2018 AT – Day Thirty Four – Roan Highlands

Monday, 2 July

Destination: Elk Park, NC – Mountain Harbour Hostel	Today’s Miles: 14.8
Start Location: Roan High Knob Shelter	Trip Miles: 396.0

Keeping with tradition since I was tenting, about nine thirty, I heard thunder. We got a light rain, must have been on the edge of the storm. The shelter was four sided with a door. It was dark and damp inside. The rain was never hard enough to make me think about the shelter. When I got up, my tent and footprint were pretty dry. Only the rain fly was wet, so that went in the outside pocket. The morning dawned dry and sunny.

Today had the best views of the entire trip. The Roan Highlands took me over a half dozen balds with incredible views. Check out some of the photos. There are many section and day hikers in this area. The only downside of today was that the trail was mud, rocks or roots for much of the day. Similar to the Smokies, the trail gets lots of use and is at a higher elevation.

I am at Mountain Harbour Hostel tonight. I am not sure how many people will be in the bunk house with me. One couple is tenting and another couple is in the tree house. Another frozen pizza for dinner but ice cream for later. Fairly decent resupply. I will be at my last hostel in two days.

After starting the day at over 6,000 in elevation and spending much of the day over 5,000 feet, I will barely get above 4,000 feet for the rest of the trip. I have seventy five miles to Damascus. After a couple hundred miles of straddling the North Carolina/Tennessee border, I left NC for good today. I will be in Tennessee for the next seventy miles or so finally crossing into Virginia to finish in Damascus, hopefully on Saturday.

Weather is still predicted to be warm but no rain in the forecast until Friday.