Day 32

The only thing that I could possibly even remotely complain about today is that the morning and night time temps were a bit cold -- but really the day was perfect. 

I woke up at 8, started to pack up, and we were on trail slightly before 9. We went 1 mile to warm up, and then stopped for breakfast. We've been really slow in the mornings recently, which was exemplified in the fact that by 10, we had only gone 1 mile. Needless to say, it was time to get moving. 

In the morning, we climbed up a thousand feet to a Vista that overlooked eastern Tennessee. The climb up was a little chilly, but the views were nice and the sun had started to warm up the rocks. After the summit, we climbed a couple miles down to Hughes gap, at the base of roan high knob. 

Roan high knob was our big climb today, going slightly over 5.2 miles up, and ascending more than 2,000 feet. By 1:15 we were 1.2 miles from the top, and stopped for lunch at ash gap. During this time of day, there was almost no wind and the weather was just absolutely perfect. Clear blue sky, a beautiful forest, and the smell of spring was on the air -- couldn't complain. 

After finishing lunch, we made it up roan high knob by 2:30, and down to carvers gap a little after 3. For the rest of the day we walked through the roan highlands. Round bald, Jane bald, grassy ridge, and little hump mountain were all ascended. In the highlands, you're able to see far back into north Carolina and Tennessee, as well as forward looking into Virginia. With it being a weekend, there were a good number of people on the balds, but as we got farther away from the parking lot the number of people reduced dramatically. 

Even with the late start and an hour long lunch, we got to camp today just slightly after 6. The ground here is super comfortable and with the 10 mph wind I'm hoping to sleep well. It's a little chilly up here at 5,200 feet, but that's how it goes. 

Tomorrow we cross out of NC for the final time and in 4 days from now we'll officially be done with TN!

Daily recap: 
- Total miles hiked: 19.8
- From mile marker 368.8 to 388.6
- From Greasy creek gap to a tentsite after little hump mountain
- High temp: 50 and sunny
- Low temp (morning): 20 and clear
- low temp (tonight): 25 to 30 and windy
- Total ascent: 5,502 feet
- Total descent: 4,350 feet

Thanks for following along. 
Tyler M.

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