FRANKENSTORM
In
late October, 2012 Hurricane Sandy brought devastation to the Mid-Atlantic and
northeastern United States. Aside from
flooding and widespread power outages, the storm also brought a blizzard to the
Southern Appalachians. By the time the
storm passed on Wednesday, the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee were
blanketed with snow. Mount LeConte in the Smokies got 34” of
snow, and even lower-elevation towns like Boone received 6”. Needless to say, this was highly unusual for
late October.
By
late in the week I was itching to see it for myself. Roads were largely clear by that point, so Jack,
Brenda, and I decided to attempt a hike at Roan Mountain. We weren’t really sure what to expect. By all accounts, Roan had received 2 feet of
snow, or more. Temperatures were beginning
to warm back up, but the forecast called for a high of only 44 degrees. We were hopeful that the trails would be in
good enough shape to allow us to hike.
Brenda
had to cancel at the last minute, but my buddy Dave decided to join us. He would bring his dog, Sasha, so we’d have
three hikers and three dogs (including Boone and Kona) for our hike.
I
met Dave at the Wal-Mart in Lincolnton.
We piled two people and three dogs into my car, which was a bit ridiculous. We met Jack in Marion and all squeezed into
his truck. The drive was actually pretty
smooth. Surprisingly, we didn’t
encounter any snow until we were almost at Carvers Gap. The trailhead and parking area had some snow,
though some areas that were out in the open had been scoured clear by the wind. However, we quickly found out that the north
side of the mountain and the deep forests were a different story.
We
found a parking spot and gathered our gear for our hike. We considered hiking to Grassy Ridge, but
ultimately chose to go the other direction.
We headed up the A.T. towards Roan High Knob, the rhododendron gardens,
and Roan High Bluff. We hiked through a
deep, dark forest of spruce and fir buried in snow. Luckily the trail was pretty well packed down
by skiers, snowshoers, and other hikers that had
preceded us. However, taking even one
step off the trail meant plunging knee to thigh deep in heavy, wet snow.
The
trail was fairly busy. Early on we
passed a couple on snowshoes, and we saw several folks cross country skiing. Up near Roan High Knob we even encountered
two snowboarders.
The
trail was in good shape for the most part.
I had feared that the storm would leave the trail littered with fallen
trees. We did encounter one stretch with
some deadfall, but we were able to get around it without much trouble.
We
reached the meadow at the site of the old Cloudland Hotel a bit before
noon. We stopped there to enjoy the
sunshine and the expansive views. The fir
trees surrounding the meadow were still decorated with snow and rime ice,
adding to the beauty of the scene. We
had lunch there while the dogs played in the snow.
Afterwards
we continued the hike out to Roan High Bluff.
We passed through the picnic area and followed the road past the
entrance to the gardens to the Roan High Bluff Trailhead. This trail had received very little traffic,
and the snow wasn’t packed down. The
hiking was much more difficult, but it was worth it. The snowy forest was gorgeous, and the view
at the end was spectacular. From the
overlook we gazed out over a sea of snowy peaks. The vista was enhanced by abundant rime ice
on the surrounding trees.
Eventually
a large group of hikers from South Carolina arrived. It was an interesting group, as many of them
weren’t prepared for the conditions.
Several were wearing sneakers, and one was wearing socks and sandals! They didn’t linger long, which worked out to
our advantage. Our return hike was much
easier since they had packed down the trail.
On
our way back we made a brief visit to the rhododendron gardens. We hiked down to another overlook, where we
enjoyed a final view of the surrounding peaks.
From there we returned to the picnic area. We returned to Carvers Gap via the road,
which was much easier than the A.T.
Parts of the road were actually snow-free, due to the wind, melting, and
less accumulation on the warm asphalt.
Carvers
Gap was a circus when we returned. There
were cars everywhere! At first we
thought there was a full-blown party going on.
Interestingly, Stiffler’s mother (from the
American Pie movies) was there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Coolidge
She
was the only celebrity sighting of the day.
Originally
we thought we might hike up to Round Bald for more views after returning to
Carvers Gap. However, we were all worn
out from a tough hike in the snow. The
conditions made a huge difference – we only hiked about 6 miles, with less than
1,000’ of elevation gain. That’s an easy
hike by normal standards, but there was nothing normal about hiking through 2
feet of snow on the first Saturday of November!
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