“Into each life some rain must fall.”
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
April 10, 2021
Carver’s Gap to 19E, TN
Ascent: 1077′
Descent: 4688′
Weather: rainy, gray, and windy (gusts up to 30mph on the top!)
High points: crossing Roan Mountain (6386′ tall!)
I have hiked over 100 miles on the AT and we are done with the section of trail that is exclusively in Tennessee. For the next bit, the trail will more or less follow the state line between Tennessee and North Carolina.
Roan Mountain is a bald, a mountain in the southern Appalachians that is not above the tree line but has a clearing at the top. Roan Mountain’s clearing is nearly 3 miles from one end to the other, crossing multiple other summits. No one knows for sure why these balds exist. Theories range from Indians to grazing animals to fire is caused by lightning, but the balds provide the best views in the southern Appalachians.
Supposedly the views from Roan Mountain are absolutely amazing. However, due to the rain, all we saw were clouds. The hike is gorgeous, though, and fighting the wind for the 3 miles across the open space was exhilarating!
The hike started with a lovely pine forest.
The trees thinned out rapidly and we entered the clouds.
A fellow hiker took a picture of me in all my rain gear.
I walked through the gap that the Overmountain Men walked through on their way to the battle of Kings Mountain in 1780 in the Revolutionary War! Pretty cool.
The clouds lifted for one quick moment and I got a picture of this view to the east.
At the top when it was really windy I couldn’t even take a drink of water for fear that the water bottle would fly out of my hand. It was really windy! But then I headed down and managed to get this cool picture of a fence (and clouds!)
The walk down was absolutely beautiful. I was in a forest full of moss and wildflowers. I tried to take pictures of the wildflowers which were carpeting the place but the flowers are so small that they didn’t show up. But the moss on the rocks made a good picture!
Today is a great day for a long walk in the woods!
Is that a horse’s head just below the middle of the picture?
Nope, no horses. Just rain!
I hiked Roan Mountain back in the eighties and like you I found it enchanting. It is one of those places where I experienced Appalachian Trail magic.