Activating Max Patch, Bald is Beautiful!

What a wonderful day for a SOTA activation.  Today my fiance and I Kendall hiked to the Summit of Max Patch W4C/CM-036.

Max Patch is a bit of an oddity for the Smokey Mountains.  The summit is completely bald.  Because of this there are excellent 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains.  Max Patch is a major landmark along the Tennessee/North Carolina section of the Appalachian Trail.  It is not uncommon in the summer months to find the top of the Patch dotted with tents.

 As you can see Coleman has even immortalized this popular summit.  The summit is so popular in part because of the ease of assent for day hikers.  The hike from the parking lot is less than a mile, and although it is steep it is not difficult.

Kendall and I were joined on our trek by our two dogs Max a 17lb Yorkie, and Gus the 17lb Shih Tzu.  While they are not as useful as goats to help pack gear to the summit they did provide some humor on the way up.

For this trip I decided to try my hand at a little bit of video.  I hope to get a little more practice and plan to include more of my videos in the future.
Enjoy!

On a side note while doing research on my assent I came across an interesting article about Max Patch.  It is found here Vehicles Tear up Max Patch Its a sad state of affairs when idiots out "having fun" feel the need to tear up these beautiful parks and mountains.

 I would remind everyone to always practice Zero Footprint Activating.  Police up all your trash and try to leave the mountain in better shape than you left it.    /RANT OFF

73's And Keep Climbing!