Date: 2014-11-22
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Green Corner Rd. (Standing Bear Farm Hostel)
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: scattered clouds

The night was cold but seemed to warm up towards morning -- at least it was 35 in the tent when I began my morning breakfast/packing ritual. I remembered that today was the anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination, and Traildog and I spoke about where we were when we heard the news -- I was coming out of an astronomy class at Chatham College. Smooth D had not yet been born, so it was clearly more remote for him.We set off about 9 for the summit of Max Patch Bald (4629'). We had seen it from a distance yesterday, and it appeared to have quite a bit of snow, but this morning most of it on top was gone -- just some in shaded spots of the trail. Amazing views in every direction -- rows of mountain ridges -- that were breath taking. I tried a panorama photo on my phone, but wound up with just one angle. Too bad. It was like the old clich© of standing on top of the world. On the south edge of the bald was a small bronze plaque in a stone at ground level in memory of Honza, 2011 trail name, "Journey," with a quote that I think said, "Live strong, live lovingly, live faithfully." It made me think about my trail mantras: Pay attention. Be grateful. Be generous. Live with care. Hope and cope. We stopped for lunch at Brown Gap, had a short climb, a longer descent, and then a 1300' climb up Snowbird Mountain, which has an odd FAA structure on top. It is round, white and conical with concave sides and a truncated top. And it hums. From here, we had a descent of about 2600' to reach Green Corner Road. Part way down, we encountered a man and boy hiking up, who wanted to know how far it was to the Groundhog Creek Shelter. The boy had on an odd but cute wig that I guess was supposed to be camouflage. I said they had about 3.5 miles, the boy thanked me and wished us a good hike. Hope they made it before dark.We got to the road and hiked up to Standing Bear. Rocket Man met us, said to put our packs on a bunk, and showed us around. The place has several buildings -- the owners' house, a bunkhouse, two cabins, a resupply store, a kitchen/laundry building, a small shower building, an office, and a privy. Lots of care went into the decorations in some of the paving, the bridges over a small stream, and the railings and buildings themselves. The bunkhouse, however, has a wood furnace made of two oil drums on their sides, one about a foot above the other. The top one is supposed to be a secondary burn chamber, but the only wood seemed to be green, and Captain Guts, a frequent visitor and inhabitant of the bunk next to it, was having trouble getting a good fire going. He would open the door and let smoke pour into the room. I had chosen a bunk next to a window, so I propped the window open with a soda can until the smoke cleared a reasonable amount. Traildog and I were in the kitchen cooking our dinners when Smooth D arrived. Turns out he did not leave the shelter until nearly noon and then spent time on Max Patch. Even with that, he was only an hour behind us. Oh well. He joined us at the table and then in the bunk room. We are all planning a zero tomorrow, because it is supposed to rain. The good news is that there is decent wifi and some cell signal. I downloaded email, hoping to have heard from Doyi. Given how good he is at communicating, I think I had a bad address. I'll try to connect tomorrow.Later in the evening, the couple staying in the cabin came into the kitchen and chatted with Smooth D and me. Jeff and Lydia are seasonal workers in transition from summer jobs in Bar Harbor, ME, to winter jobs in Big Bend, TX. He is a guide, and she works for the National Park Service. They offered us beer, and of course we accepted. Fun conversation about their work and about the trail.