Max Patch Trailgating!

Well, since last Saturday was National Trails Day, I took Trailspace's advice and went "Trailgating" with a group of friends!

No trailgate would be complete without a rolling cooler full of delicious cold beverages and three strong guys to roll it! Max Patch is tough enough to walk up without a full cooler. But it can be done and it was worth it!

View from the summit

Jay and I

Throwing Ninja Stars at a target on a tree...excellent camping activity! *We also ran into some friends with a light up frisbee...so much fun to play with at night on top of the bald!

Beautiful blooms!

This trip really was focused on the trailgating aspect, but we did take a short hike to the Roarking Fork Shelter and back. Nothing special!

The AT crossing Max Patch Bald summit with sunset in background

My friend Ashley's dog, Jack

Campsite

Group shot. Yep...it was that cold on June 2! Just how I like it!

Blake and Bryan being silly

BLUE mountains!

ENO Twilights in the Carbon Reflex. They look really cool inside, but are not very bright from the outside.

Almost full moon. It did drown out the stars, but it was cool because it still lit up all of the mountains.

I may come back and add some pictures later from previous trips to Max Patch!

Max Patch Bald is located off the Harmon Den exit of I-40 (exit 7), just southeast of GSMNP in North Carolina. It is about 45-55 minutes west of Asheville to the exit and then about 20 minutes up the mountain.

Additional pictures from previous trips to Max Patch

Deva 60, Baltoro 70, Baltoro 70, Z55

December 2010

Party in Roaring Fork Shelter!!! Seriously one of the best nights ever! The temperature dropped to 15, but we stayed warm!

Roaring Fork Shelter

Iced over Mountain Laurel Tunnel

Some gorgeous photos there.

Distance, elevation, pack weights?

What a great weekend trip!

You got some great photos, as usual. What hardware were you shooting with, especially of the shot of the moon? 

I wish it was going to be that cool this weekend, as we'll be up in The Roan, but it's supposed to be holding around 55-65 degrees both day and night the whole time. How bizarre is that? 

Are those two friends, flying the scull and bones, members of the Southern Highlanders? 

Great photos as always, A!

The color is sooo good!

Tents in the shelter is one way to keep warm, lol.

Last time I went through there was fall of 2010 and I heard tell of a bear that was terrorizing that shelter by actually taking packs away from resting hikers.

thanks for posting those awesome photos

Thanks, guys! :)

@Peter,

Distance to top of Max Patch from the parking lot is probably 1/4 mile...it is really just climbing a very big hill. The Appalachian Trail runs across the top of it, so you can go as far as you want. On these trips, we usually do about 5.5 miles round trip to the Roaring Fork shelter and back, because Max Patch is the main attraction and we want to spend most of our time there. Elevation is 4616. Pack weight...varies depending on weather. I went a few weeks ago and had my pack sub 15lb, but that was a big mistake. I took too much water and did not take my sleeping bag or Patagonia R1(I took my liner instead). The weather said low 56. It turns out that was a LIE and the wind was blowing probably 15-20 mph. This time my pack probably weighed 18 lbs because I added a few items for warmth and comfort!

@Gonzan,

My camera is a Canon PowerShot SX30 IS 14.1 MP 35X Optical Zoom. It is really nice, but doesn't interchangable lenses or anything! I've really gotten extremely lucky and been in the right place at the right time with a lot of shots. I also take about 100 shots every time I go out, so that I make sure that I have at least 20% awesome shots, then I delete the rest!

That weather sounds great to me! Just remember that if you camp on a bald that you have to factor in the wind and elevation in the temp. I am not sure where you are camping, but if you camp at the same spot we did, the wind isn't too bad because it is on the back side of the bald.

No, my friends are not Southern Highlanders. Some other guys (one named Jonah) were camping up there and had that flag and I think my friends just wanted a picture with it because it looked cool!

Have SO much fun at Roan!

@Patman,

Well, we figured it would be a lot warmer and easier than staking them in the snow! They were free-standing tents, so we figured we might as well! I absolutely believe that story. There are definitely bear cables there and there are always signs warning about bears being extremely active in that shelter! It was my first time ever even seeing a shelter, so that scared me!

Glad you enjoyed the pics!

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