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Page Type:
|
Trip Report |
|---|---|
Lat/Lon:
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36.09489°N / 82.14066°W |
Date Climbed/Hiked:
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Dec 17, 2007 |
Activities:
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Hiking |
Season:
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Winter |
After the Storm
Well after my unsuccessful summit of potato knob due to circumstances beyond my control I decided to get out and enjoy the winter weather once again atop a North Carolina/Tn 6er. I grabbed up another willing friend and we headed up to carvers gap for a short hike up to Roan High Knob shelter for the night. We finally got to the summit to find a wonderful ex Ranger Cabin completely enclosed even with a second floor!It was cold already The temperature on the thermometer inside the cabin said 10.1 degrees... combine that with the heavy winds that night and it should be a pretty bitter night.. thank god we have a shelter!
Shortly after dropping our gear we took off down the ridge chasing the sunset for a good place to get a picture.. well after roaming around for a good time we finally came out on a open spot where I witnessed one of the most spectacular sunsets Ive ever seen!
After the pictures we found our way back to the cabin, ate some hot soup, and headed to bed.
The morning after...
I slept amazingly well that night despite the single digits inside the shelter. We woke up at 6AM to do a short hike out to Roan high Bluff for (hopefully) some good pictures. Along the way i noticed some small pouncing "cat" tracks bounding from the lesser snow amounts..Bobcat I presume..I on the other hand was also dodging the deeper snow spots because even though Mr. Henry Margusity of accuweather said rain... there was a good 6 inches and several feet of snow in some places...Whatever...
Along the way we ran across sever HUGE deer tracks, rabbit tracks, and those same bobcat tracks that almost made it evident that they were playing in the snow... Then to my suprise the smaller bobcat"ish" track met up with a HUGE set of "cat" tracks.. Almost Dog sized! Ive always heard of people saying there was still cougars or mountain lions around here, now im a believer!
We finally made it to Roan High Bluff with some spectacular views of TN and the sunrise. On our way back to the shelter something caught my eye in the sunset... I couldnt believe how far away some of the smoke from factories? was.. as i was scanning the horizon I saw it and couldnt believe what i was seeing.. I had already missed the prime conditions for a picture but there was still a chance so i snapped a few shots with my crappy camera and went home. Got home, zoomed in some and yep its confirmed.. I had seen the skyscrapers in Charlotte NC on one of the clearest days i can
CHARLOTTE