334 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
Roan and the Big Yellow, the most famous balds In 
the region, perhaps in all the mountains. The coves 
and valleys at the foot of the Roan are thickly 
settled, and a road crosses over the summit of the 
mountain connecting the hotel there not only with 
the new railroad to the south, but with another rail- 
road to the north that originally came in from the 
west for the use of the iron company at Cranberry, 
and now crosses the Blue Ridge, so that the northern 
part of the mountains within a few years has be- 
come almost as accessible as the regions about 
Asheville. 
The ascent of the Roan from either side Is delight- 
ful. From Bakersville the road leads up the pictur- 
esque Rock Creek Valley that lies squeezed between 
the Pumpkin-Patch Mountain on the south and the 
slopes of the big Roan on the north. The Roan, 
standing boldly out In the landscape, is remarkable 
as being without trees excepting in the ravines and a 
narrow belt of firs towards the top. For this reason 
It Is a mountain of pastures, as are Grassy Ridge 
Bald and the Big Yellow Mountain connecting with 
it towards the east. Near the top of Roan, which is 
over sixty-three hundred feet high. Is Cloudland 
Hotel where one dines in North Carolina and sleeps 
in Tennessee, the hotel being cut in two by the state 
line. 
Roan Mountain has long been famous for two 
things, the circular rainbow sometimes seen from the 
summit, and the variety of wild flowers that grow on 
its slopes, it being reported that more species are 
