I was on my second day of a five-day blitz of state highpoints in the southeast. I had flown in to Atlanta early yesterday and had success on two state highpoints: Brasstown Bald in Georgia and Sassafras Mountain in South Carolina. The day had been humid but pleasant – that is, until I wormed my way toward Asheville, North Carolina. There, the storms were very fierce and the sky was ominously black, and it was still daytime, for heaven’s sake. Foolishly, I tried to visit Mount Mitchell, the North Carolina state highpoint, but after encountering extremely dense fog while on the Blue ridge Parkway, I turned around and retreated into Asheville. The plan was to try again the following morning, so it made sense for me to find a place to stay in town.

That night and into the next morning, it rained and poured and generally was just miserable. When morning broke, the clouds were still in abundance and there seemed to be no let-up to the action. Even from my hotel I could see the clouds billowing over the mountain range above me. I can’t imagine how awful it was up there at the moment, and that was my destination. Well, no it wasn’t, at least for a few days. After watching the Weather Channel, it seemed the storms were concentrated in this part of the country, while up north it seemed less intense. So I decided to roll the dice and venture north toward Virginia now, instead of waiting until the end of my trip, as was my original plan.

The drive from Asheville to the Mount Rogers area took me a couple hours, partly since I took a slightly circuitous route to avoid some real nasty cells. Along the way I came across trees down in the road, boatloads of tree limbs and leaves, and some damage, but nothing widespread like a tornado might cause. When I rolled into the parking area for Mount Rogers, it was a bit after noon and still gloomy, but not nearly as insane as it was down in Asheville. I parked and got my pack in order, including my parka. From where I was parked, the one-way distance to the summit was about 4.5 miles, much of it along the Appalachian Trail.

The initial portion of the hike went through some very pretty grassy meadows and woodlands, with numerous tame horses just standing around, some even amenable to a pet on the snout. Shortly, the side trail I was on met up with the Appalachian Trail, and I was on my way. There were a few hikers out and about today. Most of them were like me, having parked at the nearby parking lot for a dayhike. A few were through-hikers, looking like they’d been out on the trail for weeks. The actual hike was mostly level, with easy gradients up and down. In a few places the trail passed by some interesting rock formations. Overall, despite the grayness, it was very lovely.

Later on I caught up to a girl hiking with her dogs. Her name was Paige and she was real sweet, doing a three-day loop back-pack in the immediate region. We hiked for about a mile together, coming to a trail junction and a couple of lean-to shelters, where a number of other hikers had stopped and congregated. This was the junction for the spur trail to Mount Rogers’ summit. And it seemed no one else was interested! I went off on my own, hiking the remaining mile or so up more easy grades toward the forested summit. In about 20 minutes I was on top, seeking out the highest point amid various rock piles and underbrush. I was able to get a self-portrait with my camera’s timer, and I stuck around for a few minutes, but soon, started my way back down.

The hike back out went quickly and the weather even improved, now becoming a mix of sun and puffy clouds. I was back to my car around 5 or so, and despite it still being humid and mildly gloomy, it had not rained once during the hike. My gamble had paid off. This hike was very pretty and I enjoyed every minute of it.

From here I worked my way west to visit the Kentucky state highpoint before the sun set.