A Most Interesting and Beautiful Day

One of the overlooks at the end of the hike.

We hiked about 14 miles today, in a little over 8 hours. I have to say, today was the most stunning day of hiking I've had thus far. The terrain was very, very different 80% of the hike was on exposed balds and mountaintops, which is a big change from the heavy forests we've been walking through. We started out with a short climb up some flat, grassy, small balds. We had a great view of Roan Mountain behind us, and some very unusual, but equally beautiful sights ahead.

Top of Jane's Bald, with Roan Mountain in the background.

Goat Family.

That's right - there was a goat pen at the top of one of the first small balds we climbed. It's part of a volunteer environmental research effort to investigate how to best protect the grassy bald ecosystem, which is in danger of being destroyed by invasive plants. The goats love to graze on these invasive plants, so incorporating goat herds into the landscape could preserve its natural beauty. The goat family is tended to all summer by a professional goat herd, weekend volunteers and two Great Pyrenees Mountain Dogs. The babies you see in the picture were, literally, born yesterday. Amazing.

After hiking down the first few small balds, through some forest, and across an old horse path used by Revolutionary War soldiers (so many interesting things learned today...), we reached our big climbs of the day - Little Hump Mountain and Hump Mountain. They were exposed balds too, but larger and steeper than the ones we climbed earlier in the day. Words do not do justice to the beauty of this section of the trail, so I will take this opportunity to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Bottom of Little Hump.

Climb up Little Hump.

Top of Little Hump.

Climb up Hump Mountain.

Lunch break on top of Hump Mountain.

Completely breathtaking. The good thing about hiking all day long on exposed balds is that the views are incredible and you get to enjoy a nice breeze. The bad thing, especially on a day when there's an ozone warning out, is that the sun is very intense. It was pretty hot all day long, and I now have one of the world's greatest farmer's tans, with the added bonus of stripes across my hands from the wrist straps on my hiking poles. I would've put on sunscreen, if I hadn't been distracted by all of the nice views, including a sight I saw right after lunch, which no one would believe unless there was photographic evidence. So, I present...

Wait...is that?...

...oh my gosh, it is...

...a herd of cattle laying in the trail. There were regular cows and longhorns, and there were just hanging out on the AT, standing around chewing their cuds. I was flabbergasted, and honestly a little scared to walk so close to them at first, but they must be used to hikers, because the whole herd completely ignored us. I figured out later that a lot of the land in this area is actually privately owned and often used for farming and livestock, but the farmers allowed the park systems to put the trail through their land. It's probably a pretty good deal, since the park service will then take care of a lot of the upkeep on the property. After getting over my shock at walking through a herd of grazing cattle on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere, the rest of the hike was 5 miles downhill, and back into the woods. 14 miles is a long way to go in a day, so I was pretty beat by the end of it. Nothing some good food and some ice cream didn't fix, though. It might be a few days before I post again, since we have a few overnights ahead of us. But if it's half as beautiful as the hiking today, it will be a pleasure.

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