Date: 2004-04-29
From: Deer Park Mountain Shelter

To: Elmer's Sunnybank Inn - Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 3.2
Weather: broken clouds

Some were on the trail by 6:30 this morning. I made it by 7:00. Breakfast at "the Diner" was calling. For me it was secure a room at Elmer's before the crowd hit. I did both. The breakfast was so-so ~ good, but nothing spectacular as I had heard. Laundry and then up the hill to the library where I spent a few hours reading e-mails and updating this site. Looks as though I beat Ann's update. Snail-mail! Enroute back "home" I found April Showers and Don't Mind/Don't Matter at the laundromat. I was SO excited. However, April Showers slackpacked 14 miles today so will be one day ahead still and the Don'ts are taking a zero day so will be one day behind. We shall meet again though! Part of the troupe will probably be split as well as some head out to Wilkesboro for the bluegrass festival and some will travel on. I'm sitting outdoors on a second floor porch of this old Victorian house. The birds are serenading me in full voice, there's a gentle breeze -- and there's the dinner bell! Yippee -- gourmet organic vegetarian .. back later.Stuffed! What a treat: vegetarian cuisine by candlelight, with classical music playing in the background to complete the ambiance. I shouldn't be putting this online .. everone thinks I'm roughing it out in the woods! Ah, but I'll pay for this tomorrow. I understand it's a tough uphill to start my day. Gosh, I could hardly get up this little hump in the road back to the house after making a phone call. Climbing to 3300' from 1325' with a freshly restocked pack sounds nearly impossible.Good news: April Showers and Ursa Minor are taking a zero day tomorrow after all. That means there's an excellent chance I'll catch up to them and we can do some miles together. One other incredible surprise: after dinner I came back up to the balcony to continue writing and Polly the Nurse, my hostel roomy in Fontana Dam, is here! She's sharing my room again tonight. Because of her emphysema she could hammer out only 5-6 miles a day. So I left her at the other side of the Smokies expecting never to see her again. What a joy and blessing for me to have her here. Unfortunately for her, she got as far as Clingman's Dome, fell and damaged her kneecap. A bit of trail magic got her a hitch to Hot Springs, and here she sits. WOW! This entire trail scenario is magical. The weaving in and out of everyone's life and trail existence is amazing. Anyone with whom I've hiked this past week knows exactly where I am tonight. And we can all tell you "so & so is about two days ahead" or "1/2-day behind" or "taking a zero day" etc etc etc. We can tell you whether a person is a real cruiser or a slower hiker, about how many miles they do per day. I'm nearing the end of my fourth week and just now settling into a routine, a pace, a comfort zone. In all honesty, I don't feel what I'm doing is so spectacular. I get up, pack my tent, huff and puff up and down, over and around a mountain or two, stop for food, sleep, and do it all over again the next day. It's simply a series of day hikes ~ day after day after day after day after .... The true amazement will be continuing this lifestyle for a full six months.The cards get shuffled again this week as we all regroup after a town visit. Next stop for me is a hostel 68 miles away, outside of Erwin, TN. Then I think I'll do an 80-mile bust-butt to Hampton, TN, and then .... VIRGINIA!