Conquering Roan!

Day 25 - 5/6/10
Man what a day. Great weather for most of it, sunny skies but with
ample cloud coverage for shade, nice breezes all day to help you stay
cool and keep bugs away. There were some hot sections, but nothing
like yesterday. Ideal hiking weather yet again.

I woke up early and made it out of camp by 7:30. I was shooting for at
least a 20, but Not Worthy had to slow down because he's leaving the
trail soon (he's a sectioner) and he'd get to his destination too
early if he kept doing such big miles, so we had to say goodbye.
Farewells are always a bit sad on the trail, and I really enjoyed
hiking with him, but that's the way of it out here. People always
coming and going.

The morning was great hiking, I felt really good and energized. And I
finally came across the infamous Loon. I've been seeing his journal
posts since I started. They are very noticeable because he's always
draws a giant loon head after each entry. Loon is a good name for this
guy because 1. He's from Minnesota and they have many a loon, 2. He's
crazy, loony tunes like. But he was a great person to talk to on the
trail. Every year there's this thing in Damascus called "Trail Days"
and it's like a 3 day party for hikers and stuff. He was telling me
there's even a parade and every year he goes to the local thrift shop
and buys a dress to wear in it. This guy was at least 65 too. Yet
another character.

I parted ways with him at Greasy Creek Gap, a place where you can go a
half mile down this dirt road to a hostel and also get lunch, like
burgers and stuff. Loon actually offered me a couple bucks so I could
get one, but I declined because I wanted to keep moving. Very nice of
him though. Two miles later I hit the first shelter, and then the day
became really hard after that. There was a pretty steep section before
you start to climb up Roan mountain, but it didn't even compare to how
tough Roan was. Today's climb up that thing was probably my hardest in
several weeks, maybe the whole trip. It was 3+ miles of incredibly
steep, rocky climbing. When I finally summitted Roan I could have
easily called it a day, but I wanted to do that 20 so I kept going. I
ended up doing a 22.3 again, tying for my longest day. I've realized
that what's tough about a long day isn't the distance, but the length
of time it takes. So if I did 30 in the same amount of time, I think I
would have felt pretty much the same. We'll see if my theory is true.

Anyway, 22.3 brought me to Overmountain shelter, this really cool old
abandoned barn off the trail. It can hold up to 20 people! I made a
great dinner when I got there. I had rice with tuna, but also added
ramps, also known as wild leeks. They were growing everywhere, so
another hiker named Animal showed me what they were and I grabbed a
bunch. They're like a mix between onions and garlic. Awesome. And I
used the olive oil that was mixed with the tuna as a substitute for
the butter that the rice recipe asks for. It all worked out perfectly
and tasted amazing too. I was starving after going through such a
tough day so it really hit the spot.

Before I call it a night I wanted to give a shout out and
congratulations to my cousin Kari and my friend Big C who are both
graduating from Northeastern in a few days. Wish I could be there to
partake in the celebrations. Uncle G I'm pretty sure they've met, am I
right guys? And one last thing, the beard is still fully intact Big C,
almost a month strong now. Maybe by the end I will rival Jim Kothe's.

Total miles: 379.2