Little Hump and Big Hump

Sherri, Lisa, Mike and I

This hike is one of the best in North Carolina. But aren’t they all! It’s pretty strenuous but the beauty and the views sure make up for it.

We started from the Little Hump trailhead off Highway 19 on Roaring Creek Rd. From the parking lot there were two ways up. One toward the shelter and one up along the Overmountain National Historic Trail, which followed roaring creek for a while. We took the second one. It was all uphill. We followed it uphill until it intersected with the Appalachian Trail. We took a right on the AT and continued our uphill climb.

In no time we started seeing awesome views. We could see the old Overmountain Shelter. They have built a new one on another trail. That trail is at the AT intersection but we did not attempt it. Also the trail straight would go to Yellow Mountain but we didn’t do that either.

It just kept climbing up, up and up. There were some great view spots.

We kept climbing. This trail keeps going until you make a left turn and your at the base of Little Hump. At this point it does not look very steep but it is! When the bald comes into view it’s just magical.

Balds are great for hiking. Sherri and I love them. The Roan Highlands balds are 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains and cities and towns are barely visible. Definitely a plus!

It was just beautiful at the top. The clouds were really putting on a show. We had a snack here then hit the trail to Big Bald. Mike wanted to stay here and enjoy the views. I can’t blame him it was a great spot.

The trail heads through the woods and starts heading down and away from Big Bald. What??? Then it makes a left toward it but keeps going down. It went through a Forest full of white wildflowers.

It comes out at the base of Big Bald. From here it really looks massive! I text Mike and told him we were heading up and he took this pic of us.

We kept hiking up. We finally made it to a fence. No idea why this fence was there. It didn’t seam to serve a purpose. It looked like people climbed over it until someone knocked down the top rail. Lisa stopped to eat at the fence and said she was done going up. 😂😂 I climbed over it and went up a bit.

Im not sure how much higher to the top, it was very deceiving. We contemplated climbing more. This was a good time to eat our lunch. While we were snacking we met a thru hiker. It’s always interesting to meet thru hikers. We have seen at least 5 on the trail.

It was pretty cold because and windy up there. The views from these balds were amazing. From here it was easy to see Grandfather Mountain and all the way to Table Rock on one side and all the Roan Balds on the other.

For the most part the 4.something mile walk back was all downhill except from the base of Big Hump to the top of Little Hump. It turned into a 9 mile day and about 2030 ft of elevation gain!

I had seen a hiking friend do this hike and it was on our list. It was beautiful and grueling. I just wonder if I will ever like hiking up hill? Well I do love it, especially when it’s over and I get to the views!