Loose Laces

View from Roan High Bluff



Saturday, Carolyn and I went to David Thompson's market on 107 and on down to Clark's Creek. Not much going at either place, but Clark's creek needs to be cleaned up and restored to the way it was 30 years ago. All the camping places are coverd with tiny pieces of broken glass, horse poop is everywhere, and people still camp away from designated sites.

It could be a small paradise again.
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Yesterday, we went back to the Roan, where I did something I thought was nearly impossible. Let me regress. When I was about 12 years old, I went with my parents to the Roan, where we walked out to an overlook that offered magnificent views of the mountains and valleys. Back then, my dad drove the car to within a few hundred feet of the bluff. Now is very different. It is a half-mile hike to the overlook through a mostly hemlock forest that used to be a fir forest, but those trees were killed off by insects and nothing but their skeletons remain. The first part of the trail is paved and fairly flat, and then it is graveled and starts upward where the slope is never very steep, but it does get rough in a couple of places, especially if one can't bend but one knee. A sturdy walking stick is nice, and in my case, a necessity.

I never had any idea that I could walk the half-mile, even if it was flat and smooth. I planned to go until I gave out or the pain became unbearable. I would walk a ways, and find a stump, log, or rock to sit on for a few minutes, then go til I found another situated so I could get up fairly easily, but Carolyn did have to help me a couple times. The last place I sat before achieving my goal, I could see sky ahead, so I figured we were about to the top, and that gave me incentive to continue. Fifty minutes after leaving the car, and when we got to the platform, I was so pooped I couldn't climb the steps, so I found a big rock to sit on. I was finally able to climb up on the overlook, and knew I had done the right thing by toughing it out. The view was more magnificent than I remembered. I stood long enough to get a few photos, and then had to rest again before starting back down. Actually, I didn't have to stop as much going out as I did coming in. Yes, a lot of it was downhill, but I have more trouble walking downhill than I do uphill, because the knee can't be bent. My last resting place was the first one I used going up, and it was only about 250 feet from the car, but let me tell you, it was the toughest stretch of real estate I've ever had to traverse. It was flat and even, but I was dead on my feet, out of breath, with my feet and particularly my ravaged left knee in excruciating pain. I had been drenched in sweat ever since I began the trek although the temperature was in the mid 70's, and I had a terrible ache between my shoulder blades
Carolyn had to drive back to the picnic area, where she prepared our lunch while I sat in the Escape and rested. I finally got out long enough to eat, but she beat me back to the soft bucket seats of the car.

If you have never been there, or if it has been a long time time since you were there, I advise you to go if you ever have the opportunity. There are few—if any—Appalachian views as good as this. From the town of Roan Mountain Tennessee, go to the to of The Roan where the Appalachian Trail crosses at Carver's Gap and turn right. There is a fee station ($3.00) near the Rhododendron Gardens, and on the right side of it is a parking and picnic area near where the old Cloudland Hotel stood. It has bathroom facilities, but they stink, literally! To get to the Roan Bluff Overlook, bypass the picnic area and drive into the gardens. There, you will find clean, modern restrooms. and just beyond, the road splits and becomes one-way. Go to the right and watch for the sign on the right.