Greasy Creek Gap to Carver’s Gap

 

May 20, 2013
10.4 miles
10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

 

 Mr. Terry from Mountain Harbour drove us down to Greasy Creek Gap to go north this time.  We had an opportunity to meet Connie, the owner of Greasy Creek Friendly.  Seemed like a nice lady, and folks we met who stayed there said it was a very friendly place. 

Oh my gosh! Tough day today.  The climb up Roan Mountain I thought was going to kill me.  We went from an elevation of 4034 at the gap to a high of 6275. The first half was not too bad since it had lots of switchbacks; but the second half was steeper and very hard.  We saw markers that looked like they are planning to make more switchbacks in that section, which is a very good idea.   



 

 

A view from Roan Mountain



A view from Roan Mountain



On Roan Mountain

 

Our Thru-Hiker's Companion told us that this is the last time the AT climbs above 6,000 feet until Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, and it is arguably the coldest spot, year-round on the southern AT.  It was not cold today.  It also said that at the top is a parking area with restroom and running water (May – October).   As we approached the top we saw signs telling us that there would be no water or facilities at Cloudland until May 23.  Too bad for us. 

We entered a clearing with a monument telling us that this is the site of the former Cloudland Hotel.  The Tennessee-North Carolina state line ran through the center of the hotel when Cloudland was a thriving resort in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  This allowed the sale of alcohol on the Tennessee side and the comical tale of North Carolina police officers patrolling the other side. It was demolished in 1915 after loggers harvested the fir and spruce on the mountaintop. 

The site of the former Cloudland Hotel on top of Roan Mountain

Rhododendron bushes flourish on the top of the mountain and there is a popular garden on the top of Roan when they are in bloom around June 20.  We did see a few bushes just starting to pop out into bloom all along the trail, but missed the peak season.

 When we got to the top of the mountain, I was feeling so bad and was so tired I could hardly walk, and could not eat a thing.  We made it to Roan High Knob Shelter. Another young man caught up with us there and was in total agreement that it was a hard climb up the mountain.  Unfortunately for us, the water source was downhill from the shelter and Wait-up had more climbing to do to get to it. 



Roan High Knob Shelter

Roan High Knob Shelter is the highest on the Appalachian Trail and was originally an old firewarden’s cabin.  This explains the four walls and the door, unusual for shelters.  The young man was staying at the shelter, but we had to push on so that our hike tomorrow would not be too long. 



 

We had heard so many good things about the Roan Mountain area being so beautiful that we were looking forward to it; so far we have been disappointed.  I had not seen any beauty yet.  The trail down from Roan Mountain was an old railroad bed with lots of rocks.  We trudged along.  We met a man with a large camera coming toward us who told us that we were about to come to the balds and they were beautiful.  We reached Carver’s Gap without seeing them yet, finding out later that they were on the other side of the gap.   

We crossed Carver’s Gap and sat beside a fence on the other side for Wait-up to eat supper.  I again could not make myself eat anything, my stomach was really feeling bad by this time.  He suggested us calling for a ride to go back to Mountain Harbour, but I thought if I could just get to a campsite and go to bed I would be fine.  So we proceeded up the hill to try to get to the campsite 2 miles down the trail. 

The good news is, we finally found the beautiful bluffs, I just couldn’t enjoy them because I was feeling so bad.  So bad, in fact, that I got to the point I could not walk another step.  I had to stop.  We were on top of the first bluff called Round Knob.  We began to look for a place to pitch the tent.  We wandered around for awhile trying to find a level spot and finally gave up. We pitched the tent off the trail on top of briars and roots and on a slant.  It was the best we could do. 

Not long after we got into the tent, Wait-up had to throw up.  Huh?  I was the one that was sick.  Now he was too.  He threw up 3 times during the night.  I finally threw up too and felt a little better after having done so.  But we didn’t sleep much that night and knew that we would not be hiking the next day.

Carver's Gap

 

At Carver's Gap

 

A road from Carver's Gap goes up to the gardens.

 

Greasy Creek Gap to Beauty Spot, Southbound

May 18, 2013
13.7 miles
9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

We woke up to a rainy day of hiking.  It was nice to meet Tom “10-K” Bradford today since I have seen his posts of Whiteblaze so many times and seen him mentioned in other hikers’ online journals. He picked us up at Nolichucky River where we left our car and shuttled us to Greasy Creek Gap to begin our hike.  At Greasy Creek Gap there is a well-known hostel called Greasy Creek Friendly.  Evidently she named it that because of a hostile neighbor who has given her some trouble so she wanted hikers to know that it was a friendly place. 

When we arrived at the gap, I went up to the porch to ask how to get to the trailhead.  There was a note on the table beside the door which said, “I am gone to trail days in Damascus.  Please help yourself to the hostel or the front porch.  Please don’t pee in my creek.”  Okay.  We didn’t get to meet Connie today.

So we started walking up the old jeep road behind the house to find the trailhead.  The bunkhouse is behind the house and there were a couple of hikers in the yard.  We asked them if we were headed in the right direction and they said yes.  We asked them if the trailhead was easy to find at the top of the hill and which way do we turn?  The lady said, “Well I’ve never been up there, but it’s easy and you turn to the left.” Okay.

After a few guesses on which path to take as we went up the hill, we found a campsite and the white blaze.  Wait-up pulled out his compass to help us find the southerly direction.  It said turn right on the trail.  Umm, that didn’t seem right.  Plus the lady said turn left, although she had never been up there. What to do?  I was thinking  - Have we ever gone north on the trail to go south?  Of course we have; the trail switches around all the time.  So, do we trust our instincts or go with the compass?  I thought about calling someone from one of the hostels to ask, but we didn’t have cell phone reception.  While I was wondering around on top of the mountain to see if I could get reception, I found a note on a tree with a “You are here” map.  We were able to determine from the map that we do indeed turn left to go south.  So off we went.    

We got to Iron Mountain Gap in record time – 4.2 miles in 1.5 hours.  Wow!  That was the first time we saw people to ask them if we were headed south, but we were glad to have them confirm that we were.  At 1:00 we met a nice brother and sister middle-age couple at Cherry Gap Shelter. Evidently they were trying to wait out the rain. 

The sign at Iron Mountain Gap

Just past Cherry Gap Shelter while I was stepping over a fallen tree on the trail, I heard a noise down the side of the mountain.  I immediately said, “What was that?”  Wait-up and I looked down the ravine to see a small bear scampering away down the hill.  He then climbed a tree while we were watching and looked back at us to see where we were and what we were doing.  We were just standing there watching him since we were not close to him.  When he spotted us again, he scampered down the tree and went away.  Too bad I didn’t have time to get my camera.  This is the first bear that Wait-up has seen on the trail, my second.  I saw one in Georgia. 

Having lunch under the overhang of a rock.

We had a hard time finding a dry place to eat lunch.  Resourceful Mr. Wait-up finally found a rock overhang and we were able to stay a little dry while eating. 

Then we started making the climb up Unaka Mountain.  It was a rocky path and a typical mountain.  When we reached the top of the mountain we came into a forest.  A spooky forest.  Since it was rainy and cloudy, it kinda looked like a haunted forest.  I was glad to exit it.  

Unaka Mountain was spooky in the fog.

 

When we came out on the other side of the forest, we met a man who seemed to be somewhat disoriented. He had already set up his tent for the night although it was early in the day. He told us that he had been lost, wondering around the mountain.  He was suppose to camp at a site before the mountain but couldn’t find it. We asked if he was alright and he said no, he was out of water.   Wait-up emptied his water bladder into the man’s water bottle so he would have water to prepare his evening meal.

We planned to camp on Beauty Spot.  We had to stop at the first available watering hole to resupply.  There was a nice campsite beside Highway 230 but, since we don’t like to camp beside roads, we got water and moved on.  It was hard to tell exactly where Beauty Spot was.  The highway ran alongside the trail off and on and in our book we saw USFS 230 listed twice along with Beauty Spot Gap and Beauty Spot.  And there was also a Deep Gap listed there with a campsite but it must have also been beside the road. Since it was raining and foggy, we couldn’t really see much of Beauty Spot anyway, so we finally just found a level spot in the woods and set up our tent in the rain.  Everything was wet by the time we got up the next morning.