Roan High Knob Shelter

This is the latest dispatch from Jeffrey.

Mike

Just lost a whole draft of a post after letting some guy use this computer for 5 minutes. So this will be a shorter recap.

Been a week since my last post–new month, new state. After my last post from Erwin, Long Shanks, Maple and I moved to Uncle Johnny’s hostel from the Holiday Inn. The place was a real dump, but the one redeeming factor was that they had bikes that hikers could use to ride into town. It felt great to be back in the saddle again–after moving at 3 miles/hour for a month, cruising along Erwin’s bike path at 15 felt absolutely wonderful. We did an 18-mile roundtrip ride to Wal-Mart, the only place in the county that sells beer on Sundays, and had a nice cookout for dinner back at the hostel.

The climb out of Erwin (after another bike ride in to the post office and Huddle House) was nice, but the weather took a turn for the worst around lunch time. Long Shanks and I were soaked by the time we finished our 16.4 miles to Cherry Gap Shelter, and had to set up our tents in the rain. We cooked dinner under the vestibules of our tents and caught up with Two Rings and Mr. Vix, who were tenting right next to us.

The next morning, we put on our wet clothes so that we would have something dry to change into at the end of the day. This idea probably saved our lives, because in the afternoon we got more rain just as we were beginning a 2,400-foot ascent of Roan Mountain. The higher we got, the worse the weather. Rain turned to sleet turned to hail turned to snow. By the time we got to the summit, there was an inch or two on the ground. We stopped at about 15.4 miles to spend the night at the Roan High Knob Shelter, elev. 6,285. We managed to get dry and warm up in our bags–thanks to our warm clothes–as the overnight low dropped to 30 degrees inside the shelter.

In the morning all of our wet gear was literally frozen. I had to take my frozen socks into my sleeping bag with me to thaw them out. I had to put my shoes on frozen, and couldn’t tie my laces until they had thawed out from my body heat after about three miles of hiking. The 27th was a beautiful day of hiking, miles and miles of open balds and wonderful views. The snow (which got to be about 3 inches on top of Roan) disappeared after we dropped 1,000 feet. For dinner we hitched in to a little country cooking joint for double bacon cheeseburgers, and bought a six-pack to hike out with. I did my first bit of night-hiking to pull out a 21.5 mile day, and camped next to a nice stream with Maple and Long Shanks.

On the 29th, we did 18 miles to get into Kincora Hostel by 3:30. The place was full, so we tented out back. By the time the dinner shuttle rolled out, there were probably 30 or 40 people there, with folks tenting or sleeping on the floor inside. I got a Little Caesar’s Hot and Ready pizza, an old favorite of mine from my days working in Kingsport, Tenn., and returned to Kincora for a big spaghetti dinner prepared by another thru-hiker.

On the 30th we had an uneventful 18-mile day, with a nice swim and lunch on the shores of Watauga Lake. Yesterday was great, though. I didn’t think I could eat better than a pizza followed by spaghetti, but Long Shanks and I caught 3 separate trail magics in 3 hours. The first was a bear box maintained by a local church, which had cokes and oatmeal pies. The next was an Episcopalian pastor who was grilling hot dogs at a road crossing. The last (and best) was a thru-hiker whose Dad had driven out from Chicago for his birthday. Beers, brats, birthday cake, watermelon, oranges, even moonshine. I was definitely weaving for the last few miles to the shelter. All that trail magic made it easy to pull out a 22-mile day.

Watauga Lake-photo by Johnny Molloy

Today I got out of the shelter early and made it the 10 miles into Damascus, Va., by 9:30. I got a bunk at a church-run hostel, had breakfast, lunch, stopped in at the outfitter to get a pack cover, and then had some coffee and caught up on e-mail. I’ll take a nero out of town tomorrow after lunch. I’m thinking about blue-blazing my way on the Virginia Creeper Trail, a rail-to-trail path that is supposed to be more moderate and scenic than the A.T. out of town.

Not sure when my next town stop will be–I’m doing a resupply in Atkins, but might not have internet for a pretty good stretch. I’ll be hitching back to Damascus on the 14th for Trail Days, the biggest of the town-sponsored thru-hike bashes. Should be a good time, and I’m looking forward to catching up with folks I’ve left behind. Might not have an update till then. Hiking alone out of Damascus–Long Shanks, who I’ve been hiking with for about 10 days, is going to pick up his pace to finish in 4.5 months.

Oh, and I finally decided to choose a trail name for myself. I’m going by Ichabod.

Happy Hiking! Jeff