Date: 2014-04-05
From: Standing Bear Farm Hostel

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was a great day to be a thru-hiker on the Appalachian Trail! Not only was it my 23rd birthday (shared by my awesome twister Stefanie - happy birthday sis!), the weather was outstanding and we had some excellent trail magic at the top of the last big climb for the day! We started out from Standing Bear Farm fairly early - it was slightly cloudy in the morning but quickly heated up and became sunny. Overall on the day we had to gain about 2500 feet to get up to Max Patch - an oddity on the trail that I will explain later.Through the ups and downs, we ran into Gandalf and Kamikaze eating lunch in a gap, so we sat down and had our lunch with both of them and Thomas and Silvia as well (couple from Switzerland). After lunch, we still had some tough climbs ahead of us but we pushed on the reach Max Patch. Max Patch is the first true bald that we have encountered on the trail - there is no tree cover on the top of it and it is mostly a grassy field all over it. Tons of people were up at the top because it was such a nice day outside.Being on Max Patch today was part of the reason I am a thru-hiker! While we were climbing to the top, Jan and Larry Unger from our hometown met us at the top and visited with us for a while. I knew they were trying to get to us since they were visiting the area, but I did not know until a couple of minutes before if they were actually going to make it! It was great to visit with some friends from home and they brought a little trail magic with them in the form of sweets.There was also a great source of trail magic at the top of Max Patch! Blue Deer (from Tellico Gap) and a couple of his friends brought up large amounts of food and drink to serve to thru-hikers coming through. They had most anything you could think of - hot dogs, Pop Tarts, Little Debbies, chips, beer, Gatorade, etc. The trail magic was so great that many of the thru-hikers were lounging around at the top, chilling out and enjoying everything. Dogs were running around, a Frisbee was being tossed, the sun was shining, and we even got another Euchre game going! Kamikaze and I still lost to Peppa and Sole Power, but everything was so good up there it didn't even matter! If you are hiking, not much compares to being a thru-hiker. The bonds and fellowship that you form with other thru-hikers is incredible, most everyone is friendly on the trail, and it always great to see familiar faces when you end the day at the next shelter or town. Although you may encounter some rough terrain and conditions on the trail, being with other thru-hikers (and trail magic) makes everything turn for the better. Blue Deer is looking to hike 110 miles from Highway 19E in Roan, TN in six days starting April 17th. Blue Deer, if you are reading this we will be leaving Roan on April 16th but we are stopping for a resupply in Hampton, TN as well - so I am sure we will see you along that stretch somewhere!We left Max Patch and went to the Roaring Fork Shelter. We set up the hammocks and enjoyed the evening. The trail magic at Max Patch refreshed and rejuvenated us for the upcoming days - so we will keep hiking on!