Today I left the North Carolina for the last time on the AT. For the last 230 miles I’ve been skirting the NC/TN border and there was a good section before that just in NC. A lot of good people and awesome times were had in this last section. Not that it’s a huge accomplishment, or even a good indication of how much of the AT I’ve done, but having another state down feels good.
Right now I’m staying at Mountain Harbour, a hostel and b&b just 0.3 miles down the road from the AT crossing. It’s a nice place with a legendary breakfast. What’s even better is that it’s buffet style, so I’ll probably be good for lunch tomorrow too.
My first night out of Erwin I didn’t quite get as far as I was hoping, the breakfast shuttle into town took a bit longer than I had thought. All’s well that ends well, so it didn’t really matter that much in the end. I ended up not camping by a shelter, rather a small campsite with a piped spring. It was really nice, as there are only four of us at that camp. Not that I don’t like people, but it’s nice to have a quite camp with a good campfire.
The next day was rather typical. A nice 13.9 mile walk in the woods, but there weren’t any views and it was a little mundane. There was however a good climb in the morning into a dense spruce forest which was a little different, but as soon as we descended it was back to trees with no leaves.
The days that followed were some of the prettiest so far. Views from mountain tops, balds with large clearings, and I even slept in an old barn that was repurposed as a shelter. I passed Roan High Knob shelter, the highest on the AT. Unfortunately I walked past the turn off trail completely so I didn’t actually stop and see it. Overmountain shelter, the one that used to be a barn was really cool. I decided I’d stay in the shelter even though the weather was good because it was a pretty original shelter. Instead of staying up top like most people did, I cowboy camped on the lower platform where I got to see the sunrise. It wasn’t spectacular, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
The plan so far is to take about 2 maybe 3 days to get into Hampton, and then I’ll get the rest of the food I need to take me into Damascus, VA. Whether or not I stay in Hampton is to be determined.
Until then,
-Orion
This looks and sounds so amazing. I would love to do some of it someday, body permitting! Thanks for the blog and photos. It’s great to follow you on your journey.
I highly recommend coming out here, no matter how much is hiked. So far I think Roan Mountain until now has been my favorite part. Thanks for the nice comments!
Hi sounds like you are living your dream, right on!
We love you.
Nana & Grampe
I have a question about all the Balds. Were they once forested and humans (either Europeans or Native Americans) removed the trees, or have they always been so grassy and bare? We are used to our mountain tops being rocky above tree line in the Sierras, so it is interesting to see the Eastern version.
All of them I believe were deforested for grazing purposes. At least I know max patch was and I assume the rest are similar. I doubt they’re natural.