June 26 Roan Mountain

It is late June and the temperatures are hot. I'm looking for some relief. Roan Mountain looks like just the spot. It is. It is cool and breezy most of the day.

We let the big dogs loose at 19E and the AT crossing. The rest of us drove up and up to Carver's Gap in Roan Mtn State Park. From there we crossed several balds, ascended and descended. We saw Grey's Lilies.


It was a delightful day in the open balds and shallow forests. In the dip between Jane Bald and Grassy Ridge we came upon the enclosure for the goats that is being used to maintain the bald. This is the third year of this project to try and keep the world’s premier example of rare Southern Appalachian Grassy Balds ecosystems intact. There are forty three goats in the little over one acre enclosure. When the goats have cleared the invasive species, in particular the Canada blackberry, the paddock is move to another location. Botanists study the results and determine when and where to move the paddock. The animals are on constant guard by two Great Pyrenees livestock guard dogs. Just this week a set of twins was born.

At lunchstop rock we met the big dogs coming southbound on the AT. We were about 2 minutes apart. Jon offered everyone a shot of Surry County Lemonade which I believe may be some type of Cornade but tasty nonetheless.

From this spot we headed to Big Bald, the mother of all climbs for today. It had a couple false tops but we all made it in fine shape. From this spot on it was all downhill. I put it in gear and headed home.

That looks like Angry Ben smiling

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Gregory Bald 2010

I'd heard ahead of time, we missed the peak. Due to the hot temperatures this year, everything bloomed early, including the Gregory Bald Azaleas. Nevertheless, I made my way halfway around Cades Cove, up Parsons Branch Road all the way to the Gregory Bald Trail trailhead. Only one car when we arrived, about 8 when we returned. We headed up the trail quickly. Within the first hour three members of the Wednesday Hikers of the Chattanooga Hiking Club had passed us. Just a bit further, we encountered the only bear of the day. It was a long long 4.5 miles up to the bald. Just prior to the bald is Campsite 13, Sheep Pen. Named so because it was used years ago as a pen for sheep grazing on the balds.

We entered the bald amid dozens, no hundreds of azalea bushes. Most were flame orange to red, but some ranged into shades of pink, red and yellow.

This is one of only two balds maintained as bald in the GSMNP. Originally, 22 miles of meadows existed to graze livestock. In the 1930's that practice ceased and the balds began to recede back to their natural wooded states. I've learned there is a motorized lawn mower atop Gregory Bald, operated by volunteers to keep the grass and blackberries mowed. We saw evidence of this over the entire 50ish acre bald.

In addition to the wonderful Azalea display, you can view Cades Cove in its entirety from the bald. It is quite the site and a wonderful view for lunch.

The colors of the azaleas range from white to yellow to pink to orange to red. A Rhododendron Society has even named some of the unique bushes. Next trip, I'll try to identify those.

The trip down was uneventful but I did receive a chaffing souvenir from this hike.



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June 23 Cades Cove Cycle

The Cades Cove loop road is as smooth as glass now thanks to a "stimulus" re-paving. I've driven and biked the 11 mile single lane, one way loop countless times. This ride had to be the best ever. After realizing I'd be in Townsend on Wednesday, the day Cades Cove road is closed to cars until 10am, I knew I had to haul my bike to the mountains this trip. It was well worth it. The lot at the entrance was nearly full by 7:30am. The parking area at the campground would soon fill and all spaces in the picnic area would fill after that. Where folks parked after that, I don't know. As I passed the locked gate into the cove road, a volunteer greeted me and clicked her mechanical counter. I'd like to know how many bikes ventured out there today.


Turkeys were poking around in the tall grass, deer grazing as well and even a bear crossed the road a few feet from me. Yeah, that did cause me to do an acrobatic 180 on my bike. I saw several folks with their cameras out so I expect I'm in some prized vacation photos - me and the bear.

The morning mist kept everyone cool. Even as we approached 10am and the release of the motor cars, everyone stayed cool on a day Townsend hit 94. In the final 1/2 mile I did have to leave the road to avoid some roadwork. Apparently a car had burned up and ruined the new pavement.


This isn't the bear that spooked me. This fellow is about the size of a house cat. Mama is nearby.

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Another Grayson Highlands hike

Having just hiked in Grayson Highland two weeks prior, I was ready for another foray into the balds and meadows of this jewel of a park. I was up before 5am checking the weather radar. It looks like a 10am line of storms and then nothing. That turned out to be half correct. We did get the 10am storm. However, that line of storms stalled over Mt Rogers and the mountain wouldn't let go. It poured for a half hour and then spit and sputtered the rest of the day.

Mona Lisa moment or did Shari just sip an imaginary Chardonnay?

Our group split apart, re-assembled in the woods to wait out the storm, split apart again before lunch and never re-assembled again. The small group I was in left the peloton at an overcrowded shelter. We followed a horse trail to the area known as "Scales". Once a loading area for livestock, there actually were scales here once to weight the animals before loading. From Scales we followed the AT a short distance before circling back on a side trail.

Mountain Laurel was blooming and I saw some wonderful displays. The rhodo bloom was on in some spots too. A wet but thankfully cool day in a superb mountain setting.

Chanterelles are back

We had just enough rain to pop some chanterelles through the leave duff. I spent about 9 hours over three days looking for these mushrooms. I got enough to freeze 6 meal size bags and cooked some for my supper.

June 5 Black Mtn Crest Trail

The hike was advertised as Mitchell to Celo and back, a 14 mile roundtrip. Between Mitchell and Celo are bunch of menacing peaks topping 6000'. And the trail is muddy. Several spots were so steep and slick they had ropes, so you could descend and ascend the proverbial slippery slope.


We all cached water on the hike out. I was glad to do, having almost 6 liters with me. With no need to conserve water, I drank like a fish all day. Dana and the big dogs moved out ahead and waited for the rest of us to catch up every so often. About a mile from Celo we all congregated for the last time, ate lunch and decided who was going on to Celo and who was headed back. During this lunchstop, the sun broke through the mist and clouds and briefly brought us the days only sunshine.


Walking back, we had the pleasure of ascending Potato Hill from Low Gap. Estimates of 4 to 6 false tops are in order for the trek up this tater tot. Each summit felt so good to attain. Then some smartass would remind us how many more we had to go.

We played hide and seek with the rain just reaching the confines of the visitors center before the rains came. The wait was about 2 hours for everyone to finish up. The thermometer read 67. That may have been close to the high for the hike.

May 27 Little Wilson Creek Wilderness

Another short hike of about 8 miles. This one I started and ended at my campsite at Grayson Highlands State Park. There was a few miles along the AT and then into the Little Wilson Creek Wilderness on what turned out to be horse trails. Horse trails can be problematic. These were lightly used and not so bad for a hike. I ran into 2 bears. Both ambled away when I approached.

There was one creek I decided to wade barefoot across rather than risk a bad rock hop. I saw some Lady Slippers and lots of Flame Azalea and Rhododendron was in bloom.

May 26 Mt Rogers

The walk to the top of Mt Rogers from Massie Gap in Grayson Highlands State Park is a relatively short one at just 4 miles. Most of the route is on the Appalachian Trail. The semi-wild ponies are kept in the area to maintain the open meadows. They look very well fed. I met a number of folks on this hike and walked with one fellow for most of it. The top of Rogers is wooded and there are no views. There are two rocks, about 100 feet apart and both have US Geodesic benchmarks. I don't know which is higher than the other so there are competing high points in Virginia as far as I'm concerned.