Date: 2007-05-29
From: Hot Springs

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Well a zero day which has been much appreciated. I have spent a lot of time today with Three Days who got his trail name by taking three days to hike the 8 mile approach tail from Amicolola Falls, GA to Springer. He got a late start from the Visitor Center and by the time he got up to the lodge he decided to stop and have lunch. While eating lunch he looked out to see it snowing, decided he wasn't equipped for snow and decided to spend the night at the lodge. The next morning he continued his hike toward Springer and his foot started to hurt - he had bunion surgery earlier. There was a branch in the trail going to LynnFoot Inn, a hike-in lodge at the State park. He decided to go there to get some ice for his foot. As he puts it, "I got a $100 bag of ice and a free room and dinner." The next day he summited Springer and earned his trail name of Three Day. Three Day is a retired aerospace engineer from Iowa who it has been a pleasure to get to know.Hot Springs is a great place to do a zero day. There is nothing to do here so you aren't running around doing stuff when you should be resting. I did my resupply by going to three different stores within a three minute walk of the Inn - that pretty much covered the town. I went to the library and checked email plus posted some pictures to my journal (the library has a fast Internet connection!). I talked to the town regulars who can be found holding up a stone wall between the Inn and the laundromat - they had displaced the town drunk who held the spot all day yesterday. The town regulars offered that the town was going to pot what with the foreigners, gays, lesbians and pot smoking people moving in plus many of the people they had gone to high school with had died. Sounds like Hot Springs hasn't escaped trends sweeping the rest of the world.Elmer Hall, owner of the Sunnybank Inn is an interesting fellow. He is from Elon College, was a Methodist minister, Chaplin at Duke Chapel, ran a vegetarian restaurant in Durham, was active in the peace movement, moved up here to work on a friend's farm and ended up buying Sunnybank. The collection of people at the Inn is as interesting as Elmer and the conversation during and after dinner was wide ranging. This has been a fun experience.Tomorrow I'm heading out for Erwin, TN - a 75 mile hike. I'm planning for 6 days to make it with an option of hiking harder and making it in 5 days. Two things are worrying me - the heat (forecast highs of 88 every day) and the severe drought up here is affecting the water sources. The folks at the outfitter said to keep your water topped off in case any of the springs have gone totally dry. We have already had issues with low flow in some of the streams and springs. I ran out of water a couple of days ago and had to dip water out of a less than desirable source.Once I get to Erwin our friends Jim and Bonnie Hall from Linville are going to pick me up and take me to Boone where I'm going to catch a bus to Greensboro. My sister is coming up from Florida for my Mom's birthday so I will get to see Cindy plus my great nephew.I wonder about coming back on the trail - I don't have time to do a straight thru-hike, I don't think I want to do a thru-hike any longer and I'm worried about the heat and drought. On the other hand, I'm loving the experiences I'm having and the people I'm meeting. If it could only be easy!