away from the meeting point for my 1pm shuttle tomorrow. I have to cover more miles today. So this is goodbye to my trail family.We sing one last song, unfortunately without Fast Lane. Hopefully he will find them later this evening. Then a quick goodbye, with a promise to stay in touch and maybe some trail magic when they pass me in Pennsylvania.I have seven more miles, and it's over some lovely Balds with incredible views. The wind has been picking up all afternoon, and it is positively roaring across Round and Jane Balds. I have to plant my feet carefully to avoid being toppled while I walk in some places. The horizon is covered by mountains in every direction, in layers of blue, light blue, and purple. To the east there is a much higher and imposing peak I take to be Grandfather Mountain, one of the highest in the East. To the west I see small settlements nestled in the valleys of Tennessee.Coming down to Stan Murray shelter I find three older guys ready to spend the night. It's a standard small box and unfortunately appears to be open to the direction of the wind. They are planning to set their tents up inside to stay dry. I'm moving on to the much larger, and enclosed, Overmountain shelter.Overmountain is a bit off the trail at the head of a beautiful valley. It's an old barn and it's jammed with hikers trying to stay out of storm. Close to 30 people are laid out in the hayloft meant for 20. A dozen more are tenting in the open ground floor. Two brave souls are tenting out in the field in the full fury of wind. A 2017 thruhiker named Blaze hiked in earlier and left a case of beer, so someone greets me by handing me a Bud Light. I go upstairs and after several minutes poking around an old guy named Snowcream moves his stuff over to make me a spot. It's out of the rain, and out of the wind, so life is good!To my shock, Spruce Lee, Shiitake, Rocketman, Buzz, and Downhill arrive an hour after me, matching my 25-mile day. I expected them to stop at Roan High Knob. I needed to do these miles to reach my shuttle. They did it because they felt good. My feet are aching! They wind up tenting in the passage under the loft stairs.The wind is raging outside and the snoring concert has begun inside. But I am happy to be warm and dry.