Date- Wednesday 5/25/05
Start- Clyde Smith Shelter
Stop- Stan Murray Shelter
Miles Travelled- 11.2
What a day this has been. Actually, it started last night. Babs, Mike, JD, Jim, and I had been hiking together since Erwin. JD and Jim are brothers-in-law who started at Erwin. This was Jim's first backpacking trip and he usually lagged behind. We had agreed to stop at Clyde Smith Shelter and one by one we all showed up, except for Jim.
No one got concerned till 2 hours passed then JD decided to go back and look. He went back to the last point Jim was actually seen but couldn't find him. We figured that he passed the shelter turn off and was headed for the next shelter. By that time it was getting dark and it was getting very cold and windy. JD concluded that Jim did have enough general woods knowledge to make it through the night and we went to sleep ourselves.
The next morning we started out and up. About 1 1/2 miles up the trail, in a difficult cliffy area, we find Jim's pack. We immediately started calling for him. There was no response. We started looking along the edge and over the edge searching for signs of disturbance indicating that someone had fallen and found none. JD started to climb down the side. This is not good I thought. If he slipped there would be 2 victims instead of one. JD went down anyway.
It was then that I realized that if Jim had gone over the side and was hurt, we would not be able to get him back up. We needed professional help. I tried calling the Forest Service but couldn't get a signal out. Babs thought that she may get through from the top of the ridge. She and Mike went up while I stayed with JD.
She was able to get through and while she was filing the report up comes Jim, safe and sound. He had passed the shelter turnoff. He said that it was getting dark and windy and he was getting cold. He knew from conversations that there was a road about 2 miles further. He panicked, dropped his pack, and ran for the road. He flagged a car and was taken to the forest service office where he spent a warm night eating bologna sandwiches. His only complaint was that the Forest Service Personnel refused to send someone up to retrieve his pack and let us know he was alright.
I won't go into details about the verbal abuse heaped on poor Jim.
This adventure caused us to get a late start to a tough day. The main feature was the 2,240 foot climb of Roan Mountain. Near the top there was a clearing with a marker indicating that this was the site of the Hotel in the Clouds. During the 1800s there was a grand hotel on the spot straddling the state line. The floor even had the state line painted on it. The painted line had practical value because it was legal to drink alcohol in Tennessee while it was illegal in North Carolina. North Carolina maintained a force of deputies on the premise to arrest any miscreant that crossed the line with a drink.
North of Roan Mountain I crossed 3 rocky knobs. I read that the rocks on these particular knobs are thought to be the oldest rocks on the trail. They are thought to be 2.5 billion years old.
Got to the shelter very late (after dark tonight.