We made it to the GPS coordinates for the trail head on Max Patch Road without any issues. I looked at the map and the GPS track. The trail starts on the other side of the road. After a little bit of hunting, we found the white blazes of the AT and we were on our way. The weather was perfect – almost spring like, in the low fifties and calm winds. The trail was mostly dirt – packed down North Carolina clay and loam, slightly moist from the recent rains. Our footing was pretty solid the whole time. We had a great view of the right side of the ridge as we were going up. Soon we were above the tree line as we made our way through the 1 kilometer or so hike up to the summit. With clear skies, the view on the right side of Max Patch ridge was fantastic. Dave and I made a left turn into a long set of stairs made from logs and dirt and climbed another 100 meters or so of vertical before making it onto the final ridge line to the summit. It flattened out a bit on that final approach and by now we had spectacular views of both sides of the ridge and we had just 200 meters to go. We saw the summit from there was completely devoid of trees – a true bald summit. We approached the US Geological Survey summit marker and took photos of it. We gazed at the views in wonderment. Wow – a full 360 degree panorama of the surrounding mountains and hills. We started to set up and 3 hikers approached us from the east of the ridge. They were hiking 20 miles from Hot Springs North Carolina and they have been on the AT for two days camping and hiking. Their names are Sheila, Andrew and Christine. Sheila and Andrew are visitors from Canada. Christine works for an outfitter as a guide and is very familiar with the North Carolina Mountains. I spoke to them that Dave and I were radio amateurs and that we were summit activators in the SOTA Program. They asked what that was all about and spent about the next 10 minutes explaining about activators, chasers, and the points system, who gets credit and how. I told them that if they stayed for a few minutes, and it takes us no time at all to set up and soon they can hear me making contacts with our chasers. They stayed a bit longer – and as soon as I started calling “CQ” in Morse, the callers started piling in.
Stairs leading up to the ridge
Summit marker placed by the USGS
Sheila and Andrew - visitors from Canada and Christine their mountain hiking guide
Makeshift shelter at the summit of Snowbird Mountain
About noon time, we broke setup and headed back down to the trail head so we can go on our next activation – Snowbird Mountain, about an hour’s drive. It is only 10 miles away “as the crow flies”.
Suddenly, the weather changed as we were driving to Snowbird. Rain started falling – a bit of a drizzle at first and then more steady. As soon as we got off Interstate 40, we proceeded on gravel roads mostly. With about 5 km to go – we were still only at 700 meters elevation. This only means one thing – over the next 5 km miles we will gain close to 600 meters of vertical ascent. We were hoping the weather would get better or at least stay as a light rain. When we reached the summit, we arrived at a VORTAC station with a large wood fence surrounding it. Dave came up with the idea and said “I have a tarp. We can string it up along the fence line for shelter and we can operate from there”. We quickly set up the make-shift shelter, using the highest fence posts for support. Dave extended his trekking poles and placed it inside the grommets to give one side some height. We pushed up the mast and erected an inverted V antenna from the end fed wire that we typically use and we are good to go. Cell service was good, so no problem getting a spot out. I said to Dave “Let’s take turns. I will go on 20m – get at least the required number of callers, then you take it over from there on 40m” as I started to call “CQ” on the KX2 using only the internal batteries. It worked out as planned and we had more callers that wanted to call us but with the wind kicking up, it was hard to hear the callers because of the fluttering sound of the tarp being buffeted by the wind. So I announced in Morse “QRT, QRT, high winds and rain, 73 73”. It was a successful activation day for both summits and both of us were delighted. I said, “One more thing remains, making it down safely down this mountain on the narrow mountain road in the wet.” We took our time coming down, being careful not to slip in the wet switchbacks. Before too long – we were on Interstate 40 on the way home.
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