Date: 2013-05-10
From: Standing Bear

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 12: Standing Bear Hostel to Roaring Fork ShelterLost and found: Harry Potter redux For me: ¢You're off to Great Places!Today is your day!Your mountain is waiting,So... get on your way!¢For Rider: ¢Pain is just weakness leaving the body. Sometimes your spirit tags along with it.¢ (Demotivational Poster from Despair.com)What a great night at Standing Bear, two Yuenglings (from America¢s oldest brewery), some barley, burger and veggies and a free slice of very cheesy-licious pizza (thanks Commo Bill)! I woke up earlier than anticipated this morning, I think before 6, and decided to wash out some clothes before other hikers started to wake-up. I said I would talk some more about Standing Bear, so if you¢re a hiker and know about this hostel (or you¢re just not interested), by all means skip to the next section. On washing clothes then: at Standing Bear you wash clothes the way your grandma did (maybe your momma if you¢re a more chronologically-gifted hiker). That is to say that there are two large basins for wash and rinse along with a hand-cranked wringer. The one allowance made for 20th-century laundering advances is that there is an electric clothes dryer. Hey really that is the most critical item for hikers given all the soggy clothing. After the laundry, I settled on breakfast and took advantage of the opportunity to eat something commercially-available instead of another day of home-assembled trail-mix. I headed to the commissary for some shopping. With regard to food and the preparation thereof, Standing Bear boasts a full kitchen with cook- and dinner-ware, utensils and all kinds of oil and spices. They also have their own store/commissary which is located in a small, stand-alone building but has a ton of stuff contained therein (see photos). For breakfast, I was lazy and got a Jimmy Dean bacon, egg and cheese biscuit (don¢t talk to me about GMO or empty calories or how it¢s not real food- I don¢t care). I brought my frozen breakfast back to the kitchen and sat with a few hikers who were more motivated to cook a real breakfast (fresh eggs and some fried onions). The Impressive Standing Bear Commissary I used the leisurely breakfast to continue to charge my cell batteries which I figured would get me through the remainder of the hike. I also studied the map and considered what to do about the rest of the hike. Originally I thought that I would be done as early as today or late as tomorrow, but with 33 miles left I knew that I wasn¢t making that objective. I talked to Rider about this because I had recently gotten an email telling me I needed to be at work on the 20th. I wanted a week to recover so I felt that I couldn¢t really be on the trail after Sunday. This of course was my issue not Rider¢s so I made sure to mention that I didn¢t want him to feel compelled to make any miles I might decide to do. We agreed to just see how things went. He asked that I just make sure if we did split up that he was ok and tucked into his tent before I continued, just so I could tell his kids that he was alive and fine when I last saw him .It¢s hard to leave a comfortable place. Packing up and departing from Standing Bear was particularly challenging. It seemed to have its own gravitational pull and breaking from the orbit required a concentrated sheer force of will. We finally got out a little before 10:30, but not before I bought an AT necklace from Hawk and took a photo with Rocket and Curtis (the owner). One other thing before I leave my coverage of Standing Bear, the payment process is unique. It is an honor-system process. When you arrive, Rocket hands an envelope to you and tells you to write your name on the top and then list every item you buy/use along with the price. At the end of your stay, you simply put the money in the envelope and settle up with Rocket. The only thing that was cash-on-delivery was the beer which was understandable. We had a great stay at Standing Bear- thank you all gentlemen!Luna Lovegood strikes again! On the way from Standing Bear back down to the trail, we ran into a couple and the gentleman was carrying Riders historic marathon shirt. To say he was overjoyed would be an understatement! As compensation for their thoughtfulness; I treated them to two beers or something for breakfast with a small donation to their hike. We turned left and finally began today¢s hike with what else but an ascent. This one was 2,600¢ over 4.2 miles and would culminate near the summit of Snowbird Mountain. Rider and I talked for a little while but then I put my earphones in to get a little Bono motivation. I know lots of people are against backpacking with music because it ¢takes you away from nature¢ but usually I keep the volume just loud enough to hear and low enough that I can still hear birds, deer, other people and the occasional bear. Today was our first full day outside of GSMNP and after what seemed like a good stretch of cold, damp, days today was warm- hot even. It seemed to take forever to get to Snowbird Mountain but I was oddly energetic (was it the beer?). I cruised along in easy fashion climbing out of the woods and onto the bald. After walking half way to the summit, I turned around and was greeted with a beautiful panoramic view of the Smoky Mountains. They looked appropriately Smoky! In fact, as I looked at them I just knew it was raining over there- poor hikers! I was so glad to be out!Day 12- A day of floral intensity While on Snowbird, some of our friends showed up- Thumper, Frodo and a Skywalker. Frodo took a group photo and then as they headed to see the FAA tower at the summit, we hiked north again. From Snowbird at 4000+ feet we descended 1,350 feet to Groundhog Creek Shelter which was quite full with folks taking breaks. There we met Bootsy (a botanist, gee she would be fun to have along for flower identification) and Tiny Tim who were hiking together. Late lunch for us, after a half-hour break we headed back out into variable weather. The day seemed filled with flowers: Flame Azaleas ranged from bright orange to a sherberty-peach; Trillium: white, deep wine, and even some greenish looking ones; yellow Trout Lilies while uncommon and solitary were sprinkled throughout while Bluets were found in giant clumps, white Fleabane Daisies, Anemones, and Squirrel Corn, Pink Lady Slippers and tons of yet to be flowering May apple. It was a real floral all-you-can see buffet today! I really enjoyed taking a lot of photos of flowers today. Unfortunately I am not a great photographer and I frequently get shots ¢on the move¢ which are disappointingly blurry when I review them. Rider said he was pretty tired today so I took point most of the day. He did seem a little under-the-weather but then: it was hot by recent weather standards; he was carrying a pack that was heavier than it had been since we left Fontana Dam 6 days ago; AND yesterday was a close-enough-to-call-it-a-20-mile-hike day. I could understand how he would be tired; I couldn¢t understand how I was not! To add to those issues, today the trail seemed an endless climb that was rewarded with very little in the way of ¢flat¢ sections and fewer still, descents. Since we had left Groundhog Creek shelter we had been climbing, albeit along a very low grade but it would still be a near 6.5 mile climb from the 2,900¢ elevation at Groundhog to the 4,600¢ at Max Patch. During the afternoon, we discussed whether it would be best just to stop at Browns Gap which theoretically had water and a campsite. Stopping there would pretty much guarantee that I would not be leaving Hot Springs before Monday. We went back and forth with the decision until we arrived at Browns Gap and found it to be less than hospitable. Another 4 miles of ascent lay ahead to get to Max Patch but Hawk had told us that there were good campsites on both sides of the massive bald. We agreed to continue forward and look for the near-side campsite which we hoped would be near the road crossing in a couple of miles. About half-way through our new plan, Rider who was now in front turned around quickly and said: ¢I¢m getting a bad attitude about today so (warning! cover your eyes) f*ck it, let¢s just go all the way to Roaring Fork.¢ (Note: Roaring Fork was about 2 miles BEYOND the far side of Max Patch). Renewed and fueled by his attitude problem, he set off with new vigor and kicked my 40-something-year-old ass all the way up that bald. Truth be told, I was more than ok with stopping at a near-side campsite because by the time we hit the road circling Max Patch, my 20-mile day had caught up with me. The climb to Max Patch summit was not easy for me. It was now the end of the day, the sun was MIA and all that remained in the sky was the fading pink of dusk. The winds while not as strong as a few days ago still contributed to a chill in the air anytime that I stopped. But it was beautiful up on the bald AND it was a LOT less windy than the trip Matt and I made out here one autumn a few years ago! We stopped often to get pictures of each other, of the trail, of the mountains surrounding us. And now it seemed that I was somewhat renewed in energy and the last two miles while tiring, were not as daunting as they could have been. The trail wound around the bald and onto a wide but very muddy forest road. It then traveled through narrower Rhododendron-enclosed tunnels containing even thicker mud in which we occasionally became stuck- so much for my dry boots! We arrived at Roaring Fork and found the shelter quite full but there was a large, flat area just to the side of the shelter provided our tenting space. Tents went up, I unpacked and made a very late dinner while some of the guys worked on the fire. Tonight at the shelter: Bootsy and Tiny Tim, Frodo, Fire Hydrant, Thumper, Alana, and others. Day 12- Views from Max PatchAfter another long day, I retreated to my tent and spent about 20 minutes talking tto Rider about the cool things between Hot Springs and Damascus which we had discussed over the last few days and which he wanted to mark in his AWOL guide. Given that we were closing in on the end of our time together, I obliged with as much as I could. Then it was certainly time for a good night¢s sleep!Goodnight from Roaring Fork Shelter, another long day behind me and my hike destination now in sight. More photos for day 12 of the trip can be seen at: 2000Miler_Day12