The Brown Gap camp site was very nice. It had a water fountain, a big flat spot, a fire ring (although we didn’t use it) and we had it all to ourselves. Not a soul in sight. Even though I didn’t feel good going to bed the night before, this day I woke up ready to go! We had a quick breakfast and packed up camp pretty quickly while Turk entertained himself with a stick. Your morning zoomies are becoming a pretty constant thing.
We have steadily increased our mileage each day. At first we averaged 10-12 miles, but I think it’s fair to say we’re now averaging closer to 12-14 miles. However, this day we planned to walk 16 miles. So we started a nice walk early in the morning.
As we walked to a road junction, we were ecstatic to see a woman named Moose Liver doing magic on the trails! We each grabbed a package of mini donuts and an orange before continuing the walk. The culture around trail magic on the AT is very special and we are always so grateful to those who come to the trail to offer love to hikers.
Maximum patch
At noon we arrived at Max Patch.
It’s not a section I knew much about, so I didn’t have high expectations about it. But we were blown away by how beautiful the views were up there. There had been a controlled burn earlier in the month, so all the brush was low enough to be able to see in all directions. 
I don’t know if it was the time of day or just the nice weather, but the Max Patch mountains were really beautiful! Turk also loved the grass fields there. He liked to look for field mice and dig a small hole.
Lunch break
We stopped at the Roaring Fork Shelter for lunch. Lunch on the road usually consists of eating meat sticks or cutting up summer sausage to go with Ritz crackers. Crushed French fries are eaten with our long-handled spoon. And of course peanut butter. Many other snacks are filtered out depending on what we feel on the replenishment days. As we sat eating lunch, a familiar face appeared again. Our good friend Night Crawler! It had been a few days since we last saw him, but he has been walking with us for most of the hike so far.
A great happy tragedy
Some people form trams (trail families) close enough that they all sleep in the same place every night and plan every trip into town together. Cody, Turk and I have slowly built a less structured version of a tram. We have some friends that we often go hiking with. A couple in front of us and a couple behind. But it’s always great to see one of them unexpectedly! Night Crawler walked with us for most of the afternoon. We enjoyed the nice weather, but knew that scattered storms were forecast for early in the evening.
Struggling to find accommodation
As we hiked along a ridge that had good cell service, we decided to take a break and finally decide on our lodging arrangements for when we arrived in Hot Springs. Finding accommodation for us may be a little more difficult because we are walking with Turkenna. Not all shelters allow dogs. And as we began to realize during our break, not many places in Hot Springs allowed dogs either. However, the odds were not in our favor. Holiday weekends, spring break, last minute reservations… we were struggling. After many calls to various inns, hostels and hotels, we messaged the Airbnb hosts and verified VRBO. Still nothing. However, we needed to keep walking, so we left the ridge with no guarantee that we would have cell service to continue our search later. However, we made plans with a friend to meet up in the city and eat tacos with her and her husband!
Thunder and lightning
As we walked along the trail, we watched as ominous storm clouds circled the mountain and got closer. We stopped to put on our covers and raincoats. 
Even Turk put his on. Within minutes, the heavens opened and we found ourselves on a high peak with lightning nearby. We quickened our pace to reach lower ground. Turkenna did very well. Every thunderclap, she looked at us for reassurance. We gave it and that’s all I needed to keep walking with confidence. In fact, it seems to enjoy walking in the rain, but I was impressed with how well it handled the thunder.
Campsite found
We finally reached some unmarked campsites about a quarter mile past the last water source. The rain had passed as quickly as it had appeared. 
All of our wet gear was hung out to dry while I made dinner and Cody fetched water. Turk was glad to be dried off, fed, and put to bed. And just before he fell asleep, Cody got a response from an Airbnb host and we booked a dog-friendly place for the next night. With the promise of seeing friends, eating good food, and staying in the city, we went to bed looking forward to the next day!
Heading to hot springs
Just as we had done in most of the towns we stopped at so far, we woke up this day with a short walk into the town ahead of us.
Only 8 miles to walk and then we would have the rest of the day to spend in the city. We arrived at the Appalachian Trailer Hostel just outside of town around 10:00. Although we couldn’t spend the night there (with Turk), we were able to do laundry and shower there before lunch. Everyone was very friendly and the staff really loved Turkenna.
See familiar faces
With clean clothes and feeling fresh after the shower, we continued along the AT until we reached the city. That’s where we met our friends Sam and Jay. We had some amazing tacos at Big Pillow Brewery! They had a lot of questions about life on the trails and how things were going. 
«What do you eat? Where do you poop? How much does your backpack weigh? What’s it like to walk with a dog?» We told them all about life on the trails and how much we love it. We share some of the not-so-glamorous parts of being on the road. Like digging cat holes and not using deodorant. Luckily, we had just showered and washed our clothes so they wouldn’t smell us so much out of the way! It felt so good to be sitting with familiar faces doing something as normal as eating tacos at a brewery in clean clothes. These moments are the luxuries we lose when hiking. We are so grateful for friends who are flexible to make last-minute plans and drive from out of town to join us for an afternoon.
You eat what!?
After lunch, we stopped by the post office to pick up one of our hiker boxes with Turk’s dog food resupply and some dehydrated meals for us. Then we finished our resupply at Dollar General. Sam was incredulous at the (not so healthy) snacks we chose.
«Are Doritos and Snickers snacks?» I guess he figured we only ate nuts and dried fruit. But aside from consuming enough protein each day, calories are calories. Both Cody and I have lost weight since we started. So yes, Doritos and Snickers are acceptable snacks.
Relax on Airbnb
Our last stop in the city was at a pizza place that Jay and Sam really like. They got us a couple of pizzas and kindly took us to our Airbnb just a couple of miles out of town. We ate pizza on the porch and watched the sun begin to set. Our friends Night Crawler and Apollo had been invited to stay with us at Airbnb. After saying goodbye to Sam and Jay, we spent the rest of the night in the hot tub, enjoying a few beers and soaking up every last minute of this perfect day.
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