We went hiking on Roan Mountain this weekend, leaving Friday after Adam got off of work and getting back this afternoon.
Friday night we hiked up an access road, then cut over to the Appalachian Trail (AT), on which we hiked to the highest shelter on the trail. We did not end up staying in the shelter, but kept hiking to Carver's Gap, where we pitched our tent (successfully and with little frustration!!) and spent the night.
Saturday morning we hiked from Carver's Gap to the Overmountain shelter, which you can see in some of the pictures. The shelter is an old barn which was converted to a shelter. We should have taken a picture of the privy there...it literally looked like a throne! It was built up on a platform, had three walls, and was an actual ceramic toilet (no flushing though, just long drop). So you are up a couple of feet from the ground, shoulder-high (when sitting down) walls around you, and a perfect view of the mountains in front of you! Sounds fancy, eh?
We ate lunch at the shelter, then left our packs and continued to head north a couple of miles on the AT. We hiked through the mist to Little Hump and were going to continue on, but I thought I should spare my aching feet. Plus, the main reason to go to Big Hump is to see the amazing view... and we could see about 10 feet in front of us. So we went back to the shelter (the last two pictures are the shelter from up the trail), where we found three more people, all from North Carolina. An hour or so later, 12 more people showed up: 10 thirteen- and fourteen-year-old young men and their two counselors from a boarding school not far from Asheville.
The boys were our wake up call around 6:30, and we got up around 8:00. Today was a lot warmer than either Friday or Saturday, so I zipped off the bottom of my pants (can you imagine me in shorts in December?) and wore only a fleece over a t-shirt. The sun was out, and we considered hiking north (like yesterday afternoon) and getting a ride back up to our car, because today we could have had a great view from the top of Big Hump. We decided to hike south as planned, headed out around 9, and neither of the other two groups had left yet. The boarding school group was headed the same way as we were, but we never saw them again. Those counselors must have the patience of Job.
The climb back to Carver's Gap was tough. We knew it was coming because we had descended the huge mountain the day before...it just kept going down and down. So today, coming up the mountain, was a trial. It also started raining and getting a bit cooler. We made it out alive, but I wanted to run the last half mile or so, because I knew that a warm car and relief from my pack were waiting!
This weekend was a good trip. We broke in our boots (thanks to Grammer and Grandy, from Adam!!) and got to do a backpacking trip complete with a stove, a tent (both borrowed), and our packs. Stay posted for our next trip...
