AT - Huges Gap to Walnut Mt.

Day One: 3.0                                                Outcasts Total Miles: 2261.7
Hughes Gap Road to Ash Gap
Day Two: 9.2
Ash Gap to Over-mountain Shelter
Day Three: 6.2
Over-mountain Shelter to Doll Flats
Day Four: 11.6
Doll Flats to Campsite before Mountaineer Falls Shelter
Day Five: 1.8
Campsite to Walnut Mountain Road
Total Miles: 31.8

We used Mountain Harbour as our shuttle service again. We got on the trail the day after a winter storm with 22 degree temperatures and high winds. We got off the trail just before the rain came in. Life is good!

We started at Hughes Gap road in the evening and hiked to Ash Gap for our first night of camping. Short hike and good camp. Pretty steep down to the spring.

Day Two:
We got this morning with a cool start. Today was lot's of views after crossing over Roan Mountain. With lots of views comes lots of people. We crossed Round Bald, Jane Bald, Grassy Ridge, Yellow mountain, and on to Over-Mountain Shelter for the night. We got to see lot's of Ravens as we crossed all these balds. We also had to race the woolly worms. They were everywhere, by the hundreds. It is going to be a mild winter as they were mostly brown.

Over Mountain Shelter is a large barn which is the largest shelter on the AT. As we were setting up camp for the night off the edge of a road bed, we had some military backpackers that were bringing coolers up the road from a nearby parking area. They were nice enough to offer us a beer on there way. They were partying for the next two nights. We were glad that we were not staying in the shelter. There was no wood so we had a night around the Lucy Light.

Day Three:
We started the long climb first thing from the shelter. We climbed Little Hump Mountain and on to Hump Mountain, both with balds and views. We made it to Doll Flats for the night. Good spring here.

Day Four:
We got to see some deer this morning and found some more before we crossed Hwy 19. Lots of ups and downs and through valleys. We thought we were going to camp along the Elk river, which we found overgrown. We thought we would camp at the Yellow Branch, which had no campsite with trees. After dark we came to the campsite before Mountaineer Shelter. Finally a place to stay for the night. Another night around Lucy.

Day Five:
We hiked out to Walnut Mountain Road. We had the shuttle drive pick us up. We have now gone over 400 miles on the Appalachian Trail. The end of another great hike.

From Roan Mountain all the way along this hike we could see a large structure with the background of Grand Father mountain and could not figure out what it was. After getting home and doing the google maps I found it to be Sugar Ski and Country Club on Sugar Mt. in North Carolina.

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