Date: 2016-03-21
From: Standing Bear Farm

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 20.3
Weather: clear sky

This morning as I woke up I could hear a strange repetitive sound, muffled, but it sounded like an alarm clock, but too infrequent. I finally took out my earplugs and realized it was a rooster. A freakin rooster woke me up. Welcome to Standing Bear. I got my things together a little bit and went into the hostel's resupply room. I had been warned to check the expiration date. I pulled off two tuna packets off a shelf and checked. Yup. Expired in 2014... Fortunately there were fresh ones behind it but like still... You can't legally sell that to people. I picked up a pop tart and a few energy bars for breakfast and some Spam for later in the day. I didn't need much, as I had an extra dinner and would be hitting Hot Springs in two days. During my breakfast one of the work-for-stay workers brought in clementines and bananas and Elk jerky for us; it was a lovely gesture. Butter was there, as were a few other thru hikers I hadn't met yet. It was finally time to head out and settle up. As Lumpy tallied what I owed, he did not recall that I had had a ride to Asheville. I toyed with not reminding him for a moment before just telling him. He looked worried that he had forgotten and in his homely way said that my honesty was "Both rare and refreshing." I thought best not to abuse the trust of decent people. As the day went on and I thought more about the expired food I felt less and less sympathetic. Lumpy did knock a few dollars off the price of my stay, either because I was honest, or I was already paying a great deal for the rides into Asheville. I headed out and began the long ascent up Snowbird Mountain. I had heard that the smokies got quite a bit of snow last night, but it was something entirely more impressive to see the huge bulk of the mountains capped in white and wrapped in storm clouds behind me. The hike took quite a while and the snow slowly went from a little on the ground to hanging off the trees to three inches deep on the trail. The bald summit of Snowbird was a sight, the posts with blazes on them covered in rime ice and pockets of wind blown snow six inches deep, the wind pushing pretty solidly. The trail wound down and around a few peaks before beginning an assault on Max Patch, one of the absolute highlights of the Southern AT, the first real full bald with panoramic views for miles. I passed the troop of morose Boy Scouts who had been at Standing Bear when I arrived two nights ago. And soon enough, the trees vanished and all that was left was short grass and a trail leading up the side of a huge hill. Some blessed soul left bottles of mountain dew and Pepsi next to the first post (how they blaze the trail over the balds). I heard from a hiker later that the Boy Scouts took about two each and wiped out the rest of the supply that is clearly intended for thru hikers. The bald on Max Patch is amazing. It took about ten minutes to climb from the start of no trees to the top, that's how big it is. It had astounding views of the smokies, down to the plains to the northeast, the mountains of North Carolina and the peaks I'll be heading over in the next week, including (I think) Roan high knob and Unaka. There were numerous day hikers even in the crazy conditions (it was a bluebird day, just frigid and the ground was snowy). A few took my picture for me and asked me about my hike. I stood for a while alone at the summit and could have happily stayed longer, but I was getting cold. The AT had dug out a trough in the ground over the bald and the way the wind had worked had filled it six inches in snow, so I stood on the outside of the trough and walked down the bald. Right at the reentrance to the trees, I found Brit and Slug, two hikers I hadn't seen since Fontana whom I enjoy very much. Brit is, well, British and just around my age, and Slug is an excitable and lovably foul-mouthed 55-year old man. They had started at Groundhog Creek shelter, 7 miles into my day. Slug had many choice words for the Boy Scouts and their leader, who had apparently let them just throw trash everywhere. These choice words included "dumbfucks" and "sad-sacks." He's a fun guy. The next miles were gorgeous, nearly flat and roving around creeks and streams through rhododendron tunnels. I sped over them, now wanting to go one shelter further along because 1) I like slug and Brit and that's where they were headed 2) i passed my first shelter option at 3 o'clock and 3) the Boy Scouts were staying at my first shelter option. After one final push up Walnut Mountain, the shelter was there. It's quite small but comfortable, and conveniently right on the trail. I was the first to arrive. Brit came spin after, while Slug stuck around on the peak to take artsy photos. Soon, Ken showed up, an older hiker also from Standing Bear, as did Clean Skittle (who accidentally left a bag of skittles in his pants in the laundry) and Bolt. We had a lovely time at dinner, lots of fun. Lots of laughs. It started getting really cold. This is probably going to be the coldest night yet for me. Brit has Jerry-rigged his tarp across the shelter entrance to keep the warmth in. I'm wearing all my clothes essentially. But I'll survive. Tomorrow into Hot Springs!