Note Date change. Just found out Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy is having their annual June Jamboree on Saturday June 9. In order for those who want to hike up on The Roan Highlands after the meet and greet and find a parking space I have moved the date the ThursdAy June 14. E erything else remains the same. Sorry about the date change and hope you can make the new date.
We will meet @ 9:00 AM at the above location . This will be a 30 minute meet and greet. You will then have the option of continuing on up for an optional hike Of the Roan Mountain balds on the Appalachian Trail. Due to possible parking issues up on Carvers Gap, it might be a good place to leave cars and car pool to the top.
The Hike up on the Roan Highlands is in honor of "Grandma Gatewood." In 1955, at the age of 67, Gatewood told her children (who were by then adults) that she was going for a walk. They did not ask where or for how long, as they knew she was resilient and would take care of herself.About 5 years earlier, Gatewood read an article in National Geographic about the AT and thought "it would be a nice lark," though in retrospect considering the difficulty she added "It wasn't."The magazine gave her the impression of easy walks and clean cabins at the end of each day's walk. Thus she took little in the way of outdoor gear. She would later say "For some fool reason, they always lead you right up over the biggest rock to the top of the biggest mountain they can find."
When Emma Gatewood set out to hike the Appalachian Trail, no woman — and only five men — had ever completed a thru-hike. In 1955, the 67-year-old grandmother of 23 finished the hike and earned herself the nickname "Grandma Gatewood."
She hiked with a drawstring sack she'd made back home from a yard of denim, filled the sack with ... Vienna Sausage, raisins, peanuts, bouillon cubes, powdered milk. .. She stuffed in a warm coat, a shower curtain to keep the rain off, some drinking water, a Swiss Army knife, a flashlight, candy mints, and her pen and a little Royal Vernon Line memo book that she had bought for twenty-five cents at store back home in Ohio. Modern hikers would be surprised to learn that, contrary to modern standards and necessities, Gatewood didn’t take any sleeping bag and tent, nor a compass or map, but instead relied on her own independence and the hospitable strangers she met along the way.
Dressing as Grandma Gatewood did on the hike will be optional. But we will hike to celebrate this woman. The most remarkable thing about Emma’s first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail is how she coped with the rigors of the hike and the people who help her along the way.
She carried a homemade knapsack and wore out six pairs of Keds shoes in 156 days from April to September. She didn’t bother much about accommodation and during her adventurous journey slept under a picnic table, in a front-porch swing, and on a bed of leaves. Her diet included peanuts, raisins, canned Vienna sausages, and greens she found along the trail, as well as meals offered by some of the strangers she met.
The Roan Highland are the longest stretch of grassy bald in the Appalachian Mountains, spanning nearly 1000 acres of blissful, sun-drenched, grassy mountaintop. The views from Roan’s rolling, mostly-bald mountains are fantastic, stretching in full, 360-degree panoramas. Sunrises and sunsets are epic from its grassy ridgeline: the sky is abundantly wide, and the surrounding mountains reflect the sun’s colorful, golden light. It’s a great day hike, with exceptional views.
This hike from Carvers Gap to Grassy Ridge Bald is one of our all-time favorites on the AT with Rolling elevation over three mountain balds, the trail catches ample sunlight, endless views, and near-constant breezes. Golden grasses and abundant wildflowers stretch far and wide. Sparse, wind-blown trees cling to rolling ridgeline. It’s one of those amazing hikes that starts with incredible views from the trailhead, and the views just keep getting better throughout the hike. And the hike’s final destination, Grassy Ridge, is a sun-drenched, grassy summit that tops out at over 6100 feet, offering extraordinary views and some great near-summit campsites.
This bald is home to many wild flowers like the flame azalea, Catawba rhododendron (Rhododendron catawbiense), mountain ash, and the rare Gray's lily. The Gray's lily is one of the rarest flowers in this part of the country and is only found in the southern Appalachian Mountains. I am hoping we will hit the trifecta with finding the flame azalea, rhodedendron & Gray's Lilly.
Gear & Tips:
Prepare for heavy winds and much cooler temperatures so bring extra clothing… maybe even a jacket in the summer months. Temperatures will be 10-15 degrees cooler than in the low lands. Weather can change very quickly.
Distance:
You can hike as little or as much and turn around. It's only 3/4 of a mile to the first bald with spectacular vistas. Or go all the way to Grassy Ridge Bald for an unforgetable five-mile trek (with a total of about 1,200 feet in elevation gain as you ascend and descend the balds.)
Elevation:Total Gain: 894 ft
Total Loss: 248 ft
Net Change: 646 ft