It was of so difficult a character that Shelby afterwards described it as "the worst route ever followed by an army of horsemen." [Footnote: Shelby MS.] That afternoon they partly descended the east side of the range, camping in Elk Hollow, near Roaring Run.

The following day they went down through the ravines and across the spurs by a stony and precipitous path, in the midst of magnificent scenery, and camped at the mouth of Grassy Creek.

On the 29th they crossed the Blue Ridge at Gillespie's Gap, and saw afar off, in the mountain coves and rich valleys of the upper Catawba, the advanced settlements of the Carolina pioneers,--for hitherto they had gone through an uninhabited waste.

The mountaineers, fresh from their bleak and rugged hills, gazed with delight on the soft and fertile beauty of the landscape.

That night they camped on the North Fork of the Catawba, and next day they went down the river to Quaker Meadows, McDowell's home.
At this point they were joined by three hundred and fifty North Carolina militia from the counties of Wilkes and Surrey, who were creeping along through the woods hoping to fall in with some party going to harass the enemy.