Day 24

Day 24- Campsite near Davenport Gap to Max Patch- 15 miles (252 miles total)

We had a slow morning since we were partly celebrating Mike's B-day by being lazy, and also because part of the reason that we stopped where we did last night was due to Laura getting her first blister! Ouch! We enjoyed the scenery when we got going since the trail followed a busy creek with beautiful little cascades. In no time, we were crossing I-40 (which was kind of creepy since it was completely deserted due to a rockslide that happen last fall. This was actually the highway we took from Arizona to Tennesee on our drive back from Seattle so it was interesting to see the stretch of road that had been closed. A mile past the road was the hostel, Standing Bear Farm, where we stopped to possibly find some birthday beer and some snacks. Turns out they usually make a  daily beer run... but later in the day and it was still technically morning when we arrived. Oh well. We got some sweet microwaveable food (a burger, breakfast sandwiches, and a chicken sandwich) and as we were eating, Hawk, one of the 4 caretakers gave us each a birthday beer from his personal cache. We spent a while hanging out with Vinny, another caretaker who gave up a life of high profile fashion in FL (he worked for the Vercace who was murdered in the mid-nineties and Valentino among others) to hang out with AT hikers in the middle-of-nowhere TN. We wandered around the property looking at the old barns and shed which were 100 years old, and stopped to see the 2 resident hogs which were very excited to see us- they were snorting and dancing around. We didn't quite now how to interact with them so Mike let them rub their wet snouts on his hand and tried to pet them as they circled around in their pen. Grabbed some more snacks, said goodbye, and hit the trail again by 1pm. Walking back down the gravel road to the trail we were pleasently surprised to finally meet up with Beth and David, our friends from Seattle. We talked for a minute or 5 and made plans to hang out in Hot Springs before saying goodbye. Next, we stopped for water at Painter Branch where we met Josh and his dog, and a couple of ladies who are section hiking each year. The ladies told us they hike for 1 week a year, and the younger one remarked that if they continue at that pace she'll be 84 by the time they finish. We are continually overwhelmed by the diversity of people that hike the AT, either as a thru or section hiker. After a long upward haul, we made it to the top of Snowbird Mtn. which was a bald and had some sort of futuristic space tower which turned out to be some sort of air traffic control tower. About 2.5 miles later we found ourselves at the intersection with Groundhog Creek Shelter, and true to form we decided to hike on. We passed Brown Gap as it got dark, and noticed some other hikers camped there, so we chose to move on further. By now it was completely dark and while having a snack at the junction with Cherry Creek Trail we decided to set our sights on Max Patch, with the goal being the summit. We arrived there (Max Patch, 4629ft.) around 10:20pm and enjoyed the summit all to ourselves. In the dark, the lights from all the neighboring cities and towns were easily visible and made up for the lack of stars (clouds from an impending rainstorm were approaching in the distance). We ate snacks (which was to be our dinner) and reveled in the view and lack of other hikers. Less than a mile down off of Max Patch, we found a campsite where the first trees began to grow below the bald and made camp there. It took Mike almost a million years to hang the bear bag, but he finally got it and we fell asleep listening to the start of pitter-patter against our rainfly.