Date: 2011-04-30
From: Max Patch Summit

To: Hot Springs, Elmers Sunnybank Inn
Miles today: 19.8
Weather: clear sky

This was another perfect weather day for hiking, if a bit warm during the peak of the afternoon. After the Max Patch night with sunset and sunrise, I decided to make it my last day on trail, do a "20 miler", and hopefully stay the night at Elmers in Hot Springs. Elmers is a famous institution on the trail, staffed by former thru hikers, and owned and run by Elmer himself since the late '70s.    But to begin at the beginning, I was up about 6 AM as the predawn light began to grow. The wind had been bad for some hours into the night, so much so that I used ear plugs to get to sleep with the shelter walls flapping noisily. But by morning the wind had died, and I sat up, facing East, and made breakfast and coffee, waiting on top of Max Patch for my personal sunrise. I was literally on top of the world and had it all to myself, or so I thought.    Then I heard voices and then saw a group of 8 to 10 people coming my way. They were a photography class with their teacher, and they started to set up their tripods and cameras right in front of me, less than 50 feet away, as if I wasn't there. Didn't they know that this was my personal sunrise? I ended up asking them if they would please move a bit to one side, explaining that I had camped here all night, just to see the sunrise. To their credit, they did move for me. Some of the Camp Wimpy hikers also came back up. It was beautiful. Many pictures taken. I'll have to edit out the less spectacular ones later.    After the sun was up and fully appreciated, I packed up and got on the trail just before 8. The first 5 miles were pretty easy going, and I was making good time. That's when I made the decision to go all the way into Hot Springs, instead of leaving 6.6 miles to do tomorrow morning as I'd originally planned. I managed to get to Elmers by 6 PM, making it a 2 mph day, easily my fastest pace over a lot of miles. No really big ups or downs, but not flat either. The AT is just not flat at all untill you get into some if the Virginia sections, several weeks North.    As a result of my go for broke decision, I ended up finishing my hike 1.5 days early, or exactly three weeks from Springer Mountain to Hot Springs. That's 271.8 official AT trail miles, or 13 miles a day on average, including the days I did not hike part of the day to relax or resupply. It may not have been out of the question after all to reach Damascus in five weeks. That would be another 192 miles in 14 days at 13.7 miles per day. The way I've been going, could probably do it in 12 days.    But back to todays hike. Still saw some new wildflowers, including the first Pink Lady's Slippers I've seen. No bears, though Achilles saw one on the same section of trail. Lots and lots of chipmunks today. More oaks and acorns probably explains that.    At a snack break on trail, Bullit caught up to me and got my email to let me know how everyone is doing later on trail. It turns out he is another Robert Kelly, and left Springer the same morning I did. How strange is that? His Irish roots are from Cork, sames as mine.  He hikes faster than I do, but may have taken some Zeros or shorter days, as we are in the same place after 3 weeks. This pleases me greatly, as I had and still do put him in the "fast hiker" category. I think if I kept going, I could join that club, though I would still be hiking longer days for some time to keep up.    Handlebar thinks I'm in danger of becoming hiker trash. I may need some clarification on that. If you Google "hiker trash", you find: "Hiker Trash-  noun .  A derogatory term used to describe thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail." In spirit, if not technically accurate, I AM hiker trash and proud of it.    But back to todays hike. After some ups and downs and ups and long downs, I eventually got to Hot Springs and Elmers. Got the last available bed in the Inn. Luck still with me. More on Elmers tomorrow.