We had a nice night at our site and headed out at 8am for a big day. We had a morning climb up to a summit called Little Rock Knob with some nice views. It was a rocky and strenuous climb. Anytime they name something a knob down here we’ve learned it is always a wicked climb and this was no different.

Little Rock Knob

We later began the 4 mile ascent to Roan Mountain. This was, in my opinion, the most challenging climb we’ve had so far. The last mile or so was extremely vertical with very few switchbacks (so it was pretty much just straight up the mountain) and really rough terrain and trail conditions. It was a lot of fun! There weren’t really any views on Roan itself, but it led to several balds with amazing vistas.

Round Bald

More from Round Bald

Jane Bald

A nice guy offered to take our picture

Looking back at the trail leading up all these balds (with large thunderhead chilling above)

The downside was that a large thunderstorm was threatening as we hustled across these balds. It seems like every time we approach a bald, a storm threatens. Oh well! It held out until we got off them thankfully, but we did get rained on for the last hour or so of our hiking day.
We hiked on for a total of a bit over 22 miles today. We went against our normal stealth camping ways and are staying at a shelter. The reason is this shelter is unique, as it’s a renovated/converted barn that holds way more people than a normal shelter.

Overmountain Shelter in the rain

The view from the barn is pretty awesome, too…

Mist and rain clearing over the valley below Overmountain Shelter

So we finished up probably the toughest parts of the trail we’ll see for a long time, so that’s pretty exciting. Tomorrow we are taking a pretty short day with about 8 miles to hike to get to the Mountain Harbour Hostel/B&B in Roan Mountain, TN. We are getting resupplies and taking a nearo day before the final push into Virginia later this week.

Vital stats :
Mood – confident
Physical state – good, normal tired hikerness
Smell – ugh!
Song stuck in my head – Tiptoe by Imagine Dragons.