What do you do when its a hundred degrees and you want to get out of the house? Head up the mountain!
I’ve lived in east Tennessee for about 9 years now. In all that time, I had never been to the top of Roan Mountain, even though it is less than an hour away! Last weekend, my husband, who is from Tennessee…well, spent the majority of his life here…decided it was finally time for us to go.
We have tried to go up to the top several times over the years, and each time we went, they had the top closed. Roan Mountain is part of a national park, (the Appalachian Trail runs through it!) and they close the road that goes to the tippy top off to allow for plant propagation and all that good stuff. There is a parking area at the beginning of the road, where you can walk either towards the top, or away toward Round Bald (another peak), and we have done that a few times… But FINALLY, we were able to get to drive up to the top! They have a Rhododendron Festival every year in June…we missed the abundant blooms, but there were still some stragglers to be seen.
The best thing though, the thing I wanted to share, is what you get to see from the top of the Cloudland Trail. After a little hike, about 0.7 miles from a parking area, you get to see this:
View to the left
View to the right
This is with my camera’s zoom at the most magnification!
It was unbelievably windy! Definitely a put-your-hair-up location…
I wish the camera could capture just how beautiful it really is!
I wish I could scoop up the total experience, how it really felt to be up there, and share that with you!
There are a ton of trails on the mountain, and we just got to go on the one…but if you can only go on one, Cloudland Trail is definitely worth the uphill walking! (It’s really not that bad, and I am so out of shape!) If you ever get the chance, you have to, HAVE TO follow the trail to the top!
I would really love to take a day, in the beginning of fall maybe, and pack a lunch and hit the mountain again…and get to see more of it! Where I live, which is about an hour away from Roan Mountain, it was 103 degrees when we were driving past the city limits. About 45 minutes later, at the bottom of the Cloudland Trail, where there was a parking area, the thermometer was at 86. Most of the trail is in the shade, so it wasn’t too hot. However, my stamina decreases dramatically in proportion to the temperature going up! (I wilt like cut flowers!) I would love to be able to spend the day at Roan when its in the high 60s or low 70s! That’s just the perfect weather no matter where you are, in my opinion!
The Cloudland Trail experience is in a tie for first on my list of the most amazing things I have ever personally experienced. (It’s tied with the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights, which I had the pleasure of seeing with my own eyeballs as a little girl!)
So, what’s the most amazing thing you’ve ever experienced? I’d love to know!
~Amy
allthemorningsstilltolive 