Within an hour with sunshine power they begin to thaw.
At Bradley Gap a mountain gale howling in my ears.
Stumbling, tripping, tumbling as if I had too many beers.
Nobody a ride would give, at least that's how it seemed
Until a pick-up truck stopped by, Roan Mountain is redeemed!
This morning's walk up to Roan High Knob was simply frigid, the freezing humid air nipping at my fingertips, chin and nose. Despite wearing glove liners, my fingers were quickly rendered numb. Icy drops from the gathered mist were falling from the evergreens.
As the day progressed the wind blew away the mist and on Little Hump Mountain it nearly did the same to me. No exaggeration! I was getting hammered so hard by the gusts that at one point I just sat down and lay low to the ground. The wind whipping past my head had given me a bit of a brain freeze, almost as if I was light-headed due to the cold air. On these treeless heights there is little to no protection from the elements. The best you could do is crouch down beside a small group of rocks and hope they break the force of the wind. The most sensible thing to do is get back below treeline, but that's at least an hour long stretch between Little Hump and slighty higher Hump Mountain. I don't rightly know if they earned those names because of their geographic shape or because of the profile of the hikers fighting their way over their summits. Looking like a spastic Quasimodo I stumbled onwards through the buffeting, the gusts reaching their highest speeds as they rushed through Bradley Gap. What does it take to qualify as hurricane force? It was with a great big sigh of relief when I finally dropped down into the stand of trees on the back side of Hump Mountain and could walk normally again.
At Apple House Shelter I met an older hiker that mentioned encountering a young lady on the trail who was hiking very fast. Plying him with questions, I could reasonably assess that Snorkel was probably about seven miles ahead of me. That was some very good news to get. I was closing the gap. Two weeks ago I'd been nearly a full day behind. Now, three hundred plus miles later, I only trailed her by three hours. Bad news was that I had to go into Roan Mountain, Tennesee to resupply and I wasn't sure how long it would take.
Unfortunatlely, I didn't get a ride into town, which wasn't that bad because at 2.4 miles from the road crossing it was less than an hour's walk to the Dollar General. The thing that really irked me were the cars that passed by and honked, not out of any greeting because there was no accompanying wave. I was doing my best to stay on the farthest part of the shoulder away from the traffic, so I didn't feel as if the blaring horns were necessary. Thought I'd have to hoof it all the way back too, but three young guys in an old beat-up truck pulled over and told me to hop in the back. They'd given rides to AT hikers many times before and knew where to drop me off. Thanks guys. Lesson: Some people honk and some people help.
The remainder of the day offered pretty easy miles as there was a mere 700 foot elevation difference over the next 11 miles. Mountaineer Shelter was in a nice location just up from the waterfall that bears its name. I went there for a rest break and a fuel stop, gobbling down some granola bars as one of the people there told me about a hiker trying to break a record. He'd met her where a side trail leads to a small waterfall and was surprised that she only filled up on water from the nearby stream, not bothering to go the half mile to check it out. I had to laugh at that because I'd done the exact same thing. It's not that I haven't been on some side trails because I have, the ones to Wasilik Poplar and Long Creek Falls as examples. However, I didn't feel the need to see that one. He was even more astonished when I told him that I was trying to catch up with her. The final thing that left him flabbergasted was the fact that he'd been on the trail for a month more than I had. Shaking his head and laughing, he wished me luck as I departed. Snorkel was only two hours ahead.
Another hour and a half of walking and I found a nice little camp right beside a stream. A good water source giving me a chance to wash off and drink my fill. The sound of the water flowing over the rocks lulled me into a sound sleep.
Grassy Ridge
Little Hump Mountain
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