Date: 4/12/04
Starting Location: Overmountain Shelter
Destination: Roan Mountain, TN
Miles: 8.7
Total Miles: 394.4
Good. Scottish. Weather. Should be self-explanatory, but I woke up in the middle of the night to see that a cloud had been blowing into the windward-facing shelter all night, scattering my clothes from the clothes lines and soaking my down sleeping bag in the process (not a good thing). Left this morning and climbed onto the grassy ridge for some rise-and-shine miles through driving rain and 40-50 mph wind. After a couple hours of that, 'battered' is the only word that could possibly describe how I felt. 9 miles to the road felt worse than any 25-mile day I've ever done. Still, I planned to hitch into Roan Mt. to dry my clothes and sleeping bag at the laundromat and pick up some food before moving up the trail a few more miles for the night. However, after awhile in the laundromat, Georgia, Castro, Rumbler, and Footloose started to appear from their own respective adventures in the mountain hurricane. They had all decided to get rooms at a B&B around the corner, and before long, I was swayed to do the same. After a day like that, and having missed Easter with the family yesterday, I just wanted to get a shower, a warm bed, and some time to put the past couple of days behind me. Tomorrow is another day!