Allen Gap, NC to Watauga Lake, TN

Day 7, Tuesday, May 29

Clyde Smith Shelter to Overmountain Shelter, 12.8 miles

It rained on and off all night until about 3:00 PM. My internal alarm clock goes off at 6:45 AM. I roll over and look outside the shelter. Everything is wet.

I get up and pack, eat a cold breakfast of Snickers and crackers, and I'm away at 7:30 AM. It's a wet trail this morning. Also a foggy morning. A very foggy morning. You can't see more than 50 feet in front of your face.

The first couple of climbs are tough. They are supposed to be views at Little Rock Knob, but they're totally fogged in. I scare up my first grouse of the trip climbing back down the other side. It disappears in the fog.

I reach Hughes Gap at 8:45 AM and the sky is higher because I'm lower in elevation. I meet a couple of Tom's friends from Greenwood, SC who have driven up to meet him. I find out who won the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 from them.

I push on up the hill. The climb up Roan Mountain is one of the toughest I've done. Three miles straight up. The sky alternates between sun and fog for the next hour as I climb through the clouds toward the sun above.

I spot a bed of Jack-in-the-Pulpits right beside the trail below Ash Gap and I stop to take a picture. I reach Ash Gap at 10:10 AM. Fifteen hundred feet of climbing so far. I'm in a full sweat and my calves are one step away from cramping when I take a short break.

I can tell that I'm nearing the top because the breeze is picking up as I climb. I catch "Slo-Motion" a hundred feet from the top and we climb the remaining distance together. I recognize the old Cloudland Hotel foundation at the summit through the fog and I know we are on top now. You can't see more than 50 yards in any direction. We are in the clouds this morning.

"Slo-Motion" and I walk over to the Cloudland Hotel plaque and I take his picture. Five minutes later I hear voices and see "Ropeyarn" and "Yellow" coming through the trees. Four of us are on top now. I direct them over toward the restrooms and I head on down the hill to Carvers Gap. They've rerouted the trail two-thirds of the way down and you now come out below the parking area at Carvers Gap.

The sun is out here and I pull my pack off for a break. "Ropeyarn" and "Yellow", soon followed by "Slo-Motion" and "Whitey" appear. "Shelter Mouse" shows up with a cooler of drinks and fruit. We take a long break at Carvers Gap.

The climb up Round Bald and Jane Bald is gorgeous. You can see Table Rock and Hawksbill at Linville Gorge in the distance, and the Black Mountains and Mount Mitchell clear as day. It's cool and breezy, but a great view on top.

The trail now drops almost 1,200 feet and it's a steep downhill to Yellow Mountain Gap. We stop for a short rest break at Stan Murray Shelter before pushing on the final 1.7 miles to Yellow Mountain Gap. "Shelter Mouse's knee is really bothering her on the downhill. She has a tough time making it. "Slo-Motion" loans her one of his hiking poles and that seems to help. We finally see the Overmountain Shelter Trail to the right at 5:15 PM. "Slo-Motion" decides to hike on another couple of miles before camping for the night. We head for the shelter.

It's a short downhill to the "Red Barn", Overmountain Shelter. I pass "Yellow" getting water at the spring before I reach the bottom. Overmountain Shelter is actually an old barn that the Tennessee Eastman Hiking Club turned into a shelter that sleeps twenty. It sits near the Overmountain Victory Trail that is the path farmers from western North Carolina and Tennessee crossed on their way to fight the Battle of Kings Mountain during the Revolutionary War in the late 1700's.

I get water from the spring and cook supper and it's getting dark before I know it. The rest of the gang comes in as I'm cooking. We have a good crowd here tonight. "Ropeyarn", "Yellow", Tom, "Whitey", "Salty", "Belu", "Wassabe", "Moonman", "Shelter Mouse", and me.

Undoubtedly, this is the shelter with the most impressive view on the trail. It sits on a hill overlooking a gorgeous lush meadow and valley below. I see deer crossing the meadow below us before the sun goes down. As darkness falls there is only one light that you can see on the distant ridge. There is no other development is sight.