Date: 2006-03-31
From: Painter Branch Campsite

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 18.0

Painter Branch to Walnut Mountain Shelter. 18 Miles. 35 pieces of trash. Right outside of Groundhog Creek Shelter I found a beer bottle and 3 cans. Made me sick. 2 more cans and a plastic bottle before the day was through. Packed them all out.Somewhere on Harmon Den Mountain, I came across an interesting gulley of which I took notice. Lying amidst two hills. Speckled leaves of mustard and brown everywhere, dotted and striped by moss covered roots and falling logs beginning to rot. Under sunlight, the moss would have probably appeared supernatural, but the sun was tucked away behind some wall of clouds. The trunks of the living trees also bathed in moss, but never more than a few feet high. Nature at its finest.Max Patch was definitely one of favorite parts of the trail. By far, my favorite peak. 360 degree view of fading blue mountains with a bald grassy surface. Perfect place for a picnic. Met Roadrunner, Jazzy Pants, Train, and Ajax up there¢all four of which were thru-hikers I¢d never met. I had come over 9 miles without seeing a single soul until running into the four of them. We hung out, had lunch, and played hacky sack. Train may have been the first person to ever say: ¢Hey, have you ever hacked a full hack on Max Patch? Well I have...Yeah-er.¢ It was great to kick a hack around. My first time since before starting the trail. Ajax was doing pushups atop the Max Patch summit when I saw him for the first time. He wore a hat that said ¢Georgia¢ on it. ¢Are you from Georgia?¢ I asked. He shook his head. ¢Maine. I got this hat from a store that didn¢t even know they sold it.¢Redneck caught up with me during my two hour break on the summit. He had spent the previous evening in Standing Bear Hostel. ¢I just ran into two guys wearing chaps and Harley T-shirts making snowmen,¢ he told me. ¢First people I¢ve seen all day long.¢ Hiked with Redneck for awhile after leaving the Patch. After a few miles, we came upon Peter Rabbit, lying dead on the trail next to a rock. Poor, poor Peter. There were no visible wounds or anything. He was just lying there. Weird. And sad to say¢but this was probably my best wildlife sighting. So far I¢d seen two mice, a squirrel, a slate gray junco (bird), and some bear tracks. I think the dead rabbit topped them.Walnut Mountain Shelter had a small, short sleeping platform. No picnic table, no extended roof, no bear cables. The water source was straight down a steep 200 foot drop off¢a chore to get to and not the best place to fill up either. Needed my bandanna to filter the water before filling up my bottles, and still got some sediment inside.Two more hikers I had never met before were already at the shelter¢along with Buree. Sarsaparilla and Crumbs¢thru-hiking sisters. It would be the four of us and Redneck sleeping in the shelter. There was room for one more but Ajax, Train, Jazzy Pants and Roadrunner all camped close by. The rain came in the evening, and I was glad to be under a shelter¢even if it was a small one. After dinner I treated myself to the Maxwell House single packet of coffee that I¢d taken out of the hiker box in Gatlinburg. Mixed in some powdered milk. Awesome. Think I¢ll be hooked on the stuff again in the blink of an eye. Mmmmmm coffee.***Random Register Entry: ¢Enjoy your beliefs, and allow others to enjoy theirs¢ P.A.T.R.M. (People Against Trail Register Ministries)