Date: 2005-04-07
From: somewhere (I'll fix this soon)

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Oh wow, what a day. I knew hot springs would be a hellofa fun time,so I woke up pretty early. However, it appears that age has a bit onexcitement, as Swamp fox and Michigan were already up and about.The skies were threatening us again with rain, but apparently wedodged another bullet, all we saw were a few mists of water. Motivated by the thought of actually getting to a real town, I got outof the shelter early and put away miles like a fat kid puts awaygirlscout cookies. I hiked solo most of the day, out in front ofeveryone, shortly before Deer Creek shelter James, now called "CaptainPatagonia" caught up to me as I was finishing with a snack, but hehimself decided to snack so I was off solo again. A few miles laterat the point where the trail to the shelter crosses the AT, Jamesagain caught up while I was filtering water. Seeing as how we wereonly a few miles from town, we decided to wait for Freeze Dried tocatch up and then make the walk into town. It was during this walkthat I found new frustration with Wingfoot's guide. To quote the 2005thru-hikers handbook: "Deer Park Mtn Shelter (2330') gravestones on AT267.5" other info on shelter, then at the next line "USFS Parking Area(1360') plaque, Jesuit Center Adjacent 270.5". So, if you saw thatentry and you were like me, you would think that over the next threemiles of trail, there's not many notable features except for somerelatively flat, maybe rolling downhill that loses around 1000 feet inthree miles. That's sort of right, and by "sort of" I mean "not atall". The book seems to have forgotten something that we hikers calla BIG FREAKIN MOUNTAIN right after the shelter. I don't know theexact height or elevation change in the mountain, but you definitelygo up for quite some distance before you start the downhill. And whenyou're jonesin' to get into town and you've busted hump the last fewmiles, an unexpected uphill really sucks.But unlabeled crap mountain or not, we made it into Hot Springs, afterexploring our sleeping options we ended up at Elmer's Sunnybank Inn,an 1840's big ol' Victorian House converted to a hostel type deal.Elmer's is definitely an awesome place, My mother, the antique dealerwould swoon at the furnishings and construction in the house, and it'sfully furnished with all sorts of awesome books and literature and artand posters and even awesome people. I signed up for dinner andbreakfast, since Elmer's offers both, and then it was food, shower andchill time.Now, hot springs is a tiny little town, so, after eating at the littlediner across the street from Elmer's, it only took about two minutesto walk the entire way across it to the outfitter and pub, which wereboth great places. After enjoying some BS with the other hikers itwas time for some more food, this time at Elmer's.Some folks may say that they don't eat well on the trail, and that maybe true for the most part, but if you're staying at Elmer's, it's deadwrong. The dinner was spectacular, a four course meal, and all for asmuch as you'd pay for a two-piece meal at KFC. There was an awesomesoup with vegetables and a miso-like base, an amazing salad, garnishedin the shape of a yin-yang and topped with the absolute best saladdressing I've ever tasted, then a main course of vegetables in acurry-like sauce over rice, and finally desert; apple crumble toppedwith fresh ice cream. Conversation around the table was awesome, asthe guests included many thru-hikers as well as some visitors fromAustria. Would I recommend Elmer's to a friend? Without a doubt,100% yes.During dinner, a familiar face had popped in for a surprise, Fulro,from the early days, now going by the new trail name of "DoubleHeeler" showed up wearing a hershey kiss hat and playing the housebanjo with as much dexterity as drunken elephant practicingcaligraphy. He just thought he'd say hi and see who was heading topaddler's pub. I told him we'd probably be there. Stuffed to the gillsand ready to chill, I decided to join my three hiking buddies, who hadfoolishly turned down the meal at Elmer's. I found them at thePaddler's pub, an easy task as it was pretty much the only place openthat late at night. The paddler's pub not only had Yuengling on tap,they had an outside deck too. When my friends decided to head out andmake it an early night, I joined Red, Double Heeler, and a gentlemen Iwould soon find out to be the famous (or infamous) Baltimore Jack.For those who are unfamiliar with the name, Baltimore Jack is neithernamed Jack, nor from Baltimore, however he has thru-hiked the AT atleast 7 times, so the guy's got some knowledge. He could also take meto the cleaners in a talking contest, but, since he's got over 14,000more miles than I do, I think I'll gladly listen to whatever he has tosay.