Date: 2006-05-04
From: Hot Springs mineral baths

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

No journal for yesterday. I spent the entire day with my brother in Hot Springs and didn't take the time to journal it.Daniel arrived at a round 1 a.m. on Tuesday/Wednesday after getting lost due to poor directions. Between Mom and myself we managed to get him going in the right direction.We spent the day Wednesday hanging out and taking in Hot Springs. The highlight of the day was most definitely our trip to the Hot Springs Spa. We had a one-hour mineral soak in the hot springs followed by a deep tissue massage. The massage was amazing and it was supremely difficult not to hang around for another day to get another massage.Daniel left this morning before I took off. It was really great to see him. It's kinda strange how much I always want to talk to and see my family, since when I'm in my standard life, I'm very much a loner. I guess that at other times I draw strength from knowing I can visit and talk with them at any time, and I miss that now that it is no longer the case. That's not to mention the fact that there are so many different ways to distract myself when I'm at home. Out here there are no distractions while on the trail itself. I am alone with my mind and have nothing to do but think.Anyway, I got a late start again today, as I always do when leaving towns. I got out of town at around eleven, going for the shelter eleven miles out. At first it was a great day with the sun shining and a breeze blowing. There were some great views of Hot Springs from Lover's Leap Rock on the peaks right outside town.At around two, though, it began to drizzle, and shortly after a thunderstorm rolled through. This was not exactly how I wanted to spend my first day out of town. I don't know why the rain makes me so depressed, but for some reason it just brings my spirits down to rock bottom.Fortunately, the rain only lasted one hour or two, though it was muggy the entire rest of the day. I climbed the fire tower on Rich Mountain and found that I had decent cell phone service there. I called mom to let her know I had just sent off the next batch of journals and pictures, then called Joe to tell him the location of my next mail drop (Miss Janet's!). By the time I finished the calls I was feeling much better. It helps that the rain stopped entirely and the sun came out. Things were mostly dry by the time I got to camp.The shelter here is completely flooded with hikers who have just left Hot Springs. The shelter itself is completely full, and there are over a half-dozen tents spread around as well. I was concerned earlier that I'd get here and it'd be one of those shelters on a hillside with no good place for tents. When I got here, though, I saw that there's a lot of flat areas around that make for good tenting.Tomorrow I go back to fifteen-mile days to get to the second shelter in my path. It shouldn't be too difficult a hike, though there is a huge 2,600-foot climb right in the middle of it. Hopefully that won't end up being too bad. The next day is likely going to be a fourteen to try and do much the same thing. The day after that gets tricky. The shelters are 10 and 20 miles. Ten is way too short, twenty is probably too long. I might have to camp somewhere between the two, which likely means camping alone. I haven't done that since my first day out. That was one of the benefits of hiking with a group. Unfortunately the group is all in front of me or behind me. Perhaps some of those here tonight will want to pull up short as well, but it sounds like a lot of them are considering doing the twenty, since it puts you three miles from Erwin.Maybe I'll do the twenty, too, but I won't know if I can do it until I start to try. fortunately there appears to be a number of good campsites around there where I can pitch my tent if I try for the twenty and can't make it.