Date: 2009-04-06
From: Green Corner Road (Standing Bear Farm Hostel, TN)

To: Roaring Fork Shelter, NC/TN 
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: light rain

Cell noneOG notesWe woke up this morning and hurried to get out on the trail. We climbed out of Green Corners Road and continued to climb all day. The weather was oaky in the morning but turned bad about noon when we stopped for lunch. By that time it was starting to rain slush. We stoped at the Groundhog Creek Shelter for lunch. We had just started to eat when a high school group from Cincinatti came in; there were 30 of them and 2 of us. We hurried through lunch and left.The weather went worse from there, the slush became more intense and started to sting when it hit us. Also, as we hiked the wind kept getting more intense and we were getting cold from it.The highlight of today was going over a bald mountain named Max Patch. A bald is a grassy top mountain that is left that way by mowing, or small fires to keep it bare. Well, our adventure over Max Patch was very intense. The trail leading to the top leads you up some steps until you reach the bare top. C6 was in the lead and I was a few feet behind. When I reached the bare top the wind was blowing probably at about 50 mph. The first thing I saw was C6 holding on the the 4x4 post with the trail blaze painted on it. When she got to the bare top she was nearly blown away. We both walked the trail that was marked off by 4X4 posts. It was very windy and cold, but the worst part was the icy slush that was hitting our faces and stinging us.Well we survived Max Patch and continued on the the shelter. This shelter is made fom logs, like a log cabin. The problem with it is the logs have gaps in them and the snow and wind will blow through. Two people put the rain fly to their tent over the opening, but the wind still went through. We decided that we would probably be warmer if we slept in our tent, so here we are in our tent.Oh by the way, did I mention that the sleet is the beginning of a storm that is supposed to bring 8 to 12 inches of snow tonight, we'll see what happens. That's it for now. C6 notesOG's notes cover the day quite well. It was an intense day with the weather and Max Bald. He tells me that what we experienced going over Max Bald was quite like Mt Washington can be (in VT). I know what to expect! I had to walk crouche over with my head into the wind to be able to go over the bald without being blown off. That first gust was intense...I could only hold onto the pole for a couple minutes until the huge gust slowed down.Not sure what to expect tonight, but it seems best to be in the tent.   It doesn't seem as if the tents that they tied up acros the opening of the shelter will provide much relief from the wind. I was feezing as OG cooked our supper in the shelter behind the temporary cover.One good thing....we had heard there used to be bear problems at this shelter. The club that takes care of this part of the AT has put up new bear cables, so we don't have to find a tree to to hang our food. I hoped we woud have some snow during our hike since OG had some on his 2006 hike. We only have a little right now. We'll see what tonight brings.Old Goat & Check Six