[at-l] Trip Report, Max Patch to Hot Springs (Part one)

["Sam Teel" <steel@sfwmd.gov>]

Thursday, July 7th, 1999

We arrived in Hot Springs around 8:00 am.  I needed to stop by the
outfitters to get another AT map of this section, Max Patch to Hot
Springs because I left mine back in Florida.  I also wanted to get
driving directions to the summit.  Bluff Mountain Outfitters did not
open until nine so we drove around the town to see where the Duckett
House was and where the AT comes into town.  At 8:05, having driven from
one end of town to the other, (very small exaggeration, Hot Springs is
really small) we went to the diner for breakfast.  At nine we went to
the outfitter and got the directions.  As someone else already posted,
Bluff Mountain Outfitters is a great store.  The guy there was very
helpful and had directions to just about everywhere on his computer
ready to print out with a map.

We arrived at Max Patch around 10 am.  My first glimpse of the summit
was as I drove up the steep switch backed gravel road.  Looking up
through the trees it seemed as if the sky had turned green!  When we
came around the last switch back the view was awesome.  Max Patch is
huge!  The sky had these low, wispy clouds passing all around us.  As
clouds passed under the sun it caused the grass to seem to change
colors, from bright green to nearly yellow and orange.  It was a bit
windy and cool, around seventy.  Very nice hiking weather.  We parked at
the Pisgah National Forest parking lot and started up the official trail
to the summit, not the bootleg one that goes straight up.  A little over
a half mile and about twenty minutes later we were at the top.  WOW!
360 degree views with the sides of Max Patch sloping steeply downward
all around. It was one of the coolest places I've ever been.  We stopped
at the summit and took pictures.  There was a small American flag near
the marker, left over from the July 4th celebration I'd guess.  My wife
and son headed back to the car and drove back to Hot Springs to stay at
the Bed and Breakfast and I headed on down the Appalachian Trail.

Confusion in the first five minutes.  I had seen the AT blaze with the
"A" and the "T" under the "A" and I thought all the AT trail blazes were
like that.  I figured they had a stencil or something.  So what were
these single white rectangular blazes?  What trail is this? Hmmm.  Maybe
it leads to the AT.  The sign had said the Appalachian Trail, this way,
and it seemed to be going in the right direction.  So down it I went.

There was a nice campsite just north of Max right at the tree line.
Some other time I plan to camp there.  The area was denuded of dead wood
though and I had a hard time finding a hiking stick.  I had left my
handmade, bamboo stick back at the cabin.  After about fifteen minutes
of hiking I came to a wooden sign that said "Appalachian Trail" and had
arrows pointing to Max Patch and one pointed the other way that said
Lemon Gap.  I knew that was the right direction and so off I went.  I
soon came to the "green tunnels".  Dark and cool and maybe even a bit
claustrophobic for those sensitive to that, which I'm not, having been
on lots of submarines. (Hey, I'm a dog fighting alpha male that swims in
a sea of  testosterone, don't cha know?)  The trail sloped gently
downward and I was making good time, stopping often and taking pictures.
(which will on a web page next week)  The Mountain Laurel was blooming
all around, pink and white.

Around 1 pm I came to Roaring Fork shelter and stopped for a lunch
break.  What a nice shelter.  It even had a skylight!  I sat around
reading the register and eating gorp.  I was so sleepy I decided to take
a nap, so I got my pad off my pack, took my boots off and crashed out.
I woke up around two, wrote something really banal in the register and
was on my way again.  Someone had written in the register that Walnut
Mountain shelter was open and about two miles further.  I did not
realize they meant two miles straight up.

Geez Louise! Up. Up. Up. Up.  For awhile there I had two speeds.
Stopped and nearly stopped.  The damned GPS (government piece of s**t)
was reading 0.0 mph.  I had to rest and drink water several times.  It
was nice at the top even though there was no view.  Walnut Mountain
shelter was in bad shape.  The register was full with the last entry
sometime in June.  I set my pack inside and walked a short distance away
to take a picture.  When I came back to get my pack the damned mice were
already trying to get inside!  I guess they don't get many customers and
pride themselves on quick service!

Down, Down, Down I went through Kale Gap and Catrap Gap.  I called those
Rabbit Gaps because of all the large reddish rabbits on the trail.  Up,
up, up, the side of Bluff Mountain.  Near the summit I could see a small
pasture or bald off to the right so I stopped for a break.  While there
I heard voices (not the one that tells me to wear a pink tutu while
hiking) It sounded like a man and at least one child.  I never saw them
though and kept walking.  At the summit there was a group of large rocks
and I sat down to rest.  In a minute, I lay down to rest.  In just a
bit, a HUGE red hawk (probably from all those red rabbits) comes
swooping in from outside the trees and flies right over me!  Startled
the devil out of me and him too I think.  He landed in the trees on the
other side of the summit.

I had drank a quart of water back at Max Patch before I started (I'll
skip over how many times I had to stop, but it was alot!) and had drank
most of the two quarts I was carrying.  I had crossed about twenty
streams and creeks up to this point so I figured there was plenty of
water on the trail.  (There had been a flood on Laurel Creek two days
prior that had washed away a church and some pickups.)  So down I
started on the North side of Bluff Mountain thinking that I would stop
and camp when I found a nice spot with water.  It was around 5:30 by now
and I was starting to get tired and my legs hurt a bit.  Many switch
backs and about an hour and a half later I heard water running.  From
the map I guessed that I was near or at Big Rock Springs.

I came to the big rock just off the trail near the waterfall and set up
camp.  It was really pretty with the waterfall on my left and the rock
cliff in front with the trail off on the right.  There was only a small
trail leading to the top of this rock which was about the size of an
average living room.

Before I get on with this next section I wonder if anyone has ever heard
of the "random printer" theory.  This is the belief that if you take a
huge printer, say one that could print 999 million characters per
second, and send it totally random text, it would eventually print out a
perfect copy of "War and Peace" or the bible or any published work.  So
maybe sounds can do a similar thing.

After I had performed all my evening chores and lay down I started
listening to the waterfall. There were several levels of sound, a sort
of high hiss, "Psssssssssttttt" with a "Clopp, Clopp" along side it.  As
I was drifting off to sleep I heard a voice in the waterfall. It said,
"Now, more hits from the 60's, 70's, and 80's"  I think to my surprised
self, "Way Cool!, ha, ha" and started to drift off again.  Again,  I
hear the voice, except this time it said, "Hey! You have a big ass!"  I
did not think this was so funny or cool.  Especially as I have a rather
small ass. You know, now that I think back on it, maybe the waterfall
said "are" instead of "have".  I guess that makes more sense.  I went to
sleep pondering.

About 3:30 am I awake from a sound, deep sleep hearing a LOUD crash in
the woods behind me and up the hill.  It sounded like a 700 pound log
had been tossed into the forest.  I went from dreamland to absolute,
heart pounding  wakefulness in less than a second.  The woods
reverberated with the sound.  Optimistic thoughts of a graceful deer
floated away like smoke.  Terrifying thoughts of a big, clumsy bear
formed and congealed.  Oh shit. Oh Lord. I wait, breathing only about
twice each minute that crawls by.  No sound.  At all.  Even the normal
night noises were now absent.  Just the sound of the waterfall. (which
now was saying nothing)   It was more than an hour before I went back to
sleep.

End of Part One
*************************************

I will type up part two this weekend and post it on Monday.  My wife is
having minor surgery tomorrow so I'll be busy.

Hope it didn't bore you guys to death.

Sam


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