We hiked this section on July 18, 2013 as a key exchange hike.
As we were driving to Lemon Gap, we saw a young bear in the road where the AT crosses NC 1182! There was a fire ring on the left side of NC 1182 so the bear must have been checking to see if there was any leftover food.
North to South
Python started hiking from Lemon Gap at 9 AM while Dirigo and SIMS drove back to the trail head at NC 1182. The trail was nice and soft because of all the mud but the sections under tree cover were very buggy. Because of the earlier bear sighting, Python made a lot of noise whenever she turned a corner.
Python had a nice chat with a couple of European hikers that we saw during our day hike from Newfound Gap to Clingmans Dome. They said they saw a bear in a tree near Clingmans Dome and reached for their bear spray just in case the bear was aggressive. Fortunately, the bear was not interested in them so they continued down the trail.
There were numerous campsites and opportunities to get water today.
The rhododendrons were starting to bloom all over the trail.
Python met up with SIMS and Dirigo just south of the shelter. Python never saw the sign to the shelter.
Python was glad to finally be out of the buggy woods and into the open to see Max Patch.
Max Patch
South to North
SIMS & Dirigo started at the AT trailhead to Max Patch. We were watching for the bear while we hiked. As we came up the stairs to Max Patch we met 4 people from Kentucky and Florida doing a circuit hike. We stopped many times along the top to take pictures.
The flowers were in full bloom at the top and the views were amazing. The people we met had a very large dog who followed us as she liked to be the leader. It was very hot on top of Max Patch.
Max Patch
We entered the green tunnel and enjoyed the coolness of the tree cover.
We met Python at a stream crossing and the 4 people turned around at that point too. We asked Python about the shelter and she said she never saw it. We came to the Roaring Fork Shelter about 5 minutes later.
Roaring Fork Shelter
How she missed it, we’ll never know. She must have been in the groove, and wanting to get off her feet.
We stopped at a water crossing at the stream and had a snack. The trail is nicely graded and easy on the feet.
These are great pictures! Looking forward to backpacking down there!
Thanks for stopping by!