Day #27 - Max Patch

Miles: 13.0 to Roaring Fork Shelter

Today was a great day! Bluebird, Wing It, and I left our beautiful little campsite (I slept like a baby) and set out. Most of the day was pretty flat terrain and my knees and heel didn't bother me too much. 

It was cooold and windy! I thought Wiki was helping a guy on a mountaintop whose tent was blowing away, but it turns out it was trail magic! It was a horrible place to do trail magic. Stopping on a cold mountain top quickly drains your body heat. We layered up and helped ourselves to iced honey buns (those things pack 125% of your daily saturated fat intake; Boss had 2 and I heard Stealth had 4), and soda. The guy had an embroidered trail angel jacket. Apparently it's some kind of job. I appreciated the food, but it was just too miserable to stay so we pushed on. 

We took pictures on Snowbird Mountain thinking it was Max Patch. Either way it was beautiful. We passed an FAA tower right near there. The boys stopped to investigate but couldn't get in. 

We took lots of great snack breaks, including one at Groundhog Creek Shelter where I used the very low-walled privy. Poor True Story. He pooped in the woods because he couldn't find the path to the shelter. He was just short of it. 

Right before we reached Max Patch we came up a hill and saw a bunch of llamas at the base of the stairs to the summit. They were so cool! They were making noises to each other. Some were wearing packs. I thought there was a baby one but it turns out that was an alpaca. 

We bushwhacked around them and headed to Max Patch, a huge bald at the top of the mountain with great views! We met Simba and Twist up there. It felt very Sound of Music. 

I hung out there for a while, then I struck off on my own toward the shelter. It was a lovely walk. Navigation was a little confusing (Tigger and Teach (Teach is one of Tigger's high school teachers who is joining us for a few days) went way off course at a road crossing), but the campsite is nice. Most of us are tenting. Half of the group hiked on to a site a few miles ahead. They want to get to Hot Springs by Friday night. 

I met two Austinites at this shelter. One is a section hiker that plans to thru next year. A guy named Longhorn is a thru. Hope to talk to him more. Met Luna here at the shelter too. She's a thru from Georgia. It's so great meeting new friends! 

Best Thing: Llamas, Max Patch, and Hot Tamales at dinner from Wiki. 

Looking Forward To: Ending just a few miles from Hot Springs!