Date: 2004-05-16
From: Standing Bear Farm

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: scattered clouds

It was another gray day as the comforts of Standing Bear faded from view up the road behind me. Yes, I did stop and turn to take one last look. What a cool place. The trail emerged from the woods and a creek crossing on the right. This was a bit confusing to me due to the ride from the man and his son yesterday. It seems that the trail paralleled the road from where they picked me up for about a half mile to here where it crossed the road. Oops. So do I hike back down the road and walk the trail. Oh, that¢s just silly. It was a mistake. Listen to me rationalize. I guess I¢m not a purest. Hike your own hike, right. Following the trail would have been less confusing too because though there was no sign to Standing Bear Farm, there was a rock in the trail just before it hit the road. It was painted with cool symbols in Native American fashion. It would have told me how to get there.In the next 5 miles the trail climbed about 2,400 feet to Snowbird Mountain. It wasn¢t steep but it was up. Adam had some communications to catch up with and got a later start. Yesterday, from the Mt Cammerer Firetower he had pointed out a strange white thing on another mountain. Well, here it was. It looked like a space capsule with its white cylinder atop an equally white inverted cone. The trail was cutting through the tall brown grasses of a cleared summit cone. This thing wasn¢t far off the trail. It was enclosed by a chain link fence with a bold sign that read, ¢This facility is used in FAA air traffic control. Loss of human life may result from service interruption. Any person who interferes with air traffic control or damages or trespasses on this property will be prosecuted under federal law.¢ Well, I suppose I¢ll keep my distance. That was interesting.A couple of miles further it was time for lunch. Conveniently, Groundhog Creek Shelter in Deep Gap was just two tenths of a mile off the trail down to the right. D©j vu, hadn¢t the trail already been to Deep Gap. There must be a shortage of names. Low Gap was pretty prevalent too. This was a stone shelter with a rickety roof and a strange bicycle wheel contraption on it. There¢s no telling what that was all about. On the way to the water the privy caught my eye. It included a bit of creativity too. Many pit type privies have a vent pipe that goes from the pit to above the roof to help minimize the stink. This privy had its vent. In fact it had two. They were made of 10 inch diameter corrugated black plastic flexible culvert pipe. They came up from either side of the bottom of the back of the privy and curled up over the roof to the front. They resembled tentacles or antennae on some bizarre space creature in a cheep British sci-fi flick. It was hilarious. Sadly my camera was back in the shelter.Back in the shelter, while eating it began to rain. What great timing. I really hadn¢t gotten wet yet after nearly two weeks on the trail. This seemed like a good time to check out the shelter journal. That age ole question loomed over me. If it keeps raining do I keep hiking? Of course, it was way too early to stop. Heading up to the AT from the shelter the rain stopped. That¢s what the threat of rain gear can do.There was a group of 3 or 4 just 50 feet south of the shelter side trail sign.They were self absorbed in some confusion or argument. They hadn¢t noticed me and so that¢s how it would stay. About six and a half miles further the trail broke out onto the grassy slopes of a big bald. This had to be Max Patch. There was a network of trails, paths and parking lots here with signs pointing to all sorts of places. An elderly couple was coming down toward me. Mistaking me for someone who knew the area they asked if they could get back to the parking lot this way. The sky looked ominous and I really didn¢t know but told them there was a sign not far below that had mentioned a parking lot. Certainly they found there way but it is always disconcerting when local hikers ask thru-hikers for local information. My typical response is, I¢m just following the white blazes. Many of them don¢t get it though. Hopefully they don't think we're just being rude.Max Patch was another of Adam¢s favorite places. No one could blame him. Hopefully he would show up soon. There was absolutely nothing on this big, round, grassy summit except for the occasional post marking the well worn trail rutted in the grass. There were no rocks or trees anywhere. This was a great place for lunch despite the wind and lack of sun. Hanging out for a while, waiting for Adam, it was hard not to notice the impending doom on the horizon. There were dark clouds shrouding distant mountains like a streaky water color painting. Though water colors never flashed like that. Hmmm, lightning, that¢s scary. This was no place to be in a thunder storm. It was best to keep a close eye on that storm, after all it was just a ridge away. It was getting chili and there were still many mile to cover so it was time to go. In a dried up mud puddle I etched a short message to Adam and headed down the long grassy slope back into the woods with a bit of regret.The trail was nice here and the leaves were finally out. It crested a rise amidst a cluster of rocks that reminded me of home. This was one of those rare occasions that my pack came off while snacking and just hanging out on the rocks. Adam still didn¢t catch up. The thought of him crossing Max Patch in a storm haunted me. The trail took a long gentle descent through giant hardwoods with big spaces between them. The forest floor was carpeted with low lush vegetation at about knee height. It was beautiful and pastoral. This 18.5 mile day finished up at Roaring Fork Shelter. It was probably 8pm but there were no regrets about time spent hanging in gorgeous places. Adam was not far behind. There was a group of middle aged or older guys here, maybe 3 of them. They had moved in a while ago but made plenty of room for us. We all had a good time talking. They were just out for a few days. Adam and I had a good time trying to pitch a bear string over a branch in the waning twilight. It was full dark by the time I went for the water. That made finding the water an exercise in audio navigation. Using the Steri-Pen with it's strange blue glow was always fun in the dark. The end had come to another fine day on the trail of 18.5 miles.