Yesterday we got into Hot Springs NC and we are currently trying to leave as soon as we wind up with things here in town getting resupplied and mailing out things to everybody including one. The weather has warmed up considerably so the 35 degree sleeping bags aren't very comfortable anymore.
We were going to stay in a top notch hostel last night (15 bucks per night) but we ended up SLEEPING IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!!! Of course when I say van, I mean that I was sleeping under the tarp. It was really down by the river. One of the more pleasant nights so far. Dinner came in the form of a home style diner version of the six dollar burger and fries. It came only two hours after lunch which meant it was tons of filling fun. I was hungry 3 hours later though.
Hiker's hunger is the worst. After packing 10 - 15 miles per day for several weeks, you end up with the hiker's hunger. You can eat at a buffet for two hours and still be just as hungry as when you started two hours later.
That's all I can think of right now but before too long I think that we are going to try to put up profiles of the people that we have met on the trail and then get their pictures up here too. Not everyone is a tree hugger or outdoor oriented. You would be pleasantly surprised.
[above is Daniel's portion, below is Brittany's]
As far as hiker hunger goes, I'm not there yet. I had a veggie plate of cucumber salad, turnip greens, fried green tomatoes, and pinto beans at the diner last night, and was stuffed. (One of the patrons last night whispered "More hippies!" as she walked by us.) A huge homestyle hash brown plate with toast and fruit this morning, stuffed. Snacked on a peach, a tart, a pint of chocolate vegan ice cream, and some fudge cookies...I may be sick soon.
The hike is still cool for me. I mean, I'm still slow, but there are great moments. Max Patch was an enormous bald, I mean enormous bald, with millions of buttercups (and many vacationers) on top. That same evening there were many stream crossings with log bridges (squared off), very beautiful. We had a potential bear encounter as well, arriving at a shelter laden with official and unofficial notices and anecdotes about the tenacity of the bear in the area. Not wanting our food stolen or gear destroyed, we hiked away from that (1938-built) shelter and camped under the tarp at a place called Catpen Gap. I don't like setting up in the dark, and because we didn't know if the bear might be where we were anyway, I sang Jesus Christ Superstar and Fountains of Wayne songs to warn potential bear of our presence while Daniel hung the food bag.
^^^Max Patch ascent and Daniel atop the bald enjoying the wind!
It's great to run into people we know. Just yesterday, we ran into the following hikers we knew, all in Hot Springs at the same time: Kit, Levi, Jukebox, Rolex, Cyclone, Skatch, Kansas, Dixie Dawg, Ben, Float, and Will. It's like a family reunion of dirty, smelly people: Hey guys! Great to see you here! How's it going!?
We are doing laundry as this entry is typed. So I'm sitting here in the outfitter in my rain jacket and my cleaner shorts, feeling somewhat exposed. This is typical, I am told. It's just a different way of life. Other hikers have said in real life, they shower and wear a clean outfit every day, but on the trail it doesn't bother them to go on for days without a cleaning. It doesn't bother me either, but I'm kind of glad to get 12-day funk out of my hiking pants!
We meet so many people, nearly every day, I wish I could write about them all. It's wonderful, being a hiker. People just want to talk to you.
Daniel took longer than he expected to reach Damascus because of two unforseeable events. The first was the opportunity to volunteer on the trail, which he said does not happen every day and which he could not pass up. The second event was an unexpected meeting on the trail. Daniel got to talking with another hiker about where he was from, and it turned out this guy "Matt" is our cousin's husband! Daniel ran into a relative neither of us had met before. It was so bizarre and awesome that Daniel hiked with Matt and his group for a few days. Wow.
Since Hot Springs the hiking has been fair, but everything is not well. The first day out of Hot Springs (Tuesday) I noticed my ankle hurt a little. It was not a big deal, but the next day it hurt a little more, such that we were moving more slowly than normal and ultimately hiked over an exposed rocky ridge in the dark (there was a nice view of town lights below). Thursday told us that there was something wrong enough to merit a half-day and a bandage, and the hikes through Sunday evening were an absolutely painful (in all senses of the word) crawl. Over the six days my distorted walk played with my other ankle, my shin, and my knee. It hurt to stand, which meant it hurt to go to the bathroom too. The medicine I took did not help, and this time was the most emotionally taxing time of the hike so far. To be honest, I am very afraid that it may put me off of the hike. I hope hope hope that is not so.
Interesting moments over the week: At the top of Big Bald (360 degree view), I met a family from Greensboro, NC. Sunday we passed a campsite to which someone had brought a plastic lawn chair! There was also a register at the site, and we read and added our own exclamations about this chair in the middle of the woods! Tuesday many hikers at the first shelter stoned, skinned, and ate a rattlesnake. Of course I found it appalling ("But it was hanging around the privy sign and rattling at us!") but there you have it. Turns out the woods are actually stocked with these snakes, and there's a fifty dollar fine for killing one. The last three miles into Erwin a local named Dave ran into us, hiked down the mountain, came back to see if we were OK, offered to carry our packs (declined), and followed and conversed with us for the two hours it took me to make it to town. When we reached the road he even told us where he lived and said we could come by if we needed anything at all. People are so nice.
dly out front, and when people crawl into bed it becomes silent. But we shared tarp space a couple of nights, and quiet, hilarious conversations continued after getting into the sleeping bags (e.g. one conversation about hiking naked on the Summer Solstice). It's definitely more intimate, sharing your personal shelter by choice, than is happening to sleep in the built shelter with someone.
Directly after I finished the previous post and went down the street to find Daniel, I ran into Kit imploring us to spend the night at Elmer's, or the Sunnybank Inn, and sign up for dinner. Thus the dinner minimum could be met, and Kit, admittedly addicted to the place, could have his third awesome vegetarian dinner there. We agreed.
it's on the National Historic Register! This history and more, plus bed and towels, meal option, eclectic antique furniture a music room, parlor, puppy, hundreds of books, second floor porch, and dinner discussion, for a ridiculously reasonable rate! And get this: "The Sunnybank Retreat Association is a not-for-profit private educational and recreational membership organization that exists to provide experiences that promote physical, mental, and spiritual health, and further a natural and simple way of life. The Association supports groups and politics that promote ecological wisdom, human and animal 
rights, global responsibility and sustainable economics." Sweet.
second-floor porch, feet up, freshly showered, 7 a.m., waiting for breakfast to roll around and for everyone else to wake. We made no mileage yesterday, so in hiker language it was a "zero day." But I think we made the right choice. Elmer's place has been totally worth it.
