Roan Mountain // Oct 2023 · Troop 13 Home

Roan Mountain // Oct 2023

Advanced backpacking along the Appalachian Trail

ELECTRONICS REMINDER 📱🕹️

One of the great benefits of heading out on any of our trips is that we’re able to unplug from our digital world for a few days. Electronics are allowed while traveling to our destinations, but we have a longstanding rule that

Scouts are not allowed to use electronics while on our trips (i.e. if brought they’ll be left in vehicles and not used during the trip).

SUMMARY 🔴

WHAT: 2 night backpacking trip to Roan Mountain.

RSVP: CLOSED

Open to Scouts who have been on at least 2 backpacking trips with Troop 13 and are prepared for the physical challenge of a multi-day hike.

Max 10 people (7-8 Scouts with 2-3 Adults).

DEPART: 6:30AM on 13 Oct from

Publix parking lot⁠

(5 hour drive)

RETURN: Afternoon of 15 Oct to

Publix parking lot⁠

⁠

DISTANCE/ELEVATION: ~14 miles, 2,897 ft ascent, 5,518 ft descent

MEALS:

Fri Oct 13: money for breakfast on the road, lunch, dinner

Sat Oct 14: breakfast, lunch, dinner

Sun Oct 15: breakfast, money for lunch on the road

COST: $53 for Scouts, $20 for Adults ($33 discount for Scouts using OWNFOOD-ROAN if you need to bring your own food for dietary reasons)

PACKING LIST:

Backpacking Packing List⁠

⁠

ITINERARY

We will leave from Franklin (the

Publix on Royal Oaks⁠

) on Friday morning and drive the Carvers Gap trailhead and hit the trail, hiking to Overmountain Gap Shelter. Saturday we’ll continue hiking on to Dolls Flat. Sunday we’ll have a short hike out to the Mountain Harbour Bed and Breakfast, where we’ll enjoy a good meal at their restaurant before heading back to Franklin.

⚠️ This is a strenuous trek - take note of the elevation changes. Nearly 3000 feet of ascent (comparable to the Mt Baldy ascent at Philmont), and over a mile of descent (almost twice the Mt Baldy descent at Philmont!). If it’s been a while since you’ve been backpacking, this is not the trip to ease back into things with.

We have some details to iron out with shuttling vehicles between the start and end points. Mountain Harbour runs a shuttle service, or we might shuttle 2 vehicles ourselves. Details will be confirmed after signups have closed - additional cost possible if we use the shuttle service (likely less than $20).

The Roan Mountain area is unique in eastern TN as it’s known for the “

balds⁠

” - mountains that do not have typical tree cover, allowing for some amazing views (and potentially blustery weather). We’ll also get to add some miles on the Appalachian Trail to our hiking journals (and see some of their shelters).

Once the roster is finalized, Scouts will choose their leadership roles for this trek based on how we backpack at Philmont: Crew leader, Chaplains aide, and Wilderness Guia, as well as cooks.

MEALS

The

🥘Backcountry Cookbook⁠

has trail tested recipes ready to go. See

🍽️Menu Ideas⁠

for additional inspiration.

Friday

Bring money for breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Saturday

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Sunday

Breakfast

Bring money for lunch

💰 Cooking Budget:

Caleb: $64 (4 people, breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Calvin: $64 (4 people, breakfast, lunch, dinner)

MAPS & ELEVATION

GaiaGPS Route Overview

⁠

This embedded link can't be shown.

⁠

Elevation Profile: Saturday

TBD

Elevation Profile: Saturday

TBD

Elevation Profile: Sunday

TBD

WHO IS COMING

RSVP list current as of 10:00AM Oct 1.

Scouts

Caleb Penner

Calvin Wall

Elijah Wall

Garrett Penner (own food)

Jonathan Weller (own food)

Micah Casey

Adults

Charlie Penner (drive 5)

Chris Wall (drive 8)

Steve Casey (drive 8)