Miles ~22
Total 1815
It was, at one point today, 35 degrees. And windy. It was very cold. Beautiful however. We were walking over the Roan Highlands. The hills were alive, with the sound of music. I would have been singing but, unfortunately, the sun wasn't out so it was quite cold. We were up there for a few miles though. I tried to get some pictures so you could get the sense of how gorgeous it was. The second set of balds that we walked over were far less windy and much more touristy but equally beautiful. They had patches of bushes that were turning red interspersed with vibrant green plants and the combination looked quite festive.
When we left the balds, the mountain changed completely. All of a sudden we were walking through a pine forest. It was such a shift we asked man that we hiked past if he knew anything about it (he had the look like he hiked here often). Turns out he's a botanist and did indeed. We were walking through one of only ten naturally occurring Frasier Fir forests. Then we asked him if the balds are naturally occurring or if they are manufactured. We were curious becuase we walked through some gates that were clearly meant to keep out animals and the grass seemed to have been mown. He told us that the question has been debated and that now people say it was naturally occurring since Europeans arrived. Meaning it's possible that previous peoples had cleared the land. And infact, now they use goats to keep briars and bramble from growing up on the bald. Our botanist turned out to be the man in charge of the goats. We picked the right man to ask about the forest!
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Total 1815
It was, at one point today, 35 degrees. And windy. It was very cold. Beautiful however. We were walking over the Roan Highlands. The hills were alive, with the sound of music. I would have been singing but, unfortunately, the sun wasn't out so it was quite cold. We were up there for a few miles though. I tried to get some pictures so you could get the sense of how gorgeous it was. The second set of balds that we walked over were far less windy and much more touristy but equally beautiful. They had patches of bushes that were turning red interspersed with vibrant green plants and the combination looked quite festive.
When we left the balds, the mountain changed completely. All of a sudden we were walking through a pine forest. It was such a shift we asked man that we hiked past if he knew anything about it (he had the look like he hiked here often). Turns out he's a botanist and did indeed. We were walking through one of only ten naturally occurring Frasier Fir forests. Then we asked him if the balds are naturally occurring or if they are manufactured. We were curious becuase we walked through some gates that were clearly meant to keep out animals and the grass seemed to have been mown. He told us that the question has been debated and that now people say it was naturally occurring since Europeans arrived. Meaning it's possible that previous peoples had cleared the land. And infact, now they use goats to keep briars and bramble from growing up on the bald. Our botanist turned out to be the man in charge of the goats. We picked the right man to ask about the forest!
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| Roan Mountain |
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| It was very very cold up here. |
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| Camping in the cold! |
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