Stephanie's Trail Journal

Thursday May 27th

-- Stats from Day 34 --
Beginning Point: Clyde Smith Shelter
Ending Point: Overmountain Shelter
Daily Mileage: 14 miles
Total Mileage: ZZZ miles
Weather: Cold and foggy in the a.m. with sun and beautiful skies in the p.m.

After the day we had yesterday, I was pretty tired and definitely wasn't looking forward to putting on my cold wet clothes and boots. I was the last one ready this morning and we didn't leave until about 10:30 or so. Definitely a late start. We had some pretty big climbs today; Roan Mountain was 2000 ft above the shelter and then some grassy balds, after that had nearly 1000-ft climbs.
On the walk to Roan Mountain, we saw 19 red efts [webmaster insert: I believe an Eft is a type of salamander]. These guys are so cool; they are bright orange with several spots on their backs. They move so slow you wonder how they evade predators. I guess the bright orange color says "I don't taste good". Anyway, when they move, it kind of looks as though they have broken limbs - it doesn't look like they should bend that way. And if we see one, we usually one or two more nearby. Moxie and Whoa! (thru-hikers we recently met) counted 44 today, and Shoe said he must have seen over 200! Mind that we all hiked the exact same trail; I think there is a correlation between the time one leaves the shelter and the number of Efts observed.

The hike up Roan Mountain took us about 2.5 hours; we took our time and discussed some potential post-AT plans, including opening a micro-brew restaurant and naming it the Salamander Brewing Company, featuring Red Eft Ale and Hellbender Stout. We had jobs for all our hiker friends Kev-Dog can tend bar, Yogi can do the accounting, Terrapin can DJ on the weekends, Shoe can fashion pottery for the tables, Goofy can be the head waiter and Shivers can wear the Red Eft suit and attract customers by the roadside. Its still a plan in the works, really.

We stopped for a snack in a beautiful mossy spruce forest before we reached the top only to find that we were just a couple 100 yards from the summit. That was okay because we had great views and sun to dry out our wet boots from the previous days' rain. We met up with Terrapin and Goofy up there as well. We decided to have an early dinner on the bald, but G and T took off. We were sitting on the former site of the Cloudland Hotel, which operated from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. They boasted weather free from Hay Fever and health-beneficial fresh air and water from the mountains that ran at 13 degrees. I heard the NC-TN border ran right through the grand ballroom; alcohol was permitted on the TN side but against the law on the NC side, and some NC sheriff would nab any drinkers that crossed the line. Must have been a well-liked guy.

We summitted a few more balds after Roan mountain and the views only got better. I think Round Top is my favorite one so far, but Max Patch is a close second.

Due to our late start and long lunch break, we didn't arrive at the Overmountain shelter until nearly 8 p.m., so pretty much we just ate dinner and called it a night. We are planning an early start tomorrow with a trip into the town of Roan Mountain to pick up mail-drops and do a quick resupply. We think we can reach Damascus VA in about 4 days after Roan.

Night all!
Steph