{"id":253,"date":"2018-10-02T22:24:02","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T22:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/?p=253"},"modified":"2018-10-22T02:33:20","modified_gmt":"2018-10-22T02:33:20","slug":"roan-highlands-september-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/02\/roan-highlands-september-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Roan Highlands September 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three years ago my wife (Marmot Girl) and I got away for 5 days and hiked practically in the backyard of where she grew up- The Roan Highlands.<\/p>\n

I have deliberately tried to cherry-pick some of the more scenic sections of the AT to share with my wife, for those all too rare occasions when we’re able to weasel baby-sitting duties out of one of our mothers.\u00a0 And without question, Roan Highlands is a top 5 AT section hike for scenery.<\/p>\n

We got an early shuttle out from Mountain Harbour B&B\/Hostel down to Iron Mountain Gap at TN107.\u00a0 We left our car at Mountain Harbour with a change of clothes, which proved to be an extremely wise decision.<\/p>\n

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Sunrise shuttle to Iron Mtn Gap<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite getting an early start, we weren’t planning to crush miles.\u00a0 I had learned on our hike the previous year in Grayson Highlands that Marmot Girl, while very tough, isn’t going to have fun doing 12 mile days.\u00a0 She likes to take a lot of pictures and spend time taking in the sights.\u00a0 On this particular hike, slowing down was a plus, because there was a LOT of scenery to take in.<\/p>\n

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Happy hikers, not too stinky. Yet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, not much of that scenery was during Day 1.\u00a0 We had views of Pinnacle Mountain and Unaka Mountain early on, but spent much of the day in the “Green Tunnel.”\u00a0 About 4 miles in we passed through Greasy Creek Gap, from where you can hike out a short distance to the highly-regarded Greasy Creek Friendly (as opposed to hostile, aka hostel).\u00a0 Cece the proprietor is a thru-hiking legend, and one day I hope to meet her, but that wasn’t in our plans for this particular day.<\/p>\n

We hiked a couple more miles and called it a day in mid-afternoon at Clyde Smith Shelter, which we had to ourselves.<\/p>\n

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Clyde Smith Shelter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Can you guess where the water source for this shelter was?\u00a0 That’s right, you bet your sweet bippy it was 200 yards down a steep hill.<\/p>\n

Not only were skeeters out, but I come from a long line of pyromaniacs, and we had nothing better to do anyway, so we built a fire and enjoyed dinner.\u00a0 Day 1:\u00a0 6.0 miles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We were well-rested the next morning.\u00a0 Good thing too, because we were going to climb into the high country today.<\/p>\n

About a mile into the morning we got our first views of the balds from Little Rock Knob.<\/p>\n

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My wife got really excited at about this point and seemed to think she had a wonderful husband who thought so much of her that he brought her to this beautiful place.<\/p>\n

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Look how happy. She doesn’t know yet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, what lay ahead was a 2200 ft. climb of Roan Mountain from Hughes Gap, one of the tougher climbs I’ve done in these parts.\u00a0 From Hughes Gap (4000 ft. elevation), we climbed, and we climbed SLOWLY.\u00a0 We finally reached the summit of Beartooth Mountain at nearly 5500 ft., dropped down slightly into Ash Gap, and then climbed again, eventually reaching a zone with spruce and fir trees.\u00a0 It soon became apparent that we weren’t going to make it to Roan High Knob Shelter by dark, and would have to formulate a Plan B.\u00a0 Being a properly-prepared AT hiker means always having a shelter in your pack, and I did indeed have one, so we consulted our notes and decided to shoot for the old Cloudland Hotel site, which is a fairly open area at 6150 ft. about 3\/4 miles shy of Roan High Knob, wiith the added bonus of a nearby road access picnic area with real toilets.\u00a0 Nothing makes hikers happier than a place with picnic tables, garbage cans and real TOILETS.<\/p>\n

We arrived near dusk, selected a campsite, and pulled out my tent….which I thought was my 2-person Tarptent.\u00a0 Well, it WAS a Tarptent…..but not that<\/em> one.\u00a0 It was my winter tent, a Scarp 1.\u00a0 And yup, the “1” in its name means it’s a one-person tent.<\/p>\n

My poor wife.\u00a0 Not only was she going to have to sleep in close proximity to The Snorlax, neither of us was going to have any room to move.\u00a0 We managed to wedge our 2 sleeping pads and bags into the tent, and of course it then started to drizzle, so we scurried down to the picnic area, where if memory serves me correctly I cooked at least part of our dinner in a bathroom.\u00a0 At this point, I’m not so sure that my wife was impressed with my planning.\u00a0\u00a0Day 2:\u00a0 5.7 miles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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“My husband is an idiot”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We both slept pretty poorly, my wife more so than me.\u00a0 Luckily, the rain quit, and we had something to look forward to today- the balds!<\/p>\n

First we got over Roan Mountain and passed Roan High Knob shelter, which was far enough away that we had to agree that it was a good thing we stopped where we did the previous night.<\/p>\n

After about 2 1\/4 miles we dropped down into Carver Gap at 5500 feet and took advantage of their toilets (much nastier than the ones at Cloudland) before hiking up less than a mile to our first bald- Round Bald.<\/p>\n

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View from Round Bald<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In rapid succession we then hit Jane Bald and skirted the edge of Grassy Ridge.\u00a0 Three years later, I’m not sure which of these balds are in the specific photos below, but it was all beautiful.<\/p>\n

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Somewhere in there we had a short stretch with a steep rocky climb, because AT.<\/p>\n

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We needed another climb. In the sun.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About 3 miles later we hit the spur trail to Overmountain Shelter in Yellow Mountain Gap.\u00a0 Not long before that we had a look down into the valley where the shelter is situated.<\/p>\n

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So low (down in the valley)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a pretty steep downhill stretch to the shelter, and the return hike the next morning had potential to suck, but it was worth it, because at the bottom this is what we found:<\/p>\n

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Overmountain Shelter, aka The Red Barn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Overmountain Shelter is one of THE iconic shelters on the AT, and if you want to enjoy it you better get there soon, because I learned on my recent section hike at Kincora Hostel that Overmountain now tilts 19 degrees and is structurally unsound, and may be torn down soon.<\/p>\n

This shelter has a huge loft and can hold at least 30 hikers, and it has an amazing view down the Roaring Creek Valley.<\/p>\n

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Valley view<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although the shelter can sleep 30, on this night there were just 5 of us, including 2 childhood BFF “Cheeseheads” from Wisconsin, and a quasi-homeless guy who was hiking to escape his wife.\u00a0 He claimed that she would show up at trail towns asking him to talk about it with her, and he’d tell her if she wanted to talk to follow him on the trail.\u00a0 Instead, she’d drive ahead to the next trail town and try again.\u00a0 My BS radar was pinging a bit over this story.\u00a0 But he did contribute a nice campfire, and after a dinner of chicken mango curry I shared some libations with our shelter mates.\u00a0 Day 3:\u00a0 7.5 miles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In Jamaica this is called Mo Fyah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We had heard rumors of bad weather coming, so we did our best to get up and out of there early the next morning, which meant that we hiked through morning dew on the way back up to the AT and got the lower halves of our bodies soaked.\u00a0 But the sun came out, and soon we were up on the windy summit of Little Hump drying out.\u00a0 There were occasional groves of stunted trees on the way up that my wife called “fairy forests.”\u00a0 They made great spots to take water and snack breaks out of the sun.<\/p>\n

The views at the summit of Little Hump were amazing, but they were only a taste of what was to come.<\/p>\n

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From Little Hump (5459 ft) we descended down to grassy Bradley Gap at 4960 ft. before beginning the 600 ft. climb to the grass-covered summit of Hump Mountain aka Big Hump, which featured panoramic views of the Doe River Valley to the northwest, Mt. Rogers and Whitetop to the northeast, and Grandfather Mountain to the east.\u00a0 We spent the better part of an hour on top of Hump Mtn. taking pics and gawking at the amazing views.<\/p>\n

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Eventually I noticed that A) I was starting to get sunburnt, and B) we were almost out of water, so we scurried down the bald for about 3\/4 of a mile and entered the woods on a very rocky, slippery trail.\u00a0 It was about this time I recalled the supposed weather forecast for the day and scoffed- yeah, right, rain.\u00a0 Ha.\u00a0 We then ran into a pair of Brits at the weakly-flowing water source.\u00a0 I think one’s name was Derry; one of them was a physician and the other an Anglican priest.\u00a0 They were childhood friends who had decided to do a month-long section hike together on the AT.\u00a0 They appreciated our help in taking advantage of the wimpy water source, and were kind enough to pose for pics.<\/p>\n

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Our British friends<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A little while later we entered something called Doll Flats (I don’t think the name refers to squashed dolls) and all of a sudden we heard a BOOM.\u00a0 Thunder!\u00a0 Zoiks- we still had 3 more miles to go.\u00a0 So of course, it starts absolutely pouring.\u00a0 At least it was a warm rain.\u00a0 As we passed a cliff point and started a 1500 ft. descent, the thunder and lightning came in waves.\u00a0 Honestly it was more than a little bit scary, and we picked up our pace.\u00a0 We passed an unfortunate scene on the way down the mountain.\u00a0 Somebody had chopped down a ton of persimmon trees.\u00a0 Probably one of those infamous persimmon poachers.<\/p>\n

Finally after several hours our soggy selves popped out onto US19E, and a quick roadwalk to the left brought us to Mountain Harbor Bed and Breakfast\/Hiker Hostel, another one of the legendary stops on the AT.\u00a0 We were greeted by the hostel caretaker Doug “Country Gold” Owens, a former thru-hiker and all-around great guy.\u00a0 We got our room, stripped out of our thoroughly soaked clothes, and each darted into a shower (they had 2).\u00a0 We came out at about the same time and upon returning into our room were overwhelmed by a horrible smell.\u00a0 LOLOL it was our CLOTHES!\u00a0 They reeked!\u00a0 We couldn’t believe that we smelled like that after the rain bath we’d received that afternoon.\u00a0 We bagged those suckers up so we could breathe again.<\/p>\n

Several others were staying in the hostel that night, including our British friends.\u00a0 One was to be met by his wife later that evening.<\/p>\n

I slipped Doug some coin and asked if he would get a mess of good brews for everyone, and he came back with a case of Fat Tires, which lubricated some excellent story-telling later that night.\u00a0 The one Brit’s wife had arrived to join him for a week of hiking up to the next hostel northbound.\u00a0 Somebody commented, “you do know that that hostel is clothing optional, right?”\u00a0 Typical Brit, she deadpanned “oh, that sounds just lovely.”\u00a0 Day 4:\u00a0 9.4 miles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next morning we partook of the famous Mountain Harbour breakfast, which hostel folks are allowed to have same as B&B folks.\u00a0 I could see why it’s a rare thru-hiker that bypasses this stop.\u00a0 The food was incredible.<\/p>\n

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Mountain Harbour B&B<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mountain Harbour Hiker Hostel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After breakfast we took some pics, and chatted with Doug a bit.<\/p>\n

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Five Star, Marmot Girl and Country Gold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Doug was doing work-for-stay for a while until he was ready for his next adventure.\u00a0 We both hated to leave this place, but we missed our kids and was time to get back.<\/p>\n

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Three years ago my wife (Marmot Girl) and I got away for 5 days and hiked practically in the backyard of where she grew up- The Roan Highlands. I have deliberately tried to cherry-pick some of the more scenic sections of the AT to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at","category-section-hike"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fivestarhikes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Day3BaldView2.jpg?fit=2015%2C1259&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":451,"href":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions\/451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivestarhikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}