Date: 2012-04-30
From: 1 mile shy of Deer Park Mountain Shelter

To: Hot Springs North Carolina
Miles today: 4.4
Weather: broken clouds

I lazed around in the hammock this morning for a few hours as a light breeze swept the cool morning air through the mesh.  I didn't bother to put up the rainfly and it was nice to wake up with the sun.  The birds were singing early and the forest seems to come even more alive with critters in places where humans don't normally sleep.  I broke down camp quickly and a solitary hiker passed while I was brushing my teeth.  She said, "Goodmorning," and I waved back as she glided past.  I left at 8:40 and got my legs moving.  I came across the Deer Park Mountain Shelter at 9:10 so I made the assumption that I had camped just a mile shy of it.  I took off my sunshirt and just hiked in a tank top and running shorts as the day heated up to blazing again.  Eventually I ran across Blue Sky on the trail and we talked and walked.  He had stayed at the shelter the day before an told stories of a big snake eating the mice there.  Nobody stayed in the shelter but he said there were easily fifteen tents set up around it.  We hiked another three miles down to the gap and parted ways.  He wanted to get a motel room and I had my own town list: shower, lunch, laundry, charge phone, resupply food, get AAA batteries, resupply TP (note that I could have provided an inappropriate but entertaining aside here) and get some poison ivy wipes.  I showered at Laughing Heart Lodge and met Chuck Norris and Tigger, who both manage this quaint little hostel.  They have a cute story about meeting in 2006 on the trail (him thru-hiking and her on for a short bit). They got together and thru-hiked it together in 2007. You can tell they are full of love and it is apparent in all of their actions.  The shower was amazing.  $5 lighter, one homemade chocolate chip cookie heavier, and feeling clean in my town clothes, I was walking down Main Street by 11:30.  I hit the outfitter and weighed my body as well as my pack: 125lbs and 25.4lbs, respectively.  I easily found the laundromat too.  There isn't anything particular about them but some buildings just look like they contain machines that remove dirt from your clothes.  Post Offices have a particular look to them too.  I got my laundry going amidst a sea of hiker noise and went down the street to the Spring Creek Bar and Grill.  I wolfed down a hamburger with marinara sauce, mozzerella cheese, sauted mushrooms, and bell peppers, plus a basket of curly fries and finally got a chance to try the Sweetwater 420 IPA, French Broad IPA out of Asheville NC, and a Mother Earth Kolsch mixed with an Original Sin Apple Cider.  I was eating with Free, Blue Sky, and Houdini and asked around about ordering a pizza.  I grabbed two Blue Sky sodas (orange and their cream soda) from the outfitter and went over to  finish up laundry.  Folding laundry is great on the trail.  I have a tank top, a wool long sleeve shirt, a pair of running shorts, a sunshirt, two small towels, a bandana, and six pairs of socks.  It takes but an instant.  I wandered around town, there isn't a bar of cell service on ATT, although Sprint is blowing up, and checked my email at the library.  I resupplied food for three days at the little mini mart (sad sad sad but much better than the first place I tried) and sat with some hikers I loosely know on a patio overlooking the big river in the shade.  It was there that I decided to camp by that lazy river in some grassy shade rather than try to beat the oppressive heat of the afternoon for a few miles.  I will get two more town meals and another shower as part of that deal!  I set up camp in a beautiful spot right by the river and headed into town for dinner.  The only place still open is Iron Horse Inn and I order fish and chips with an Oberon wheat and also tried a Southern Pale Ale from Natty Greene's Brewing Company.  I splurged and had a steaming slice of rhubarb pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  No headlamp for the way home but I do have a ukulele.