Hump Mountain, Big Bald, Pig Pen Bluff, and Green Knob: May 20th-22nd 2023

Hump Mountain, May 20th

A delightfully humorous name for these two peaks, which helped me finish off the Roan Range, which if I ever make my way back down south you bet I'm gonna make an effort to traverse, because man these are the best Balds in the entire region imo (at least, that I've done so far). The AT from Roaring Creek Road is nice, and the road itself is doable in a sedan, carefully. Fantastic views, lots of people since it was a weekend

View of Grassy Ridge Bald at the start of the Bald
Trail leading toward the summit
Little Hump Mountain
Summit from col area
Summit marker
Hump Mountain

Big Bald, May 21st

I started from Riverside elementary school on a Sunday and had no problems parking - you're well out of the line of sight of the highway, so if you just leave a note saying you're biking or something (like I did), then you'll be fine. ATV tracks toward the mountain and then the start of a bushwhack. At around 3400ft I found an ATV path and followed it up the ridge till about 3700ft, and then it abruptly ended, so back to bushwhacking. I'm not liking bushwhacking by this point in the season, and I would recommend doing this during stick season, but it is still doable in the summer months. Unfortunately for me, I left my phone behind at a rest at 4600ft and didn't realize it until the summit. Ugh, whatever, the flag made it up and that's what matters

ATV path/road
Typical section of the bushwhack along the ridge
BIG Bald (that's what BIG BALD wants you to think)

Pig Pen Bluff: May 22nd

For Pig Pen Bluff, I approached from the south after parking at the cemetary. This is all private property, so please contact me directly if you wanna find the route I took up

Pig Pen Bluff

Green Knob: May 22nd

For Green Knob, I started on the AT from 352 expecting a five mile or so hike. It was closer to nine miles. Not because things were poorly mapped or anything - I just didn't bother to check the distance, which normally wouldn't have mattered if I didn't start at 17:00. Well, anyway, the AT is pretty solid, as always, and there is a sign for Green Knob Trail at the ridge, and the path is blazed, but there's nothing resembling a "trail", just a corridor. Weird, cause the blaze was pretty fresh. Whatever, summit doesn't have any views but it was still a delightful hike

Theoretical trail
Green Knob