Day 43 – Ash Gap to Mountain Harbour Roan, TN

“Here comes the rain again

Falling on my head like a memory

Falling on my head like a new emotion

I want to walk in the open wind

I want to talk like lovers do

Want to dive into your ocean

Is it raining with you?” – Eurythmics 

Patchy fog before 7 a.m., then a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 72. Southwest wind 0 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

I have left myself a long hike today. 18.2 miles to make it to Mountain Harbour B&B. And I don’t want to get there late. At least the last 5.4 miles are very downhill. At 2 miles per hour that’s about 9.5 hours…probably 10 hours. I need to get up and moving early. I want to be in by 5:00. That means I need to be out of camp by 7-7:30. We will see what happens. 

Up with alarm at 6:30. Clear cool morning and no rain last night. On trail at 7:40. Only have a bit under .7 liters of water. Big 2-mile climb up followed by 1.3 miles down to water and a bathroom.

Made it to Carver’s Gap at 9:30. Making good time. Lots of civilians here today.

Got to see/use my first toilet in 3 days. Isn’t it beautiful!

Filled up water and got back on trail at 10:00.

I have 5 balds to cross this afternoon. Summitted Round Bald at 10:30.

YouTube Video on Round Bald.

Summited Jane Bald at 10:45.

Took a break and called Dana. Back on trail at 11:00.

Summited Little Hump Mountain at 2:10. Great views.

I took my shirt off to dry in the breeze and took my shoes off to stretch my feet. It’s very peaceful up here on this bald summit. Could take a nap…but miles to go before I sleep. 7.5 miles to be exact.

YouTube video on Little Hump Mountain.

Unfortunately, I still have to climb Hump Mountain.:( I really don’t want to climb that thing today. The photo does not do the climb justice.

Summited Hump Mountain at 4:00. I have 5.4 miles to go. That was not fun! This thing is a LOT steeper than it looks. And there are storms on the horizon right where I am headed.

Long story short, the next 5.4 miles down to Route 19E SUCKED. I am racing to beat the rain, and it’s a losing battle. The first mile is a rutted grass track, then it turns to nasty rocks that are hard to make good time on and are ankle killers. I passed a lot of Memorial Day weekend hikers in their tent sites. I’m flying past them as the thunder and lightning are starting. I stopped with 3.1 miles to go to catch my breath and ran into Overkill. I thought I would catch up with her sometime today. She is going to the same hostel and has the same weather concerns. She camped 2 miles ahead of me last night at Roan High Knob. We took off at a fast pace to try to beat the rain.

I ran into this guy with about 2.4 miles to go. He startled me just a bit

And with 2.1 miles to go, the sky opened up. Lots of thunder and lightning. The trail is still a rocky mess, now slippery and turning into a fast-moving stream. I put up my umbrella and made tracks as fast as I could. Those 2.1 miles took almost 90 minutes in this slop. I left Overkill behind at her request. I walked through calf-deep water and muck the last 1.5 miles. So much for clean new shoes and socks! I got to the road at Route 19E about 6:20. Once I figured out directions to the hostel, I walked down the highway in the lovely rain for .4 miles and finally arrived.

I got checked in, unpacked all my wet gear, stripped out of my wet clothes, pulled on my fleece and my thermal bottoms, which were the only dry things I had left. I had a shirt and bandanna hanging on the back of my pack to dry in the sun today, but that plan went to hell about 2.5 miles back. Overkill arrived right about this time.

Both washing machines are in use. And the kitchen and the store closed at 6:00 as it’s Sunday. There is no Honor fridge or snacks. Lovely. At least the bar is open for another hour. I had 3 Angry Orchards and 2 bags of bar potato chips. Fortunately, since I shaved a day off this section, I have one Knorr rice dish and a tuna packet. That will be my dinner. Finally got a washing machine around 8:00. Got clothes washed and dried while I ate. Very, very exhausted. Finally finished laundry about 9:15. Got all my gear drying as best it can. Washed my shoes and put them next to a fan to dry. Talked to Dana briefly, but I am falling asleep sitting up.

OMG…today was hard and sucked big time the last 2 hours! Torrential rain, lightning, ankle-deep mud, slippery as hell, and I had not properly planned for how steep the climbs would be. All that on an 18.2-mile day was a stone-cold bitch. I hurt, I’m wet, the hostel is highly mediocre with no food , and I could rant more. And it’s gonna rain on me tomorrow, so I am NOT doing another 18.4-miler as originally planned. 

Technical Notes:

• Mini chocolate donuts 500
• Trail mix 170
• Snickers 250
• Trail mix 170
• Tuna packet 70
• Knorr chicken rice 585
• Guinness draft 120
• Angry Orchard x 3 720
• Fritos 250
• Water liters 6
• Miles 18.2
• Time 11
• Elevation gain 3477
• Elevation descent 5908
• Calories consumed 3000
• Calories burned 7000