May 17: Standing Bear Farm Hostel to Roaring Fork Shelter

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Sleep of babies is the best way to describe last night. Warm room and thick blankets pulled up around your neck and the babble of a brook that just happens to run beneath your bed, almost heaven. I woke early and finished out some of my blog and fired it off through cyberspace to Matt. Then it was make up a breakfast that was other than oatmeal, "HotPockets" from the hostel store, hot coffee for me and cappuccino for CC. We were packed and on the trail by 9:20 AM, a bit later than I wanted but not bad for us.
The trail started off up hill for 2,815' to the top of Snowbirb Mtn. After fog, mist and rain for the past few days this one stands out. We reached the summit and were greeted with a 360 degree view of 70+ miles! We could see back into the Smokey's where we had come from and past Max Patch where we would be later in the day. This is the view we had expected on Clingman’s Dome. We stopped for a short break to have a snack and make a phone call or two. CC listened to all her Mother's Day greetings from all our kids and we sent a few ourselves as we were out of contact last Sunday. We also passed one couple of section hikers who had left the hostel ahead of us earlier in the morning. CC was setting the pace and managing to keep nearly a 2 mph average up and down hill. There was a slight wind, but visibility was unlimited and we had a million dollar view.
We had planned to do this section by doing ten mile days. We had that done by 3PM and kept on walking. We arrived at Max Patch, a bald that sits at 4,250' and again like Snowbird the view was breathtaking. The wind had picked up so much it nearly toppled both of us a number of times. The trail and the mountain were both loaded with people out enjoying this fine Saturday. We saw no less than 40 people today.
The one low spot was at Brown Gap. Walking down the trail to the gap we saw three men with two dogs. The dogs were running loose. We asked the men to please hold the dogs while we passed. Their reply was the standard "they are harmless." The dogs had other ideas! CC fended off the black dog with trekking poles while I moved ahead to take on the brindle dog. Both were growling and barking menacingly while I told the owners to get them under control before the dogs got hurt. I was moving in quickly and the dogs were starting to back down a bit. The owners saw we were not backing up or afraid and asked us to "calm down!" I was calm and prepared to protect us at the expense of the dogs. They were soon under control and we passed without so much as a "sorry about our dogs" sometimes you wonder what people are thinking.
We made the "Roaring Fork Shelter" by 6PM. "Haggus" and his brother were just setting up a tent and an older man was trying to start a fire. Haggus was surprised to see us as we had just done 14.6 miles not the 10 talked about at breakfast. We found a tent site that was the best there and it was anything but flat. After supper we settled into the tent. CC could get somewhat comfortable by lying sideways in the tent which gave me no room. I ended up in the shelter and she stayed in the tent alone.


Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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