Date: 2013-03-27
From: Groundhog Creek Shelter

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

(In which I push over Max Patch in over a foot of snow)The night is difficult, but not because of the cold. I am warm enough wearing a few layers in my 15-degree sleeping bag with liner and emergency blanket. However, there is plenty of snoring and movement in the shelter. The person immediately next to me sounds like they are just about flopping around and the plywood floor doesn't help keep the noise and vibration down. I try sleeping in past when everyone leaves so I can get some rest, and also so I am not the one pushing through the fresh snow. This idea has to be abandoned when only Goat, Tracker, and Rocket move out and the other two stay put. I reluctantly put on wet socks and get packed up at 1000.The day begins with a long, gradual climb. The Trail is barely broken by the folks ahead of me, and the extra effort of lifting my feet clear of the snow on each step is tiring. After a while I drop into Brown Gap, with a forest road intersecting the Trail. This comes immediately before a hard climb toward Max Patch. The climb brings me back up to the ridge, where the snow is drifting to at least two feet. Even when the Trail does not run uphill, it is very difficult walking through this much snow. There is enough wind to keep me under constant bombardment from the heavy, wet snow clinging to trees overhead.I descend into a small gap and cross Max Patch Road. The idea of getting off the Trail and holing up in Hot Springs has been playing through my head. I check my guidebook and only see one service in Hot Springs that offers a shuttle. The snow on the road here is only broken by a few cars, and I figure a shuttle probably will not come out to such a road when there is this much snow. On continuing north, the Trail becomes more difficult. It looks like I have fallen well behind the folks ahead of me, and the footprints are much less clear. I see where someone had camped out last night under the cover of some dense trees, and wonder who else is ahead of me.Pushing past Max PatchMax Patch is not far from the road, and although the push uphill is difficult I soon find myself reaching the edge of the bald. This is the most expansive bald yet, and the Trail runs right over the top. There are wooden posts suggesting where the Trail is, but in these conditions this is just a suggested path. I pick my way up the bald trying to stay away from the deepest snow. I can avoid most of the deep snow, but must push through some drifts of two or three feet to reach the top. The top of Max Patch is scoured clear of snow by the wind, and I pause to shoot some photos when I reach the survey marker.I am glad I went over Max Patch today. Had I crossed it yesterday it would have been in zero visibility. A day or two later and the snow would have mostly melted from the trees below, leaving a much more brown landscape. I spend a while near the top shooting some photos before packing my camera and continuing north. Going back down the bald involves plenty of wading through about two feet of snow, but there isn't anything as big as the drifts I had to climb through to reach the top. I get back below the treeline for the long, gradual descent to Roaring Fork Shelter.I was considering taking a short day on account of the tough walking, but decide against it. The shelter is empty and there is probably nobody behind me. I take a large lunch here to get me through the next five miles. Steam rises from my shoes when I take them off and check out my feet. They are wet from snowmelt creeping into my shoes all day, but my feet will be warm enough with wet socks. I put the wet socks and shoes back on and keep moving. From here the Trail continues to descend and crosses many streams in the process. Many of these streams have footbridges, which are typically two logs with a flattened top surface. These are all covered with a layer of packed snow, but they present me no difficulty.The guidebook mentions four such footbridges between the previous shelter and Lemon Gap. I cross more than four bridges, but figure some of them were too close together to get separate entries. A state road runs through Lemon Gap and this is another point I contemplated getting a shuttle out of the mountains and into Hot Springs. The road is covered with snow and only has a few tire tracks, so I don't hesitate to keep moving on. The Trail climbs 800 feet from the gap to Walnut Mountain, and like the earlier climbing this is slow progress. I take comfort in knowing that Walnut Mountain Shelter is just beyond the mountaintop, but am unsure about staying there. The folks that made sleep difficult last night may be there, and there could also be the mystery campers whose campsite I discovered earlier today. The shelter is advertised as sleeping six, so it is a tiny shelter and could be full. Hammocking on a mountaintop seems undesirable tonight.I am surprised when I encounter the shelter. The guidebook says it is 0.1 mile from the mountaintop, and it is indeed just beyond the edge of Walnut Mountain's bald. In other seasons it may seem more secluded up here, but the snow on the ground and the bare trees make the shelter appear lonelier than any other shelter on the trip. Even Whitley Gap Shelter 1.2 miles off the Trail seemed like a busier spot than this shelter right next to the Trail. I am also surprised to only find two folks here, neither of which I saw yesterday. Roosta really surprises me BT being here when I was told that he was pushing for two days between the Smokies and Hot Springs. He is not feeling well and only walked the five miles from the last shelter today. I also meet Disciple for the first time. He and his dog hiked and hitched around the Smokies instead of the dog staying in a kennel. Now they are doing the section from Hot Springs to Davenport Gap going southbound before resuming their travel north.I update Roosta on my travels since we last crossed paths in Newfound Gap. In addition to not feeling well, his bottle of denatured alcohol burst inside his backpack and now covers his camp clothes. He is trying to keep his head outside his sleeping bag so he doesn't fumigate himself. I set out my hammock as my sleeping pad - my typical shelter procedure - and tie my tarp across the entrance. This is a very small shelter, so my tarp covers the entire entrance. I am glad it is just the three people and the dog in this shelter tonight. It is very cold and I eat in my sleeping bag. My soaking wet socks go in a plastic bag in my sleeping bag, so my body heat can dry them a little bit and keep them from freezing. It is already very cold and the two others here are focused on sleep, so I make that my priority too.Peace,