Day 21 – Rain in hot springs
I woke up this morning to heavy rain falling on the canvas of my tent. But it was nice and dry inside, so that’s a win. I stood there for a while waiting to see if the rain would let up, and for a while it looked like it was starting to. I started getting ready and packing, but as I was about to leave, the rain started again. I know I’m just postponing the inevitable. I’ll get wet today. I will be uncomfortable. These truths I know, but still, I linger for a moment of slowing down in the rain. Finally, I set an ultimatum: at 9 in the morning I will leave the store and pack everything, no matter what. At 8:55 the rain stops, it’s time. I rush out of my tent and pack it up as quickly as possible. Today I will get wet, but not yet.
foggy and wet
Today I have a little over 16 miles to go to Hot Springs, North Carolina. The morning consisted of walks in the rain, which varied in intensity from fog to steady rain. It started out a little warm and humid, but as the day progressed the temperature dropped and it became hazy. The terrain for the first two kilometers was smooth and forgiving. Helping me through the day of discomfort. After that there were several long climbs. It no longer mattered whether my raincoat kept out the rain or not, as it certainly kept my body heat in and I was sweating a lot.
here comes the sun
Finally, the climbs stopped and I began the long descent toward Hot Springs. At first it was a welcome change, until the slippage began. While the trail wasn’t that steep, the rain made the mud quite slippery. No less than a dozen times I slipped and my trekking poles saved me. A couple of times the trekking poles were barely enough to keep me from falling. In one memorable moment, I lost traction with both feet, basically running in place like a cartoon.
As the afternoon progressed, the fog lifted and the sun peeked through the clouds. This was a welcome change as it helped dry out the road and myself. It also gave me some nice views of Hot Springs, as I came down from the mountains. The beauty of Hot Springs is that the trail goes directly through town. Which means I could walk to my hostel, Elmer’s Sunnybank Hostel, directly from the trail. Because I was right on it. I spent the rest of the afternoon settling into the hostel and showering. Many of my tasks would wait until tomorrow, so after showering, the main order of the day was dinner. I ended up going to the Spring Creek Tavern, where I had a fried bologna, pulled pork, and bacon sandwich. Plus a few beers. One of which I quite liked. An Irish Coffee Cream Ale, from Southern Tier Brewing. Highly recommended!
Day 22 – ZERO in Hot Springs
Zero day today in Hot Springs! I probably could have kept going without a ZERO in Hot Springs, but I made a good effort through the Smokies, so a rest day seemed reasonable. Started the day with a visit to the Smokey Mountain Diner. I had a big breakfast of fried steak, biscuits and gravy, French fries, scrambled eggs and coffee. After completing the morning gluttony, I went and left my clothes to be washed. The place I was staying, Elmer’s Sunnybank Inn/Hostel, didn’t have a laundry, but a guy down the street would do it for $5. So I went and left it to him. The next task was to dry my tent, as it had gotten completely wet the last time I used it, so I hung it on the clothesline to dry in the sun. Elmer’s is an interesting place, it’s a big old house that doesn’t look like a hostel. More of a museum or an ode to a bygone era.
Hiker Tasks
The rest of the morning and afternoon consisted of additional tasks I need to do around town. I then stopped at the supplier to see if they had a better way to repair the 4 inch hole in the side of my shoe or if it was better to replace it. What had started as a small hole a week ago had transformed into a 4-inch-long gash on the side of my shoe. I tried to record it, without much success. They suggested the same approach but doing it inside and out. Whatever the agreement was, it was probably a losing battle. Unfortunately they didn’t have the size and model of shoe I was looking for, so I had no luck when it came to replacing them. So I stocked up on more duct tape, ordered the shoes online, and shipped them to Erwin, Tennessee, the next city I’ll be passing through.
While I was at the clothing store, I also took the opportunity to replace my sunglasses that I broke at mile 100 and bought a pair of Crocs from another brand, to replace mine that I lost a couple of days ago. After that, I finished my food resupply with enough to get me to Erwin, at the Dollar General, and headed back to the hostel to work on the blog posts.
After catching up on my blog posts, which took me a couple of hours, I proceeded to tackle the next item on my list, gluttony. I headed down the street to Vinyl Pies, the local pizzeria.
I walked in the door and the place was packed! I headed to the bar to take a seat, but before I could sit down I heard my name coming from a table. The turtle was there! Along with another boy, who turned out to be Fozzy. So I sat down with them and soon Bucky and Bill joined us.
The return of the Crocs!
As we were sitting waiting for our pizzas, a couple walked by the table (I had slept next to them at a lodge in the Smokies) and the woman turned, looked at me appreciatively, and said, «Hey, do you miss your Crocs?» I confirmed it, indeed it was. In which, she said they found a pair of Crocs at Max Patch and thought they might have been mine. They even had their backpacks on them, so the next thing I knew I had my Crocs back! I thanked them profusely and offered to buy them a beer, but they politely declined and said they were happy to help. The trail has such a wonderful community around it!
A little later, our pizzas appeared and we got to work, then accompanied with a few cold ones. I bought the album sized pizza, which is what it looks like, a record album sized pizza. I’m glad I got the larger size, because that pizza was fantastic and I crushed it easily.
I ended the night off by leaving my unmarked hour-worn Crocs in the hiker box at the hostel and ended the day at my ZERO in Hot Springs.
Statistics for the 21st:
16.6 miles
3,097′ ascent, 5,446′ descent
Stealth Site to Hot Springs
13 DSLC…
Stove use times: 4
Beers consumed: 5
Statistics for the 22nd:
0 miles
0′ rise, 0′ fall
From hot springs to hot springs
14 DSLC…
Stove use times: 4
Tracker of whole pizzas consumed: 2
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