Date: 2020-06-21
From: Hot Springs

To: Little Laurel Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: broken clouds

It would have been nice to stay in town a bit longer but the show must go on. Besides, most of Hot Springs is closed on Sunday, including the best restaurants. So we packed up, thanked our hosts, and stopped at the Hillbilly Market for breakfast sandwiches. That's plural, because we skipped dinner last night since we had still been digesting our monumental lunch. I bought replacement earbuds at the Dollar General - we'll see if $5 earbuds last five times longer than $1 earbuds - and hiked out of town. Past the closed post office, the closed Spring Creek Tavern, the closed outfitter, and the closed Hot Springs Resort and Spa. In World War I a grand hotel had been here, and the US government leased it to use as the largest POW camp on American soil. 1700 Germans and German-Americans were placed here, whole families apparently. But it was a very civil affair. The prisoners and townspeople mixed socially, the POWs put on concerts for the community, and after the war some of them liked it so much they moved to Hot Springs. The spas are that good.I crossed the French Broad River and hiked a sandy path along the turbulent river, with several thunderous rapids and falls. The trail climbed up the hill steeply, eventually coming to a rock outcropping over the river called Lover's Leap. The name comes from a Cherokee legend:Mist-on-the-Mountain was the daughter of chief Lone Wolf. He wished her to marry a powerful older brave named Tall Pine but she was in love with a handsome young visitor named Magwa. After her father refused her marriage request she secretly met Magwa on the cliffs above the river, known then as the Tahkiostie. Enraged, Tall Pine followed them and killed Magwa. He cornered Mist-on-the-Mountain on the high cliff, where she heard Magwa's spirit calling to her. She leapt into the river to join her lover. Moments later a panther attacked and killed Tall Pine.It may as well be Romeo and Juliet, and certainly has the plot elements of a Hollywood tragic romance. On this sunny day, however, the rock provided a lovely view back to Hot Springs and the hills around it, but little drama.I struggled much of the day with the rising heat and humidity. The trail climbed, dipped, and climbed some more. I collapsed at the first shelter to eat lunch, a Hillbilly Italian sub (with bologna?), and sprayed myself head to toe so the gnats would give me peace while I rested. A firetower on Rich Mountain broke up the day. Several families were visiting, it being Sunday. The view was gorgeous, though not different than the last few. More splendid blue mountains and green valleys! I passed a number of hikers and backpackers in the first ten miles out of town but spent the last few hours seeing almost no one. Sunshine had left town a few minutes ahead of me and he was doubtless well ahead by now given how sluggish I felt.Two miles from my destination of Little Laurel Shelter the thunder began. It roared from one direction, than another. Just give me forty more minutes, I pleaded! It continued to rumble threateningly but the rain held off as I pumped furiously up what seemed the steepest climb of the day. Finally I reached the shelter. Two guys already in their long johns had built a fire. I quickly claimed a shelter spot and retrieved water. Sure enough within minutes the rain began. Light at first. The two men hadn't seen Sunshine. I figured he'd gone on a few more miles to shorten the hike to Erwin over the next couple days. With a storm looming I wasn't about to follow, so I settled in. The hikers were not together, but both had done all or part of the PCT. The older man and a woman named Janet are thruhiking together. The younger man is training for a longer hike, hoping to complete the northern half of the AT this year and the CDT next year. He came out feeling pretty out of shape and is taking it slow.A few minutes later I hear another hiker approaching. He peers in. It's Sunshine! Somehow I passed him when he was getting water. I had run out of water myself during a dry stretch before this shelter. He was pretty worn down by the day's climbs as well. At least it's not just my age! Sunshine is only twenty-five and by any measure the stronger hiker.Fortunately for Sunshine the worst of the storm held off to this point. As we made dinner in the shelter it poured buckets outside for over an hour, ultimately extinguishing the perky little fire. Nature's timing couldn't have been better!Looks like we'll be out for another two full days and reach Erwin on the fourth day at this rate. The spacing of the shelters makes it difficult to get there in three days. There's a somewhat technical stretch of boulder scrambling called Firescald Knob coming up that we decided was best left for tomorrow.