Roan trip report

“This past weekend 3 friends and I "did Roan" What a wonderful place.

We arrived at the Roan High Knob trailhead on the AT about midnight on Thursday and found a bald area to camp up around the old Cloudland Hotel. Friday morning we found out why it was called Cloudland. We were clouded in pretty thick. The 2 mile hike to Carver's Gap was pretty easy since we were going down. The fir forest was impressive in the clouds. It made me think about WWII movies in the Ardienne and Battle of the Bulge sans snow. By the time we arrived at Carvers Gap it was clearing. We took a nice snack break at Round Bald which started a good theme for the trip. If you hike an hour you deserve to stop, take in the view, and eat. The view was great. After taking it all in we were at the Stan Murphy shelter in no time. Gotta stop and eat. On the way to the shelter we found out that the only water on the trail was at Overmtn shelter. We decided that we should try and camp at Big Hump. While getting water it was decided that we should take a couple of gallons of extra water up to the hump. Since everyone's pack weighed in the 30's-40's and mine was under 20, I was volunteered. We checked out the shelter, which is an old barn, and then headed out. The climb heading north was brutal, or at least brutal with 2 extra gallons of water on your back. We stopped at an outcropping to eat and rest. It had a great view of the shelter in the valley below. It was no time before we arrived at Little Hump. There was a nice campsite up top so we set up camp around 3. Since our parking place at 19E fell through(lots of vandalism at the trailhead) we were doing an out an back. If you go that far you have to see big hump as well. 3 of us took off without packs to the Big Hump. After hiking through the gap and coming back out in the balds we see about 15 cattle on the trail. We speculate that these are misc. cattle that have wandered away from ranches, congregated up here, and haven't had their antlers cut in a while. Some of them had horns longer than my arm and one had them thicker than my thigh. Since these were "wild" cattle to us we decide to go around. Instead of nice grass in this area there was waist high briers. That was fun. By the time we get up to the hump we're tired pups. While on Big Hump the cattle meander up another bald and out of the way. On the way back to the campsite they get back on the trail and in our way again. We went around again and got scratched up again. The hike back up little hump from the gap was fairly steep. We arrived in camp in time to eat supper and enjoy sunset. Friday was a full moon. It was spectacular on the bald. It was a clear night. Everything had a glow to it. The night was very windy. I hardly slept due to the slapping of nylon.

Sat. morning we were clouded in again. It was almost ghostly looking hiking out in the meadows on our way home. Back at the Overmtn shelter some fellows told me that the cattle were Texas Longhorns and that a fellow in the valley had grazing rights to the balds. I thought that was interesting. The hike over to Stan Murphy shelter was steep the first half mile, but not too bad. We had a nice long lunch and chat at the shelter. One of the guys said he was going to take a nap after eating so I volunteered to hike up to Roan High Knob to get the vehicle and pick them up at Carver's Gap. By the time I get to the Gap, Roan is covered in dark clouds. I had pushed hard the 3 miles to Carver's and now had about 2 miles and 800 feet of gain. About 2/3 of the way up the bottom fell out raining. I made the peak in just under an hour. Driving down I picked up one of our guys about 0.2 mile from Carver's. He said the other two were behind him. We park the vehicle so that we can see the peak and an hour later we're still waiting. I decided to put on rain gear and hike out to find them. I came across a fella we had seen on the trail. He hadn't seen them so I ran back to the vehicle. On the way down I saw them standing under a trailhead sign out of the rain. We had been 40 yards away from each other the whole time and didn't realize it. They had hiked in just behind the guy with me and no one knew it. Everyone and all their gear was wet.

Our original plan was to spend Sat night close to the trailhead and go into town to get hot dogs and beer and grill out at the vehicles. Since nothing would burn and we were wet we decided to compromise and drive to Boone, NC for beer and food instead. We arrived in Boone by about 6:30 and then headed over to Juliam Price park to set up camp. We all took "baths" in a sink and at least had clean hair and pits. Back at Boone we found a Mellow Mushroom restaurant and had pitchers of beer and pizza. What a way to finish up a trip.

Sunday morning we broke camp and drove back into Boone for breakfast at the Daniel Boone Inn. What a meal. I'm still full. We took the Blue Ridge Pkwy down to Asheville, which was wonderful. The views were spectacular. Once in Asheville we hit the interstate and hauled tail home.

This has led to another trip plan for next June with my wife. She has yet to go backpacking with me. Next month we're going to Standing Indain to car camp and dayhike. If she handles 10 miles there ok, we'll backpack at Roan in June. We'll leave our car at Carver's Gap and get a local B&B to shuttle it for us to 19E where their business is located. Friday we'll hike to Little Hump and camp. Saturday we'll hike to 19E where a warm shower and hot meal await at the Bed and Breakfast. Sunday we'll head home. This should be a great first intro into backpacking.”

“Roan is the best trip I've ever been on!!”

“Right on! Weather always adds an element of adventure to a trip!”

“Nice trip report! Sounds like it was fun. My family down in Florida has about dozen or so Texas Longhorns.. pretty cool looking as far as cattle goes.”

“Thanks for the report. Keep 'em comin'”

“Dayhiker what ever happened to your buddy on the AT trip we wnt on?? The friend you worked with?”

“Great trip report dayhiker! Jesus, grazing rights now!! There were no grazing rights 10 years ago there .... scary.

If you're taking your wife to Standing Indian, it's only a 1-mile ascent to the AT. Altho you cain't loop there, the AT is a relatively flat horseshoe of 20 miles by Standing Indian. Hopefully my memory serves me correctly, I'd better look tomorrow to make sure.”

“cool report”

“prowler - Jeremy was one of the three that went with me. We've been talking about taking this trip for a while and were finally able to do it.

naked ape - thanks for the info. We're thinking of taking the Kimsey Creek trail (4mile) up to the AT and then go up to the top of Standing Indian. From there we'll take the Lower Ridge trail back to camp. That's about 10 miles with a good bit of elevation. We've both been exercising 3-4 days a week. I've lost about 20# and she's lost about 15#. Because of her better fitness level after the birth of our 2nd child I feel like I'm not biting off more than she can chew. I want this to be a positivie experience. We hiked about 4.5 miles of pretty rugged country at the Sipsey Wilderness(AL) in the July Alabama heat and she did well.”

“"On the way to the shelter we found out that the only water on the trail was at Overmtn shelter."

Dayhiker
I am planning on hiking the Roan area 9/14-20. Looking at the guide books (which I don't have with me now)I thought there was plenty of water in this area. Are they experiancing drought conditions? Or are there just limited water sources in the particular area you were in?”

“It's just low water conditions. I was planning on getting water at Bradley Gap but was told there wasn't any. I didn't see any there, but didn't look for it. There might be some water at Stan Murphy Shelter, but it's only 2 miles from OverMtn so that doesn't help much.

The person who told me the info had a ball cap on that said something about AT trail team. You might try emailing the east tennesse hiking club to find out local conditions. I was very glad to get the info, because I wouldn't have gotten water at OverMtn otherwise.”

“dayhiker-

There is water by the Stan Murray shelter. In front of the shelter, head down about 40-50 vertical feet or so. You should see a spring and a very small stream. Maybe it was dry due to drought conditions.

Be careful about parking, even at Carver's Gap. There have been numerous overnight vandalism reports there. Seems the local rednecks like to head up there for a few brewskies or share a bottle of Jack Daniels and vadalize a few parked cars. A better bet is to do what you did before and park near the Rhododendron Gardens at the parking lot by the site of the old Cloudland Hotel. You may have to pay a couple of bucks to get in there, but it's gated at night. That's what we did on the last ECT. We left a couple of vehicles up there and two of us hiked up to bring the vehicles back down to Carver's Gap.

That hike is one of my favorites. It's really cool on top of the balds when the clouds/fog has settled into the valleys below. It's a spectacular view to have bright sunny skies and look down on the clouds.”

“They took the gates down. We arrived at 1 EST and drove right in. I went over to pay in the morning and the lady told me that if you came in at hours when they weren't there then there wasn't a fee.

There is a B&B that will let you park on 19. I called to double check and she said she was full due to the race at Bristol. While on the trail I heard that it's common to come of the trail at 19 and find your vehicle up on blocks.

Thanks for the tip about Carver's. If my wife and I do this trip next summer we'll pay to get the B&B to pick the vehicle up and shuttle back to their business.”

“Dayhiker
Could I get the name of the B&B?”

“Sure, it's Mountain Harbour B&B and their site is link”

“Oops, its www.mountainharbour.net”

“Hey guys.. just for the record.. the problem with vandalism has to do with local landowners who are mad at the FEDs for stealing their land to make the AT a protected corridor.. and since they can't lash out directly at the FEDs, the harrass the hikers. As for US 19E, (specifically the vandalizing and even BURNING of cars), that was the sherrif across the state line in TN, who had a personal issue with the way that it was handled (the taking of private land with little or no compensation to the owners), and knew that since the US 19E crossing was actually in NC and not in TN, he could get away with his lil army of fun.

By the way, I agree with Prowler. The Roan Mt area is by far the best hiking I have ever done. (We go back in October).

By the way, there was no need to do an out and back. I could have given you names of folks who would have shuttled you guys, if you had only asked?”

“Thanks for the tip. I called the B&B as a double check early Thursday morning and found out the news. I had to leave at 11 for a conference and then onto the trail. From now on, when in doubt, call the Dawg!”

“The feds oughta get on that sheriff like fleas on a dog, no pun intended.”

“Dayhiker
Thanks for the link.

Towndawg
Looks like Gojo and I are heading up there. On 9/14 I would like to hike about 10-12 miles a day for about 5-6 days. Any suggestions on the start and finish point in order to see the best sites?
Also, sounds like I do not want to leave a vehicle at the trailheads. Could you give me some of the names to contact for suttle and possible vehicle storage?
You can email if it's numbers you would rather not post to a public forum.
We have both hiked with HPM and hopefully he will give me a good reference.”

“Thanks for the link Dayhiker! The shuttle will make our lives easier this weekend!!”