Date- Thursday 5/26/05
Start- Stan Murray Shelter
Stop- Applehouse Shelter
Miles Travelled- 9.9
A beautiful hike today. Perhaps the most scenic day of the trip.
When I woke this morning I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Hikers had been telling me not to miss Overmountain Shelter. It was a room with a view. However, it was only 2 miles from where I had stopped and I did want to make it to Hwy 19E by evening. While mulling everything over time was passing and I didn't get started till after 10.
I decided to visit the shelter, a converted barn and the view was stunning. My brief stop lasted more than 2 hours. I finally forced myself to move on and began the moderate climb of Little Hump Mountain and rough rocky rooty descent into Bradley Gap. Ups and downs don't bother me much but rocks and roots wrek havoc with my leg.
From Bradley Gap I started the easy climb up Hump Mtn and was awestruck. Hump Mtn is a Bald with no trees to obstruct the view. On either side was a valley and in the distance I could see parallel ridgelines. This was the start of a 2 mile Bald ridge walk. I was high enough that I was able to look down on the surrounding mountain tops and gaps and saw the towns and villages in the gaps. It was like looking down at a 3 dimensional model. Eventually I came to the end and began the descent to 19E.
The initial stages of the descent were tough. They were steep, rocky, and rooty. This soon gave way to an even, gently sloped, downhill path.
I didn't quit get to 19E, I'm about a half mile short. The B&B I was hoping to stay at had a 8:00 check in deadline and it's nearly 9. It's a decent shelter so I decided to stop here.