Roan Highlands Appalachian Trail Adventure

Roan Highlands Adventure

November 12-14, 2021

FREE! (Normally $249.00 per person)

Your registration includes a guided 3-day, 2-night wilderness expedition, with devotionals in the morning and evening. Since this is a FREE hike, your registration does not include meals, transportation, or the shuttle between trail heads.

 This hike is rated moderate to strenuous

THE MISSION:

We’ll leave Huntsville at 5:00 AM on Friday morning, stopping in Chattanooga for breakfast on the way. We’ll arrive at Mountain Harbour in Roan Mountain, TN about 12:00 noon. (ET) A shuttle will take us up to Carver’s Gap.

Day One: Carvers Gap to the Overmountain Shelter (5 miles)

We’ll ascend over a number of open highland ridges, including Round Bald and Jane Bald, then summit Grassy Ridge (5,770’), a great spot for photos if the weather is clear. It has some of the best views you will ever experience with 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains! We’ll descend through Low Gap and Buckeye Gap, finishing at Yellow Mountain Gap (4,682’) at the OverMountain shelter area where we’ll camp overnight.

Day Two: Overmountain Shelter to Doll Flats (7 miles)

This will be an awesome day, with some ridiculous highs and lows…literally! We’ll start with a crazy uphill section called “The Incline”, as we begin the ascent over Little Hump Mountain (5,459’).  Then we descend below 5,000 feet at Bradley Gap where there’s a good water source in the saddle between the two mountains. We immediately begin a long, long ascent to the summit of Hump Mountain. (5,587’) Then we’ll slowly descend and begin to leave the highlands. After a long, circuitous descent, the trail opens up into the Doll Flats (4.560’) where we’ll make camp.

Day Three: Doll Flats to Roan Mountain, TN – Hwy 19E (2 miles)

We finish our trip with a 1,600-foot drop starting with a rocky overlook of the Elk river valley. There’s a steep, treacherous descent for several miles, then it finally flattens out for the last mile. After passing a 120- year old iron mine, we exit the woods at US19E near the town of Roan Mountain and return to our vehicles at Mountain Harbour. We’ll shower there, change clothes, then stop for dinner on the way home.

We’ll arrive back in Huntsville between 8:00-10:00 PM Sunday.