Day 27 - Brown Gap to Campsite in Unnamed Gap, Bluff Mountain
12.3 miles
Another great day.
We started today with a full breakfast at Brown Gap. Left camp shortly after 9 am, Invisible Bear hiked out with us. It was a steady climb out of Brown Gap but it was such a beautiful morning, it was lovely to be hiking.
I've heard lots about Max Patch and was excited to finally see it for myself. We had great views as it was a clear blue sky day.
We took a break on the summit and hung out with the Cox family. Max Patch is a popular and easy-access day hike so we saw lots of dayhikers at the summit.
The next section of trail, Max Patch to Lemon Gap is probably my favorite stretch of the AT so far. Fairly level, beautiful, stream crossings. Easy, lovely hiking.
I really enjoyed hiking with Invisible Bear, someone new to have conversations with.
After Lemon Gap the trail climbed again, up to Walnut Mountain, another grassy bald summit, then we dropped back down into another gap.
Tonight we camped at an unnamed gap on Bluff Mountain. A large, lovely, flat area, that according to some women we met earlier on the trail, used to be an old Boy Scout camp.
There isn't water at this site so we filled up with water before arriving here, approximately .5 miles back on the trail. We're camping with the Cox and James families tonight and the kids are having so much fun hanging out with kids their age.
I think we'll be zeroing together tomorrow in Hot Springs, but our pace will probably exceed theirs coming out of Hot Springs, so I don't know how many more campsites we'll share.
