Carvers Gap is the low point in the crest of Roan Mountain, where TN-143 meets the North Carolina line and the Appalachian Trail crosses on its way along the Roan Highlands. Roan High Knob, a little over 6,200 feet, is the high point, and the Cherokee and Pisgah national forests meet on top. Grassy Ridge, about seven miles long, is described as the longest stretch of grassy bald in the Appalachians. The Cherokee National Forest takes its name from the Cherokee (Tsalagi), whose country this was.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy describes the walk from the gap to Round Bald as 2.6 miles round trip, with open balds, spruce-fir forest and black rock dikes about 740 million years old cutting through gneiss 1.1 billion years old, the oldest rocks on the trail. The balds are fragile, so stay on the path. The mountain drew botanists early. André Michaux climbed it on August 21, 1794, and Asa Gray came in 1840.
John T. Wilder built a lodge on the ridge in 1877, and the Cloudland Hotel was finished in 1885. It was abandoned by 1910. John Muir wrote from it on September 25, 1898 that the rhododendron on the ridge "must make a glorious show" in flower. The Catawba rhododendron usually blooms in mid to late June. Below on the Tennessee side, Roan Mountain State Park holds a preserved farmstead settled in 1870.
The closest stops worth working into your route
Roadside plaques and monuments within a short detour