Date: 2007-12-18
From: Hemlock Hollow Farm

To: Elmer's
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: overcast clouds

mi. 16.3sleep hosteldest. Elmer's, Hot Springs NC day 158 Hostel Hop night number 2. The cabin/bunkhouse we stayed at last night was nice. The only bad thing was the water. It was salfur water. It tasted nasty. I could smell it on me after the shower I took last night. We actually made it out the door before light. Right after 7am we were headed on the road back to the trail. The first climb was fun. A long gradual up for 4 or so miles. I was definitly feeling it by the top. Opnce again I didn't drink a lot of water at a town stop. I blame this one on the nasty water. No way I wanted to drink more than I had to. Good thing to it was really dry at times and still cold. Which means I didn't stop much for water refill. We got to the first shelter to find it full with some college kids out for a few days. They were still in bed at 9:30am. It feels great to have in 6 miles before other people even got out of bed. We talked for a little bit when they woke up. They said they were out for a few days over Christmas break. They also had 2 1 liter bottles of whiskey. It might have been fun if we pushed onto here last night as planned. I was getting chilled fast then and didn't stick around too long. Most of the rest of the days hiking was solo. I still like that better and camping with other people. After awhile it really heated up, well relative to what it has been. High 30's or 40's felt wicked warm. After a couple hours I had to stop and relayer. For the last couple days I was hiking in my rain gear. I had to shed the pants and go back to shorts, long underwear, and long sleeve shirt. Definitly great hiking weather. Just before town I ran into Oblivious talking with another group. I am starting to think that we might be running into some people over the next few days. Hopefully no full shelters. I'll take that as it comes if it happens. Well I was really smelling town. We were booking it into town. Probibly not the best idea to almost run down a mountain. But it was fun and got us there fast. I am pumped to be back in Hot Springs. I was here last fall for a hammock get together. It was fun to see another town that I had been in before. The plan was for food. We ran into Deluxe at the outfitter and headed straight to the dinner. Another great town meal. From there it was across the street to Elmers to check in. More on that place tomorrow. We got there to find Elmer not at home. Just a sign tell us to come on in. Inside we found Light Foot. My first northbounder. He started in October and is taking his time. I knew I would run into at least one. I just didn't think it would be this soon. We checked out the hiker box. Crazy scores there. I scored some snacks, candy bars, and a few other things. There was more than enough for at least 1 person to resupply for a few days. We learned later that some section hikers did a huge mail drop here and ditched most of it. Now onto the town chores. First was the outfitter. A descent one. I did have to pay new leki tips. First time for that one. All the other outfitters replaced them for free. He gave some long crazy speech about warrenty vs wear in tear. I brought up my leaking platy and got an even longer speech. After that I decided just to forget that one. I did add a 48 oz nalgene. I feel more comfortable sleeping with that more than a gatoraid bottle. I also got some esbit tablets. They are solid fuel that some people use to cook on. They should make a good fire starter. We split a hand saw to use to cut firewood. Yes I am splitting carrying a saw. The shelters in the smokey's have fireplaces. That will help cut the wood to size and make it nice and toasty in the shelter. From there it was the PO. I had a maildrop sent there. It turned out to be a crazy amount of food. 15 dehydrated dinners and tons of snacks. I ended up giving 2 each to Deluxe and Oblivious. A good backup meal for them. Next it was to the Dollar General. I needed some cookies and snacks. That was about the sum of my town chores. No real need for the internet or anything else. The rest of the night was filled with movies and dinner at the diner.