Grandfather Tapped Me Out...But Got A 2nd Chance on The Roans

Old age is one of the things that happen to us all. However, combined with being out of shape then what happened to me in mid-September was inevitable. See on Tuesday, two weeks back I was going to hike from the Daniel Boone Fork Trailhead off the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) to the trail with the same name up to the Hi-Baslam Shelter. I decided to get water (there is none at the shelter) at the Daniel Boone Campsite because it was either there or a hike over to the other side to Shanty Spring. I decided I didn't want to do the extra mile or so for water. However, this just added more pack weight to a hike of 3.5 miles and 2,000 feet in elevation gain. I did this hike way back in 2016...six years ago. I was still in my 40s then and in better shape. I got out of said shape during the early days of the pandemic and have been trying to get back ever since.

With that said I wondered if I bit off more than I could chew and it didn't take long to realize that was the case. I knew I wasn't going up the Nuwati Trail because I would then have to lug my pack up the Cragway Trail. The Daniel Boone overall is easier to where the trails meet at where I plan to get water. So, by the time I got from the trailhead to the start of the Daniel Boone I knew I had overestimated my abilities. So, I could have continued on, but it wasn't going to make a difference. Since it was still early (not yet noon) I decided to pull the plug. However, I did waste the opportunity to get pictures of the Linville Viaduct from a new perspective.

Where to go? Since I was feeling down, Pete was pissed and I had to travel back through Roan Mountain I decided on Carvers Gap. The next question where to camp? I thought about the Roan High Shelter, but the weather was so fall-like that I decided on the balds. Where on the balds? Well, I decided to just head up the Appalachian Trail (AT), and when I felt like setting up that would be the spot. I thought about Jane Bald and then Harriet Bald, but I had something to prove so I headed on up to Grassy Ridge. I decided to change it up and not go to my favorite spot on Roan High Ridge and camp before the rhododendron trees before the summit. That meant I decided to haul water instead of hiking to the source at my favorite site. I will say the venue change gave me a chance to run the drone more.

I made dinner and went to the Grassy Ridge Bald Summit for a wonderful sunset. After that, it was a nice, relaxing fire to close out the evening.

As the Sun rose on Wednesday morning I noticed that was coming up where I was supposed to be at Grandfather Mountain, Callaway Peak to be specific. That's ironic don't you think? After breaking camp, I ran the drone a few times before returning to Carvers Gap. However, I had one more bit of business. I had never gone down the North Carolina side, so down NC-261. There were some views of the Roans and some good fall colors. While not my original plan you can never go wrong on the Roans...

Photos: SmugMug