Appalachian Trail - Day 018 - Painter Branch Creek to Phil's Gap

Day: 018

Date: Friday, 12 May 2023

Start:  Painter Branch Creek (AT Mile 243.7)

Finish:  Phil’s Gap (AT Mile 263.9)

Daily Kilometres:  33.0

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  445.4

Weather:  Fine and cool in the morning with some heavy rain showers and distant thunder in the afternoon.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals

Aches:  Dave - very tired with a few niggles; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  Max Patch (4,615’) is a clear-topped mountain, a rarity in this part of the Appalachians, and we had fantastic views in all directions when we crossed its summit after lunch.

Lowlight:  We were hit by a heavy downpour around 6:00pm, just when we were looking for somewhere to camp.  We were both drenched as was our gear and just kept walking until it eased and we reached somewhere to camp.  Then it was a race to get the tent up without everything getting too wet from the water dripping from the trees.  Once the tent was up and we had thrown all of our clothes and bedding inside, we climbed in, peeled off our wet clothes, dried and put on some warm dry clothes.  Bliss!

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 6:00am and were pleasantly surprised to find out tent fly dry despite us being camped in a fairly damp little valley.  We were packed and walking by soon after 7:00am with the goal of another 20-mile day, which would only leave us a short day tomorrow into Hot Springs, a little trail town where we have booked a hotel room.  A half day off will be nice.

The trail continued steadily uphill immediately, and Dave was soon struggling with the residual fatigue from yesterday.  He just plodded steadily upwards and Julie waited for him to catch up every 10-15 minutes.  The woods were beautiful with abundant wildflowers again, so there was plenty for Julie to look at while she was waiting.

The trail builders must have had a sadistic streak because once we reached the top of the first hill the route went from summit to gap over a never-ending series of knolls along a long ridge.  Up and down, up and down, with Dave getting ever slower.

Eventually, around 1:00pm, we reached Max Patch Road and the end of that particular section.  We had some lunch, near to some other very talkative thru-hikers, and then climbed Max Patch, gaining some fabulous views from the summit (see above).  As we descended, it began to rain, the first of a series of heavy downpours during the afternoon.

The trail changed dramatically for the next hour or so, passing through an old farm area with the remains of wooden fencing, then it followed an old road bed and then the Roaring Fork River, giving us a break from the hills for a while.  It was quite dank down by the river, made more so by the rain and wet trail, but at least the walking was easier for a while, so long as you didn’t slip on the mud or wet roots.

The easier trail was too good to last and soon we were climbing again through the wet forest up to the top of Walnut Mountain.  We considered staying in a shelter there because of the possibility of more rain, but there were already a number of hikers in residence so we continued on expecting to camp in another few miles.  Unfortunately, the weather intervened and we ended up trudging some extra distance while we waited for the rain to stop, eventually finding a nice place to camp, though everything was very wet (see above).