Date: 2010-04-22
From: Newfound Gap

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 69.0
Weather: clear sky

Greetings from Hot Springs, NC¢¦finally! I am a collage of odors; a funky stew of sweat, Knorr¢s side dishes, campfire smoke, melted chocolate, damp forest rain, dirty feet, and several other odors not suitable for public consumption. Still, the hiking has been great from Newfound Gap¢notwithstanding many blowdowns on Snowbird Mt., this section of trail seems to have been constructed by people who truly love hiking.Before I describe this section, let me thank Snowplow ¢07, his wife, family, and hiking partner for an excellent trail angel experience. Until the day a van load of sorority sisters screeches to a halt on some dusty road and ravage me, this will be the greatest bit if trail angelling I am likely to experience. In three years of hiking the AT I have never seen a more thoughtful set-up. I should mention first that I do not drink alcohol and am a vegetarian, so the standard beer and hotdogs do very little for me. Snowplow et al were positioned at Davenport Gap with an abundance of fresh fruit, egg sandwiches with excellent fixings, more Gatorade than we could drink, lemonade, sweet tea, orange juice, all types of fuel (I happened to be out at the time), duct tape, very nice sweet treats, and to top it off: they had a lawn chair for every hiker. I don¢t mean to knock beer and hotdogs/cheeseburgers, but I prefer the long chain sugars, fatty foods, electrolytes, etc. My only regret was that I left them with too much food. I could have easily eaten more but did not want to seem gluttonous. Also, I stupidly took no photographs and left without any contact information. Snowplow, if you happen to read this, thank you very much. You are a superior trail angel.So I started this leg at Newfound Gap (with my hiking poles) and took a lazy stroll to Peck¢s Corner. The plan was to push forward to Tri-corner Knob, but I was very sleepy in the first part of the day and, of course, my pack was heavy with food. After a long nap in what I believe was False Gap (between Charlie¢s Bunion and Peck¢s Corner), I decided to stay at the next shelter. The views were spectacular throughout; we were really spoiled by the Smokies this year. My experiment for that leg was to pack in a half dozen fresh eggs, poach them and make egg sandwiches. I have to say that this worked quite well, although it did burn through my fuel and cleaning my pot was much more of a chore than I anticipated. I had realized too late that my fuel was running low, so I used a minimal amount of water and those eggs really stuck. I ate three of the sandwiches and gave three eggs away ¢ Marty McFly hard-boiled one and a couple, Too Late and Too Soon, dropped theirs into noodles for dinner.The next day brought some light rain and, as I am a late riser, I ended up carrying some rainwater in my tent to Cosby Knob. It was our first misty day in the Smokies, but that cleared up around midday and we had more beautiful vistas. I wish I had more to say about this section but, frankly, great views and fun camping have become somewhat routine.Standing Bear Hostel did not exist during my last trip through this section in 1995, and I was not planning to go there, but it¢s hard to pass up a cheese pizza and hot shower. It was a great night. I had been camping with Pigpen, Bigoo and Coopa (sp?), Too Late and Too Soon; and all of us stayed the night at Standing Bear. The hostel is quite rustic, and reminded me a lot of Rusty¢s Hard Time Hollow, except it has exceptional showers and resupply. After our showers we gathered around a campfire eating pizza, and drinking beer shuttled in by Curtis, one of the owners. I cannot do justice to this story, but the funniest thing I have heard thus far on the trail came from Coopa and Bigoo that night (who are both emergency room nurses). From now on if anyone says: ¢I¢m off my meds!¢, I may hyperventilate with laughter.That night was April 18, and Standing Bear was having a 4-20 party shortly after which I really wanted to attend. However, I didn¢t want to take two full days off the trail at that point and the closure of I-40 made any kind of southbound slackpack, or half-slack, prohibitively expensive. So I hiked out the next day to Groundhog Creek shelter, where I meet Fig, a very strong hiker and repeat offender; Earthling and Logos, a twenty something couple who I am staying with now at Elmer¢s; and several other hikers. Again, it was a great trail and fun camping.Rain was predicted for the following day and those predictions were accurate¢so much for ¢Maine without Rain¢. The views from Max Patch were actually very cool despite the rain, and it was easy to make miles in that cool weather. Other than Max Patch, I pretty much slogged through it in a workman-like manner, without much smelling of roses. Earthling, Logos, and Tebow were at Walnut Mt. Shelter bundled up in their sleeping bags when I arrived, and I quickly did my chores and crawled into my own. The following day I hiked over Bluff Mt., then did the gradual descent into Hot Springs and to the Sunnybank Inn, i.e. Elmer¢s. This place deserves a good description, which I don¢t think I am up to, but in any case I¢d like to get back there soon to play some guitar and possibly banjo so I¢ll let any interested parties simply google it. There are many descriptions and photos on the internets.The forecast is for much rain and I had considered renting a car and driving to a friend¢s place to avoid it. I would really like to see them but Hot Springs does not seem like a very convenient place to organize such a trip, so I¢ll just hike out tomorrow and get wet. My hope was to avoid rain as much as possible (I have had enough rainy hikes in my life), but I am fortifying myself against it with some Frogg Toggs and a new tent: Sierra Designs Lighting XT 1. I really hate to abandon my old tent, a Eureka Rising Sun, as it is free standing, easy to set up, and has served me well on many nights; but after 15 years it started to leak a bit at Walnut Mt. in a fairly mild rain. I am not comfortable using it in a thundershower and I really hate staying in the shelters, so this had to be done.Anyway, I need to go pick up the tent and get back to Elmer¢s, so I¢m off for now. Hopefully I will post from Erwin, and maybe even pick up an adapter so that I can upload photos. I should be there in six days, or possibly fewer since I seem to be unable to get Nicorette Gum in Hot Springs¢if I am climbing the walls too much, or just miserably wet, I may hitch in earlier from one of the road crossings.