In early May 2019, we resumed our short-segment hiking of the Appalachian Trail. On this day, we would hike the 5.4-mile distance from the summit of Max Patch to Lemon Gap. The entire route is in North Carolina except for Lemon Gap itself being on the Tennessee-North Carolina border. The trail descends 1079 feet (4629' at Max Patch to 3550' at Lemon Gap) yielding an easy downgrade of less than 4%.
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| Topographic map with GPS route |
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| Elevation profile |
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| View from the summit of Max Patch |
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| Another view from the summit |
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| One more view from the summit |
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| Trail junction to Max Patch parking lot ½ mile left |
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| Entering the woods |
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| Crossing a drainage |
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| Typical trail conditions |
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| The fence is obviously meant to keep hikers out of the spring |
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| Looking back at Max Patch |
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| Yellow Trillium (Trillium luteum) |
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| Junction with the Buckeye Ridge Trail |
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| The "Green Tunnel" isn't quite green yet |
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| Re-entering the green tunnel |
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| This stile keeps horses on the bridle trail and off the AT |
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| Crossing the horse trail |
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| Another stile completes the exclusion |
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| Stream crossing |
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| The stream formed a second route across the trail... |
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| ...and muddied the trail beyond |
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| Painted Trillium (Trillium undulatum) |
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| Switchback stairs and another hiker |
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| Wake Robin or Red Trillium (Trillium erectum) |
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| Side path to the Roaring Fork Shelter |
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| White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) |
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| A White Trillium fading to pink |
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| Open forest |
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| A trillium covered hillside |
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| Back in the Green Tunnel |
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| Crossing another stream |
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| A pretty, little stream |
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| Timber stairs |
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| A stream crossing worthy of log bridge #1 |
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| Yes, this is the trail |
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| Sidehill climbing |
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| A switchback on the trail |
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| One of the noisiest streams we've encountered today |
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| Log bridge #2 |
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| Switchback after crossing a stream |
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| Rock hopping |
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| Sit and rest a spell |
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| Another trillium explosion of color |
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| I wonder why the bark was sanded off for this double blaze |
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| One more stream crossing |
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| Waterbar-style stream crossing |
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| More trillium |
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| Rock hopping crossing |
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| A tangle of roots |
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| A stepover crossing |
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| Climbing away from the stream |
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| Bowman's Root (Porteranthus trifoliatus) |
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| The AT on the opposite side of a ravine |
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| Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) |
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| Log bridge #3 |
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| Log bridge #4 |
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| Log bridge #5 |
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| Timber and rock stairs mark another stream crossing |
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| Typical sidehill trail |
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| The end is in sight |
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| Lemon Gap |
Entry to Pisgah National Forest is free.
The North Carolina National Forests webpage is https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/nfsnc/home.
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail website is https://www.nps.gov/appa/index.htm.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy website is https://appalachiantrail.org/.
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