Roan Highlands Backpacking

OVERVIEW

What: Hi everyone, what better way to spend a long weekend than venturing to the mountains of Tennessee! This backpacking trip will take us along a 28 mile section of the Appalachian trail, and cross through a long section of wide, open, rolling hills letting you see far, far away! Here are some pictures from the trail that I stole from google:

http://ih1.redbubble.net/image.10113625.3321/flat,550×550,075,f.jpg
http://internetbrothers.org/images/roanhighlands_grassyridgebald_1920.jpg

Hopefully that will get everyone jazzed!

How: Leave from Echol’s at 5 pm and drive ~5 hours to Tennessee. Arrive at Mountain Harbour Hostel at night. While the hostel does offer cots at $25 dollars a night, they also offer sites where we can put up tents for $10 +$5 a person, which is reimbursable by the club. In the morning, we will arrange to have a hostel shuttle take us to the Iron Mountain Gap trailhead, which will be our starting point.

We will spend all Saturday on the trail, and hike about 12 miles. Saturday night we will cook our dinner on the trail and tuck in for a relaxing night in the woods. Sunday we will scamper along another 12 miles or so, and enjoy another night on the trail. This pace should let us break a good sweat each day, but still leave some time for putzing. Monday morning we’ll pack up and finish the rest of our hike, making it down to our car around noon and packing up to get back into town early evening.

Who: This trip is suitable for those who have done overnight backpacking or camping trips and want to get out for a few days. It’s a lot for someone totally new to hiking to do, and I don’t want to set anyone up for a bad time. If this sounds like a fun trip but you aren’t sure it’s a good fit for you, email me and we can figure it out.

I can take 3 more people because that’s how many we can fit in my car with gear. If we get another driver, we can take up to 6 total because that’s how many will fit in the shuttle.

Gear:
Personal gear that the club can provide on request:
Sleeping bag
Sleeping pad
Headlamp
Backpack

***YOU are responsible for requesting the above gear from the club if needed

Personal gear you bring:
Good hiking shoes + socks
Non-cotton pants/shorts, shirt for hiking
Rain jacket
Extra long sleeved shirt for night
Bug spray, sunscreen, lip balm, toilet paper (if you’re into that)
Stuff to eat with, a small bowl, + insulated mug if you like hot drinks
Snacks!!!
Enough bottles to carry at least 2L of water

Club provides: Tent, stove, fuel

***I will check out tents + stoves as needed based on our group size

Expenses: Your fee covers the cost of the shuttle (flat rate per group) and Saturday lunch, dinner, Sunday Breakfast lunch dinner, Monday breakfast. The $40 fee is a high estimate, and can drop if there are more participants to split the shuttle cost.

The club will cover the hostel tent site fee, and PROBABLY up to $150 of gas per car. I’ve estimated gas to be $80 for a compact car, and that’s after rounding up liberally. We should be set, but to my understanding the reimbursement rate for gas has not been officially set this year.

You cover trail munchies, although I figure we’ll just share. Also cover any food we get whilst driving.

That should just about cover it… should be fun!