Date: 2014-04-03
From: Groundhog Creek Shelter

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 22- April 3 Groundhog Creek Shelter to Walnut Mountain Shelter, 13.1 milesAs forecasted we were awakened at 5:00 AM to the sound of rain on the tent. At 6:10 it was still raining and thunder and lightening had joined the fun. We decided to sleep in! By 7:00 the storm had moved through so we packed up and ate our breakfast without having to deal with rain. We were on the trail at 8:05 AM with our first destination being Max Patch Bald, 6.4 miles away. Max Patch is a famous bald in this area because there are spectacular views in all directions from the top. Also, you can almost drive to the summit! We were a bit concerned what the weather might be doing when we got to Max Patch because it is definitely not where you want to be in a thunder and lightening storm! But the clouds were lifting as we covered our miles and by the time we summited there were patches of blue sky and wonderful views! There were strands of low clouds stuck in the valleys below which made for good contrast. We had the bald to ourselves but I can imagine on a beautiful summer day the place is full of picnickers and children running all round! What a great natural resource for folks who live in this area! We stayed on top long enough to take lots of photos and to have a snack. Two miles of mostly gentle downhill hiking brought us to Roaring Fork Shelter where we stopped for our PB&J lunch. We had 4.9 more miles to go to get to our campsite for the night at Walnut Mountain Shelter. 3.6 of those miles were generally downhill or flat and we made good time. We caught up to a guy who was out for a spring break hike with his son and two friends of the son. They will be camping here tonight too. The last 1.3 miles was all uphill, in the sun. We kept a steady pace but paused at the pretty creek crossing to soak my bandana and make (purify) some more water. As we got close to the top we met two folks coming down who told us they help maintain this part of the trail. They were very excited to discover that over the winter a new picnic table had been brought into the shelter. I don't know if it was helicoptered in or carried in. They also had a bag of trash they had collected from around the shelter. Thank goodness for all these volunteers that maintain the trail and the shelters! Their work is never done! Most of the hikers are very good about carrying out their trash but there are campsites and shelters where plastic bottles are thrown in the fire pit and used up fuel canisters are left in the common cooking areas. Tomorrow is a town day (Hot Springs, NC) and we are excited for what that means. Plus, we will be spending 2 nights in town as Saturday will be a zero day for us. Our plans include eating LOTS of food, resting, showering multiple times, calling family, relaxing, getting our clothes clean and watching basketball! I don't even know who is playing in the Final Four and it doesn't matter, I just want to watch those games! And our Trail Jeannie will make the trip to Hot Springs to deliver our resupply box and spend the day Saturday with us. Tomorrow we have another 13.1 miles to get us to Hot Springs, with almost 10 of those miles being down hill. Today's weather turned out much nicer than forecasted, which was a treat. The last weather forecast we saw predicted thunder storms for Friday afternoon in Hot Springs so we'll see what materializes. All is well. P.S. Can you stand one more Trail Magic story? Tonight 2 folks came southbound on the trail with no packs. Turns out they live just off the trail a mile or two away and came up to bring trail magic!!!! Homemade pecan cookies and naval oranges!!!! What a great bedtime snack! Thanks to Rebecca and Tom!