May 13 mile 372

Hooray! I woke this morning and my leg felt much better. So we are off again and what a tough day it was! Today we are climbing Roan Mtn near a state park. You can actually drive up here, which is always weird to see. We decided to make a simple day of it- hiking only about 9 miles, including getting back on the trail from the hostel. Don't want to overdo it again. Roan Mtn is pretty special, so we want to take our time there . The first few miles were fine.
But then the climbing begins- you have to climb 2200 feet in elevation in about 3 miles. And it is straight up !! It was about the hardest hiking I have done so far . I thought " this is going to be the end of my short recovery", but it all worked out ok and no new or old problems surfaced. Finally got up to about 6200 feet at the top and it is very nice here. It's all pretty much a spruce forest with all the Christmas trees and the wonderful aroma. On the way up all the ground cover was grass, and not the flowers or scrubby undergrowth you normally see. One the sights at the top is the area where a fancy late 1800 s hotel used to be. You could stay there for $30 a month! What a deal! Wish it was still here. Went to a shelter to stay that was once a small home for a caretaker up here. It was pretty nasty, so we tent camped under all these beautiful spruce trees. Built a fire and ate mashed potatoes, salmon, hot chocolate, poptarts, and the hiker's favorite- a snickers bar. It was delightful evening and at the elevation very cool.