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Appalachian Trail:
Iron Mountain Gap, TN/NC to Carver's Gap, TN/NC
(Trail South to North)
Iron Mountain Gap
Road crossing TN107 and NC226. Small parking area along
roadside.
Weedy Gap
Water sources on the east and west sides
of the Trail. Apple orchard nearby.
Clyde
Smith Shelter
Clyde Smith Shelter
(4400') is a wooden shelter built in 1977 by the Forest Service
and renovated in 2002 by TEHCC and Hard Core.
The shelter resides 200 yards west of the
Trail on a blue blaze. Sleeps 6.
Water is available 300 yards from shelter.
The shelter is named after Clyde Smith, who is well-known along
the Trail for his hand-made signs.
Little Rock Knob
Knob (4918') between Clyde Smith Shelter and Hughes
Gap. Great views to the north from a rock outcropping near
the summit along the Trail.
Hughes Gap
First road crossing south of Roan Mountain on the
Trail. Accessed from Roan Mountain, TN via Cove Creek Road
and from Buladean, NC on state route 1330. Overnight
parking is not advised here.
Roan High Bluff Side Trail
Side trail to Roan High Bluff (6267') at the Cloudland Hotel
site. Roan High Bluff is one of the peaks in the South Beyond
6000 milestone.
Cloudland Hotel Site
After ascending Roan
Mountain
from Ash & Hughes Gaps, the trail passes by the site of the old
Cloudland Hotel.
The hotel straddled the state line
and was considered a premier resort destination for the wealthy
to relax atop the mountain in the late 1800's & early 1900's.
The site is now an open area that has
magnificent views to the east of the North Carolina mountains.
Roan
High Knob Shelter
Roan High Knob Shelter (6285')
is the highest shelter on the
entire Appalachian Trail.
Renovated as a shelter in 1980, it
is a converted fire warden cabin when the Roan High Knob Fire
Tower was in use.
Fully enclosed; double platform.
Sleeps 15. Unreliable water
available 50 yards from shelter on blue-blazed trail.
Foundations of the fire tower can
be found in front of the shelter.
The geographic marker for the
summit of Roan High Knob can be found on the large rock cropping
in the immediate area, which is part of the South Beyond 6000
milestone.
Carvers Gap
Carvers Gap (5512') is located between
Roan Mountain and Round Bald. It can be accessed from Roan
Mountain, TN via TN143 or from Bakersville, NC via NC261.
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