Date: 2013-04-29
From: Davenport Gap

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 200.0

It is extremely difficult to find the motivation to type my blog when I get off the trail. All I would really like to do is sit on my ass. However, I enjoy relaying my adventures, and know that I would really regret it if I didn't keep some sort of journal. Kayla dropped me off at Davenport Gap on the 24th. I still wasn't feeling in tip-top shape, so we ended up staying at a campsite only about 6 miles from the Gap. We passed Standing Bear Farm on the way. Tons of hikers were there. It's this quaint little farm with a couple of small buildings that include a small shop with resupply needs, and then two rooms with bunk beds and such. They also had llama's as well. Don't really know why. It was kind of strange really. We ended up running into Alpine there, we hadn't seen her in weeks. She had a stress fracture in her foot and had been at the farm for four days at that point. When we got to the campsite I found my first tick. No worries, not on me, but on my pack. I think it was just the campsite that we were at, it had lots of tall grass. We ended up camping with a family that is hiking the trail. Their names were Borders (the father,) Doobie (the mom,) and Pink Panther, their daughter. She is 9 years old! Great kid, great enthusiasm and seems to be having a blast! We left the campsite and made our way up to a tower with some decent views, the later in the day finally arrived at Max Patch. Couldn't have been better weather!!! Views in all directions, sun shining, not a cloud in the sky. We ended up just hanging around Max Patch for a while then started the descent down. We had decided that we would go past Roaring fork shelter and just find a campsite. As we left Max Patch, the trail wasn't marked to well and we ended up wandering down into the campsite and probably spent about 20 minutes trying to find the trail, we eventually found it. Then we got to a dead end, and there was a sign that said Appalachian Trail on it, but it didn't say which way was North, so we pulled out the map and eventually figured it out. We finally made it to our campsite and barely got our shelters up with our bear bags before the sun was down. We had a fire that night and hung out for a bit then everyone hit the hay. We woke up the next morning kind of got an early start, and ended up trucking the 16 mile hike into Hot Springs. We had previously decided that we would stay at a campsite for the two nights that we would be there. However, by the time we got there it was around 6:30 and we were starving. We went to the Paddler's Pub that is right on the French Broad and grabbed a bite to eat with a pint. By the time we finished it was dark, raining and we were so full! I took a long shot and called Mountain Magnolia Inn and asked if they had anything available for the night, we would take anything, even a one bed room. They replied that they had the Octagon House available and that they could give it to us for $150 for the night. Done! We walked up to the house and they let us know that they would give to to us for $100, awesome! Chris even gave us a ride to the house since it was half a mile away and it was dark. Ali and I got to the house walked in and were dumbfounded. It was a Octagon shaped, four bedroom house with a Jacuzzi tub. We ended up zeroing for two days here, the weather was flash flood advisory and was pretty nasty out. We were fine in the Octagon, though. We've decided that every eight years we will be having a reunion there. I'll post photos of the magical Octagon. If you are ever in Hot Springs, go to Mountain Magnolia Inn for breakfast, or stay there! Such great people & food!