[at-l] Water at Max Patch

[tmcginnis@ucclan.state.in.us (Thomas McGinnis)]

     sorry for going off-thread, but I've been crashing hard drives and the 
     recovery is getting a bit rough -- right now my cc:Mail is being a 
     pain....
     
     
     There is water available at Max Patch.
     
     From the summit, there is water available in a manmade pond 
     west-northwest of the summit, which is to say DOWNHILL and OFFTRAIL. 
     It is perhaps a 30 minute walk one-way.
     
     "Oh Joy," you say.
     
     Better (for northbounders, at any event) is a source available from 
     the gap BEFORE Max Patch (but actually ON the dirt Max Patch Road, you 
     know). When you come down to the road, you are on a saddle with three 
     dirt roads coming together. One is from the right (east) and two come 
     from the west (left). Of the two from the west, one descends roughly 
     due west and is slightly lesser traveled. The other descends to the 
     northwest, down the slope of the mountain. (This would be the right 
     fork of the road, for those standing in the gap facing west.) Walk 
     down this road for 7.5 minutes, to where it turns 90 degrees left (and 
     still steadily downhill, perhaps .3 miles), stop and listen. 
     
     The gentle "Pshshshshshshshshshshsh" you hear is the smooth clear cool 
     flow of water gathered from the uphill side of the mountain and 
     culverted under the road bed to drop 3-4' to the downhill side of the 
     mountain. This was running quite well at a time (Labor Day last year) 
     so dry that there was no rafting in either the Little Pigeon 
     (Davenport Gap) or the French Broad (Hot Springs). What a relief.
     
     OTHER WATER NOTES:
     From Walnut Mtn north to Deer Park Mtn the trail is dry except for the 
     spring near a big boulder. I forget the name exactly, but it's 
     something catchy like "Big Boulder Spring" or such.
     
     Also, water at Deer Park Mtn is miserable (dank, smell, scummy), 
     unless you brave the skeeters and work your way AROUND THE BLOWDOWN to 
     the REAL spot where it actually comes out of the hill. Look for the 
     white plastic water pipe. It was very slow, but still ran clean.
     
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