November in Pisgah

We went to the Hot Springs area last weekend for a little fall car camping funtime. One of the good things about car camping is that you are able to travel lightly easily:



We took the round about way there with a stop at Max Patch. Once onto the gravel forest roads we caught a glimpse of snow and had a hunch that there would be even more at the top:



While the rest of our group was content to hike around the top of Max Patch to take in the wintery views I opted to go for a run on the AT instead. There was a lot of snow - every bit of 8" on the ground if not a solid foot. I hadn't planned on running in the snow but aren't sure what I would have done differently if I had planned on it. It was slippery and wet with drifts over knee high and at times eight inches of slush to trudge through.









I went out and back to the Roaring Fork shelter. It was so much fun that I could have run all day but other people were waiting for me so an hour was long enough. As I paused at the shelter I imagined what it must have been like for southbound AT through hikers who weathered the unexpected heavy snow storm in the shelter. After months on the trail and seemingly within an arm's reach of Springer Mtn. they were greeted with a foot of snow just before entering the Smokies. That sounds like my kind of fun!