Date: 2005-10-18
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Max Patch Summit, NC
Miles today: 19.8

19.8 miles todayCowboy campingMax Patch Summit, NC I slept ok last night, but I did wake up a few times...probably town noises. I woke up at 6am and layed in bed for about an hour before I got up and then walked back into town. I sent in my journal entry, then went to Smoky Mountain Diner and had coffee and a small breakfast. I walked back to the Duckett House B&B and packed my stuff up, then went downstairs and started answering some emails. I didn't get very far with that when Frank said my breakfast was ready. Yep, I knew I was having two breakfasts this morning. :-))) While I was eating, the other 2 guests came downstairs. They were a couple ladies, one from NC and one from England. The one from England thought I had an accent. Ha!! She was the one with the accent. The girls told me that bear season opened yesterday. I guess all those hunters I saw with the hounds weren't squirrel hunters after all. :-))) We all had breakfast and plenty of very good coffee, then I decided to get moving. I paid my bill and was at the trailhead walking south at 9:30am. I think I finally filled that void in my stomach with all the food I ate since I got to town. I felt full hiking out of town this morning. It was another nice, cool morning. I was only going to Max Patch today, so I kind of just mosied along. I had a mostly uphill walk all morning. I climbed 3300 feet to get to the summit of Bluff Mountain. It really felt great to get in a good climb again. On the way up, I stopped by Deer Park Mountain Shelter to sign the register, but there wasn't one. I also stopped and talked to 3 bear hunters that were listening to their hounds chase up a bear. I hiked on and when I got to Garenflo Gap, I saw 2 more bear hunters. They were all part of the same group and were keeping in touch with each other with 2 way radios. Five guys and who knows how many dogs, all after a poor ol' bear. I'm not against hunting, but it doesn't seem like the bear has much of a chance. I also stopped to eat lunch on the way up. There was a nice spring called Big Rock Spring. I sat on that big rock so long that it was hard to get my big butt up and moving again. Once I got to the summit of Bluff Mountain, I walked down to Kale Gap, then back up 500 feet to Walnut Mountain. I stopped by Walnut Mountain Shelter to sign the register, but just like the shelter earlier this morning, there was no register. There was a can of tomato soup though. I thought about the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I planned on eating for dinner on Max Patch and decided tomato soup sounded better. I even had some crackers with me to put in the soup. I stuck the can in my pack and hiked on. I'm not sure why, but someone had cut all the trees down on the summit of Walnut Mountain and just let them lay where they fell. I descended 700 feet to Lemon Gap and then came up to the trail to the old Roaring Fork Shelter. I walked on by without stopping. I walked down another 700 feet before climbing 1100 feet. I came to where the new Roaring Fork Shelter is being built. It's not done yet, but Wingfoot had a spring listed by the shelter, so I walked down to see about getting some water. The shelter is close to being done and it looked like the privy was already built, but I couldn't find any water, so I hiked on. I saw Restless and another hiker coming towards me. I asked him why he was walking north. He said he was planning on staying at the new shelter, but passed by it without seeing it. I told him I had passed it 12 minutes ago and he walked on planning to stay there. I hiked on and as I started climbing Max Patch, it started getting windier. I got up to the summit and still had a couple hours before dark. I set up my tent, but I set up outside of it, out of the wind and cooked my tomato soup. When I was done with that, I brewed me a cup of coffee. It's a cool evening and the hot coffee sounded good. I started getting cold, so I got in my sleeping bag to warm up. When the sun was getting ready to set, I got out and started taking some pictures. It was an absolutely beautiful sunset. I had a hard time holding the camera still though. With the wind blowing, I was shivering and had to sit down and put the camera on my knee to take some pictures. :-)))I was journaling in the dark still laying in my sleeping bag outside of my tent when the moon started rising opposite to where the sun went down at. The tent is set up only to help block the wind. It's a beautiful night to be cowboy camping under the stars. I was almost "stumped" in the leaf catching game that I'm NOT playing this year, but late in the day I caught 2 leaves that I wasn't trying to catch, so I am now up to 7 leaves in that leaf catching game that I'm NOT playing. :-)))