Friday, May 9, 2014
Slackpacking Trip - Day 7
[out of bed at 0715 - medicated (lots of bandaids and extra water), repacked and left hotel at 0815 - drove east on US-19E, looking for trail but didn't find it - went into North Carolina and turned around (later discovered the trail crossed just beyond that point) - I have discovered that it moves enough each year to really make following a road atlas troublesome... - decided to head further south (to Roan Mountain), using TN-143 to get to Carver's Gap (5512 feet) - at 0930, I parked my car at a great parking lot on the TN/NC border - it was cold and windy (needed my fleece pullover - what a shift!) - I first hiked up on the west side of the road (SOBO), walking through a cedar forest with lots of rocks (reminded me of Washington State) - I think the area was called (appropriately) Spruce Knob - I saw around 15 through-hikers in this section, all headed north - I eventually gave up and headed back to the highway (sad, wanted to do more - got tired, though) - on the east side of TN-143, I found a completely different kind of terrain: exposed, grassy and hilly - there were some amazing terrain views and the clouds overhead were whistling by very quickly - I had to tie on my hat to keep it from blowing away - after cresting the mountain at 5826 feet of elevation ("Round Bald"), I hiked NOBO on the other side of the hill - I could see the trail for miles in this direction (no trees) - encountered many more hikers on this leg, but most were day hikers like me - turned around and headed back to the car as the sun started to creep out and the temperature went up (finished up at 1145) - drove into North Carolina and then doubled back to the border on NC-226 (saw a cow walking down the road), avoiding wash out damage along some of the side roads - barely getting radio signal at that point (much less cell signal) - parked again (1220) when I saw the trail (Iron Mountain Gap, 3723 feet) and hiked another few miles (saw a NOBO couple that I passed in both directions, 2 older ladies NOBO and 2 older men NOBO) - when I finished this section at 1400, I was exhausted from the hills and decided to get some lunch - drove into Erwin (TN) on TN-107 and ate lunch at KFC (1430 - signed hikers log) - by that point, it had started raining - so I got on (nearby) I-26 and headed south - the rain stopped for a bit and I found another place where I could hike (where US-19 crossed the border of TN and NC - Spivey Gap, 3200 feet) at 1530 - there were lots of drenched hikers waiting for a shuttle there (using satellite phones) - I found another NOBO man when I headed out on the trail (we took each others' picture) - I got really muddy as I hiked (probably shouldn't have done that section) - still, I fit in a few more miles on both sides of the road - when I finished (1700), I was ready to get to a hotel - however, the prices really jumped up - I probably should have stayed in Erwin for the night since the prices eventually rose to close to $100 for a room when I finally stopped near Asheville for the night (after checking on prices for around 10 places) - by then (1845), it was a full-blown thunderstorm, so I was glad to have a place to sleep - I decided to go to bed early so I could get an early start if the weather improved in the morning - posted photos to Facebook and then went to bed (2130) - total for the day was 6.03 miles (not counting backtracks) - Grand Total is 44.52 miles]