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Max Patch, Hot Springs, and More Updates On Bear Activity
Max Patch
Max Patch is a magnificent bald mountaintop, offering expansive 360 degree views. Previously a homestead, it was purchased by the U.S. Forest Service, which maintains its open terrain. Camping is no longer allowed there to preserve the habitat.
I passed through with Pale Rider, another thru-hiker, in the late afternoon. Other than one day hiker headed back to his car, there was no one else there.
We camped at a dispersed campsite just beyond Max Patch, which was nestled between rhododendron thickets and a small stream. At some point in the early morning, a thunderstorm rolled in, bringing heavy rain. I was relieved my tent withstood the onslaught.
Once the rain stopped, I packed up and headed out. Past the Deer Park Shelter, I was fortunate to notice the Gragg Cemetery to the side of the trail. It contains just two headstones: Eva Gragg, 1882-1940,”Absent, Not Dead,” and George W. Gragg, 1882-1966, “Departed But Not Forgotten.” Beautiful epithets.
As I re-entered the trail, I met Lois. I learned she had hiked a section of the AT from Georgia to North Carolina and was out for a day hike. After chatting for awhile, Lois invited me to share a hot tub with her at the Hot Springs Spa. I gladly accepted her offer of trail magic.
Hot Springs—Elmer’s Sunnyside Inn and The Hot Springs Spa
Elmer Hall has operated Sunnybank Inn since 1978, following his 1976 thru-hike. The Inn is an historic home, built in 1840 and furnished with antiques. Jane Gentry, an Appalachian musician, lived in the home and early 20th century. Earl Shaffer, the first person to complete the AT, stayed at the Inn in 1948 and 1998. I am staying in the room he slept in.
Elmer, who offers thru-hikers a discounted rate, serves his guests a delicious vegetarian breakfast, along with delightful conversation. The last time I was here as a section hiker in about 2013, he also served dinner.
Elmer knows a ton of information about the area. Hot Springs has a large solar panel farm visible from Lover’s Leap. Unlike most towns and cities, Hot Springs is deterring new housing development with municipal laws prohibiting new construction from connecting to the city’s water and sewer system or digging wells and septic systems.
Hot Springs was initially called Warm Springs. Before early settlers arrived in the 1700’s, the Cherokee appreciated the warm mineral waters. Warm Springs boasted a grand hotel, where people could soak in the mineral waters. Unfortunately, the hotel burnt down in the early 20th century.
Today Hot Springs is a small town, which caters to AT hikers. It has an excellent outfitter, several eateries including a diner, taqueria/brewery, tavern with creekside, outdoor seating, and a gourmet foods cafe, a Welcome Center with interesting exhibits, a library which offers hikers access to a computer and WiFi, and a spa where one can enjoy the hot, mineral waters. I enjoyed a lovely hour soaking in the mineral waters with Lois and then treated her to ice cream from the Artisun..
Bear Activity Update: Spring Mountain Shelter and Cosby Notch Shelter
On May 10, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy issued an alert that camping was closed north of Hot Springs from Tanyard Gap to Spring Mountain Shelter due to bear activity. I had been aware of the problem from reports on Far Out. On May 6, bears repeatedly came to the shelter area in the evening and a bear took a bear canister.
Yesterday I had intended to hike 11 miles to Spring Mountain Shelter. Since I wouldn’t be able to camp there, I decided to slack pack 9.3 miles from Hurricane Gap back to Hot Springs, where I would spend a second night at Sunnybank Inn. I was fortunate to reach a shuttler, Kate, in the morning, who was able to shuttle me to Hurricane Gap.
I had a leisurely hike from Hurricane Gap back to Hot Springs, carrying a very light pack. As I hiked south, I talked to many northbound hikers and was delighted to see people I knew.
I met three men told me they stayed in the fire tower on Rich Mountain. A person who camped below encountered bear problems.
UPDATE – the hiker pitched his tent and went for water. When he returned, he saw that a bear had grabbed his backpack. The hiker went after his backpack. The bear unzipped the compartment with his food bag, but the hiker was able to grab his pack. He packed up his tent and tried to hike south to Hot Springs with another hiker who had a dog. But six bears were in their way. They were forced to hike north.
I also met Bruiser, who told me she received a text message from a hiker friend who had a serious bear encounter at Cosby Knob Shelter, a few days south of Hot Springs. (I wrote in a prior post about my night at Cosby Knob Shelter). A bear, which had been lurking behind the privy, followed her back to the shelter and bit her. The hiker received medical treatment and is okay. The bear was shot and will be tested for rabies. Cosby Knob Shelter has also been closed for camping.
I don’t know if these bear encounters are typical for this time of year before berries and other foods are available. Is there an increase in the bear population, causing a shortage of food? Is bear activity being encouraged by careless hikers?
Hopefully I won’t have any problems with bears. But as I head out on the AT today from Hurricane Gap (being shuttled there), I know I am facing multiple days of rain and thunderstorms. Ugh!
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Comments 9
I’m excited to find this other site and see your pictures! Why did you choose to be a NOBO and would you consider going again SOBO for the difference in seasons? Seems a very hard decision for me…
I am flip flopping. I started as a NOBO to follow the spring wildflowers progression. I am flipping north to Katahdin the 3rd week of July and will then hike south, missing worst of summer heat and fall cold weather.
My fav blogger this year. Thanks for taking the effort to share.
Wow! Thanks.
Amazing stories, love the information and esp the pic of you happily enjoying a rootbeer float! Looking forward to next post. Sounds like there are many good people you meet along the way.
Thanks! Yes, lots of wonderful hikers!
In August of ’82, I was with a group that taught teenage young men how to camp and hike. We put in at the Waterville Rd exit off I-40 and began hiking north towards Hot Springs. From what I read in the blogs on the site, things have changed dramatically since then. It was not unusual to hike for two or three days without seeing any other hikers and the shelters and campsites (as they were) were never occupied when we reached our daily target. Back then the remains of the old homestead were still visible in the underbrush and the area around the tombstones was covered in wild blueberry bushes and they were loaded with berries. Down the hill and opposite of the gravestones was a clearing and a concrete helicopter pad. Reading this blog brought back so many memories of that summer and the two that followed. Max Patch (as I understand, the trail actually crosses over the bald. In 1982 the trail followed the gravel road at the base and went around it. Fortunately one of the members of our group was the grandson of the owners at the time so we were able to spend a considerable amount of time enjoying the view. We ate lunch a couple of days later on Lovers Leap looking down on the French Broad river and watching the cargo trains as they pulled past Hot Springs. Back then there was little if any attention paid to hikers as we passed through almost as if we were a slight nuisance. That has certainly changed for the better.
We had one slight encounter with a bear two days out of Hot Springs. Late that night we were awakened by grunting and huffing sounds coming from the area of a fire circle that our group did not use and was approximately 50 to 75 yards away from where we had strung up our hammocks and the opposite direction of where we had hung up our bear bags. If bear spray existed back then, we never heard of it. All we could do in the pitch black was lay there as quietly as we could and try and figure out where the bear was by listening to it digging and shuffling in the leaves. After an eternity (in reality it was approximately 30 min) the bear moved on and in the morning there was shredded tin foil and other debris that had been placed in the firepit and covered but had not been burned or packed out. It was a sobering reminder that on the trail, it is not only what you do or fail to do, but what other hikers do or don’t do that can put your posterior in a pot that’s boiling. In those days there were no cell phones and there was only one way to summon help in an emergency ( our group had assisted a troop of Girl Scouts a few days earlier when one of them had fallen and fractured her lower leg. Our group built a litter and carried her on to a road crossing where one of our instructors hitched a ride to a payphone while two of our EMTs tended to the injured girl until the local rescue service arrived about 4-5 hrs later. That was considered to be a relatively quick response back then). As we looked at the tracks that were left by the bear, we were glad that we had followed our training about bear precautions and the bear found us to be very uninteresting to say the least. Plus since the berries were ripe the bear could gorge on blueberries to his hearts content ( did I mention that blueberries are a very effective natural laxative? Another valuable lesson learned on the AT!).
Thank you for your post and for reminding an old guy who he was and what he learned he could do. At 16yo it was by far the hardest thing I had ever accomplished and the things I learned on the trail followed me through my life and I have taught my sons and grandsons many of those little lessons. I want them to love the outdoors and be prepared for whatever they may encounter while they are out there.
Safe journeys and pleasant sunsets on your passage.
Thanks for sharing your memories of Max Patch. Fascinating!
In August of ’82, I was with a group that taught teenage young men how to camp and hike. We put in at the Waterville Rd exit off I-40 and began hiking north towards Hot Springs. From what I read in the blogs on the site, things have changed dramatically since then. It was not unusual to hike for two or three days without seeing any other hikers and the shelters and campsites (as they were) were never occupied when we reached our daily target. Back then the remains of the old homestead were still visible in the underbrush and the area around the tombstones was covered in wild blueberry bushes and they were loaded with berries. Down the hill and opposite of the gravestones was a clearing and a concrete helicopter pad. Reading this blog brought back so many memories of that summer and the two that followed. Max Patch (as I understand, the trail actually crosses over the bald. In 1982 the trail followed the gravel road at the base and went around it. Fortunately one of the members of our group was the grandson of the owners at the time so we were able to spend a considerable amount of time enjoying the view). We ate lunch a couple of days later on Lovers Leap looking down on the French Broad river and watching the cargo trains as they pulled past Hot Springs. Back then there was little if any attention paid to hikers as we passed through almost as if we were a slight nuisance. That has certainly changed for the better.
We had one slight encounter with a bear two days out of Hot Springs. Late that night we were awakened by grunting and huffing sounds coming from the area of a fire circle that our group did not use and was approximately 50 to 75 yards away from where we had strung up our hammocks and the opposite direction of where we had hung up our bear bags. If bear spray existed back then, we never heard of it. All we could do in the pitch black was lay there as quietly as we could and try and figure out where the bear was by listening to it digging and shuffling in the leaves. After an eternity (in reality it was approximately 30 min) the bear moved on and in the morning there was shredded tin foil and other debris that had been placed in the firepit and covered but had not been burned or packed out. It was a sobering reminder that on the trail, it is not only what you do or fail to do, but what other hikers do or don’t do that can put your posterior in a pot that’s boiling. In those days there were no cell phones and there was only one way to summon help in an emergency ( our group had assisted a troop of Girl Scouts a few days earlier when one of them had fallen and fractured her lower leg. Our group built a litter and carried her on to a road crossing where one of our instructors hitched a ride to a payphone while two of our EMTs tended to the injured girl until the local rescue service arrived about 4-5 hrs later. That was considered to be a relatively quick response back then). As we looked at the tracks that were left by the bear, we were glad that we had followed our training about bear precautions and the bear found us to be very uninteresting to say the least. Plus since the berries were ripe the bear could gorge on blueberries to his hearts content ( did I mention that blueberries are a very effective natural laxative? Another valuable lesson learned on the AT!).
Thank you for your post and for reminding an old guy who he was and what he learned he could do. At 16yo it was by far the hardest thing I had ever accomplished and the things I learned on the trail followed me through my life and I have taught my sons and grandsons many of those little lessons. I want them to love the outdoors and be prepared for whatever they may encounter while they are out there.
Safe journeys and pleasant sunsets on your passage.