Overmountain Shelter

14.8 miles, 379 total.
HOLY COW! The next few posts will contain crazy stories from eastern Tennessee. These are true and happened on the days indicated...in eastern Tennessee.
This morning at 4:00 am, yes 4, the neighbor of the Greasy Creek Friendly Hostel was outside the bunkhouse screaming like he was in a pig calling contest! Did I mention it was 4:00 am and he was hollering like a pig?!? Then he started his tractor/riding lawn mower thingy and parked it on his side of the property line right across from the bunkhouse. It ran until it was out of gas...then he re-hollered and re-filled the tank and re-started the thing. This went on until 7:30 am. CRAZY. Turns out he's trying to get the hostel to go out of business because he doesn't trust smelly hiker trash people.
I left the hostel after breakfast - around 9:00 am - and the neighbor was trying to get his dog, "killer", to attack me from behind his fence. He and the dog were both behind the fence and he was screaming, "get him, killer, get him!"
oh well. The hike was very steady most of the day, or maybe it was just me that was steady. I'm starting to get into a groove. although, i had to hike up Roan moutnain (6285) which was a huge climb. with ice and snow covered rocks...and not a lot of great views because i was in the trees most of the time. And coming down the other side (in the sun) was wet and muddy. It was like riding that crazy viking log ride at World's of Fun. You get just wet enough to be miserable but not really wet enough for it to be any fun.
After Roan were 3, yes 3, balds. They were each taller than the first and the wind was blowing like 40 mph. Good thing is it was clear by then and I got some really good pictures and even took a half-minute video. After the balds, the trail descended into a valley/ridge walk that was like going over rolling hills in fall. There were leaves covering the trail and everything else. It was like the background scene that comes with Windows XP. Trees and a leaf covered path. By the way, I don't like windows! Anyway, it was a good end to a long day. I got to this shetler right before the dark clouds moved in and the wind started to howl. It will rain tonight and tomorrow. I'm staying in a big red barn that has been converted to a shelter. It's really cool. Here with a section hiker from Virginia who calls himself Crawfish...and his dog Max. It's called Overmountain because there is another trail that crosses the AT called Overmountain Victory trail. It's the trail that the Tennessee Volunteers took to go fight in the revolutionary war. Back then they were called Overmountain Men, not Volunteers. I don't know how they got the pale Orange color for their school though. Rumor has it that Florida uses its orange until it pales, then they send it to Tennessee. ha. a little S.E.C. humor, i guess.
That's it for now.
Later,
L