Day 32 The Roan Highlands

Writing from my tent while hunkered down and listening to the wind. 


I slept decently last night. Not great but I probably had 6-7 hours of sleep in total. The moon was incredibly bright, which doesn’t really make it harder for me to sleep. I usually just put the hood of my down jacket over my eyes anyway. The morning was very cold so despite waking up at 6:30, I didn’t get out of my sleeping bag until almost 8. By then most of the 20 degree weather had passed and the day was starting to warm up.  


After the morning warmed up we had excellent weather for the rest of the day. Clear skies and 50 degrees. 


We had a very slow start to the day. We hiked about a mile before 10AM when we had warmed up enough to stop for breakfast. I think we all want to get moving a little earlier in the morning so we have more time to hike and make it to camp before dark. We will probably start setting alarms. 


We hiked up Roan High Knob for most of the morning. Roan Knob is over 6,000 feet but the ascent was pretty gradual over 9 miles. On the way up we stopped for lunch at Ash Gap, which had an open grassy forest. 



From Ash Gap we ascended the last couple miles before Roan Knob, the top which was an old softwood forest that still had ice in places. 



From Roan Knob we descended to Carver Gap before climbing back up to the grassy ridges and balds that comprise half of the Roan Highlands. Since we had perfect weather we had excellent views. It’s crazy to think that Tyler and I just walked right by this in 2020 because we were socked in with fog. 







We set up camp after dropping down from Little Hump Mountain. It’s a little windy here but the temperature is supposed to stay in the 30’s so we should be fine. 


Tomorrow we will hike 7 miles out of the Roan Highlands and to a hostel called The Station, where we left our next resupply. We hit several milestones tomorrow, including the 400 mile mark, leaving North Carolina, and passing where we would have originally been picked up to go to Banner Elk. It will feel good to make it past the section we would have hiked if we hadn’t gotten sick. Also a cool fact, counting our hike in 2020, Tyler and I have now hiked over 1,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail. 


We have finished most of the difficult hiking between the start of the trail and Virginia. The next 80 miles are some of the flattest in the entire AT. We plan to take advantage of the easier terrain and pick up the pace a little bit. We all feel pretty good at the end of a 20 mile day. Might as well push ourselves a little bit. 


Ok enough bragging, I’m headed to bed.


I updated Day 29 and Day 30 with pictures of you want to check those out.


Goodnight,

Walker 




If you want to follow Tyler or Spencer, here are their logs as well:


Tyler: https://tylerat2024.blogspot.com/?m=1


Spencer: https://www.instagram.com/baxter.bound?utm_source=qr&igsh=MWx4MzRqa3M4dGk3Mw==

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Epilogue

I am officially an Appalachian Trail thru hiker. We hiked the AT from start to finish. It took 125 days, with 20 days off. Counting my 2020 attempt, I have hiked over 2,830 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Including days off we averaged 17.58 miles a day for 125 days. Not counting days off we averaged over 20 miles a day. It was harder, more beautiful, and more worthwhile than I hoped for or expected. When I think back on the hike as a whole, the generosity of our friends and families is foremost in my mind.   My biggest fears going into the hike were related to health and weather. When asked for prayer topics, these were the primary two items that came to my mind. The largest injury suffered through the entire hike was when Tyler cut his finger after a fall in New York. Otherwise we had all of the minor blisters, sore joints and muscles that you would expect, but we had no major injuries. We were given remarkable weather throughout the hike. Without a hint of exaggeration, I believ...
Read more

Day 125 Summit Day

Image
Today we finished the Appalachian Trail.   A quick note before I get into the update for today. In a separate post I will write out an epilogue where I go over my broader thoughts and experiences of the trail. For today, I will write like I have for all the other days, capturing my memories and sharing my initial thoughts.   I slept well last night between 9PM and 4AM. We woke up early to make the 2 hour drive to Katahdin Stream trailhead. We grabbed left over pancakes from the day before and hopped in the car. The drive to the trailhead went smoothly. We arrived at Baxter and made it to the parking lot with some time to spare. We registered with the park ranger and got our AT Thru Hiker finisher cards.  Spencer and I are 40th and 41st people to finish the AT this year.  Spencer, Brooke, Ashley and I started hiking at around 7:30 with 5 miles to the summit.   The initial ascent was quite easy. With 10 miles out and back to hike we really weren’t in a rush. Ashle...
Read more

Day 118 Fording Rivers

Image
Today we forded 4 rivers and hiked 26 miles in 90 degree heat.   I slept very well last night, pretty much straight through the night. We woke up at 6:30 and started hiking around 8.  We had a couple decent views from the Pleasant Pond ridge before dropping down into the valley.  We spent most of the day just hiking through the woods. Occasionally there would be mud or roots or rocks, but overall it was pretty simple.  Before climbing our only mountain for the day we passed Moxie Pond.  Then we climbed up Moxie Bald Mountain. On the way up the trail went through some really cool rock formations and caves.  The top of Moxie Bald had a couple good views.  After Moxie Bald we spent pretty much the next 18 miles hiking through woods.  The only remaining excitement for the day were the river fords. None of them were dangerous, but we had to walk through the river to get to the trail on the other side. We forded Bald Mountain Stream, Marble Brook, and t...
Read more