Date: 2016-03-12
From: Elmer's Sunnybank Inn

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

The WONDERFUL thing about Tigger... is Tigger isn't just a thru hiker... Tigger isn't a "Trail Angel" who performs trail magic... Tigger is a Thru-Hiking Trail Angel that performs "Trail Miracles!" I met Tigger (again) along the trail as it climbed out of Hot Springs. The day was hot and sunny and the climb was a little challenging after a peaceful rest in Hot Springs. Tigger was sitting in a clearing to the side of the trail. Usually I just say hello and keep hiking but today decided to take a few minutes and sit down and chat for a little while. Tigger is a young guy out of High School taking time off before college to hike the AT... Like so many other hikers I have met along the way he is a first class guy... As we sat in the warm sun and talked a little... he pulled a chocolate bar out of a winter mitten hung on his pack... My first thoughts were of the Rocky and Bullwinkle show... "Hey Rocky... watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!"... only... Hey hiker guy... watch me pull a chocolate bar out of my glove... Then... he offered me some of his chocolate bar... Now... had I really been in the mood for chocolate I would not have been shy, and had we been in town I probably would have accepted some... but for some reason... once I am hiking my appetite is gone and food, all food, including chocolate loses its appeal. So I politely declined. Tigger as I found out ended up remembering me from a shelter in the Smokies.. the one with "Ranger Rick" in it. I didn't immediately remember him until he commented he was the guy with kidney issues... he needed to drink plenty of water... then I remembered hearing him comment about that at the Shelter in the smokies... He also mentioned he could tell I didn't really like the guy "ranger rick" and agreed the guy was a little annoying to say the least. Tigger then made a passing comment about focusing on the positive memories of the trial - to which I agreed...   Knowing I was trying to get 20 miles in I didn't really have the luxury of sitting and chatting all days so I got up and headed out. I usually hike with my headphones in listening to the music of the day to help pass the miles. Most of the time it is just background music to provide a backdrop to my wondering thoughts. Sometimes I put on some upbeat motivational music / work out type music for when I want to pick up the pace and get in some miles... this was one of those days. As I moved along... I had this strange feeling someone was following me... I'd stop and look back and look around and having not seen anyone kept going... then I thought I was hearing someone calling out to me... I turned the music down and again stopped and looked around and even took out my headphones... but I didn't see or hear anyone or anything... A while later down the trial... I stopped to get a quick drink of my water and check out where I was at. A few moments later Tigger came up in a hurry... sweating... and held out a zip lock bag with some stuff in it... "I think this is yours! You dropped it a while back." In somewhat of a trail fog... I looked at it then horror ran through my being when I realized what it was... all the consequences of having lost that bag ran though my mind in about a millisecond as I took the bag from Tigger and Thanked him not nearly enough... Having lost that bag would have put a negative shadow on my entire hike... I don't know how many times I thanked him... and the only reply I remember him saying was "I just try to do the right thing!" No... Tigger didn't Try to do the right thing... Tigger DID the right thing and there is really no way I could thank him enough. The zip lock bag was my "trail wallet" with some cash, my bank card, my drivers license and medical insurance card, my back up iodine tablets for water purification if my filter doesn't work or has issues... We continued to hike for a while together... stopping at the same point to refill our water bottles and chatted some more... I was hot and tired and kept changing my pace between the up and down hills so we kind of leap frogged on the trail for a while... As I walked and thought about all the ramifications had I lost my trial wallet... I recalled Tigger commenting about how he had left his hiking sticks in the car that gave him a ride out of Gatlinburg... Of course bad things happen in Gatlinburg... But I love my hiking sticks and once you hike with them - hiking without them just isn't the same... and I has a small sense of what it's like to lose your hiking sticks... so... on the last time I passed Tigger... I told him... when he gets to Erwin... to go to Uncle Johnny's and tell them that he is Tigger... and that Papa Monkey left something for him. My plan was to buy him a pair of hiking sticks at Uncle Johnny's and leave them for him as it may be a day or 2 before he got into town. My plan out of Hot Springs had been to do 3 twenty mile +/- days and then a 7 into Erwin. So this first night I needed to push on to Little Laurel Shelter. I knew I would be hiking at night again to get in the miles and that is just how the day ended. I arrived at Little Laurel Shelter around 10 pm. By the time I got some water, ate some food, hung up my food bag and settled in to the shelter for the night it was about 11. The day had been a success and I made it to the shelter which was my goal for the day.