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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