Date: 2017-04-26
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

This town knows hikers... the public library, right across from where we're staying, has amazing WiFi. It took like 10min to upload 160pics, which was super nice since the last couple places I've been have had really bad WiFi.The morning started foggy but the skies above were clear and the fog dissapated pretty quickly. We had agreed to get breakfast at 1030, so I held off on eating and went and took care of my resupply at the outfitter. I got a new outfit (shorts with pockets for camp and a lighter shirt for hiking in), a bit of food, and some postcards.  I also hit the post office to mail a postcard that I hadn't had the postage for previously and mailed a box home with my StickPic, a couple stuff sacks, and my long johns (hope I don't regret that, but I haven't been cold recently, we won't be super high again for a while, and I want something better to wear around camp/town).Nate, Lipstick, Hils, Honeybunz, Pepper, Lookout, NotBad, and I all went back to the diner for breakfast. Lookout and I both got breakfast skillets, a pan filled with potato wedges with 2 eggs, sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms, cheese, 4 slices of toast, and a side of a pancake. It was a struggle but I managed to finish mine... Lookout eventually admitted defeat and couldn't finish it.After breakfast we re-doned our hiking shoes and headed out of town. I had to double back and hit the Dollar General again to get a new pair of headphones, but it turns out it's the USB-C to 3.5mm jack converter that's broken, not the headphones, which is a pain because those aren't common. I'll probably have to get a spare mailed to me.Leaving town required crossing the French Broad River will was overflowing it's banks from all the recent rain. After crossing the bridge we followed the river for a couple hundred yards before the trail took a steep upward bend and ascended a rocky cliff, which combined with the sun created so much sweat... So much for being clean. A couple miles father the trail passes a small dam (maybe 30ft high and ~50 across) which holds a murky pond... if only it were clear I would've gone for a swim.I crossed a road via an overpass and climbed a mountain to a tower where I was hoping to camp for the night to catch the great view we missed on Max Patch. I was actually hoping to cowboy camp on top of the tower if it was open, but it wasn't and the view was mostly obscured by trees, so we moved on to the next shelter and setup camp with our temporary tramily.Our campsite looked like an advertisement for Bug Agnes, since half the tents were identical. We all made and ate dinner, hanging out and chatting as we did (everyone here prefers to hike solo, so morning and evening are the prime social opportunities). A couple of hikers had hiked in smores ingredients (marshmallows,  chocolate, and chips ahoy cookies) and invited us to make some on the fire. We graciously accepted and helped them lighten their packs before heading to bed.Hot Springs is located at mile 273.4, so leaving town today solidifies this as my longest trip by milage ever (previous was Long Trail), which is exciting.