Date: 2017-04-21
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Near Pump Gap trail crossing
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: scattered clouds

From Fatboy:We slept until 0830! What a gift to feel rested and not have severe leg and foot pain. We had breakfast at our lodging and then went to the post office. We decided to mail our bear canister home and we filled it with about 5 pounds of other stuff we no longer wanted to carry. It felt good to lose that weight. We returned to check out of our rooms and packed all of our stuff. With food and water we are both carrying between 38 to 40 pounds AFTER we lightened our loads. We are still overloaded but we're getting better. It would be great to get to 30 pounds or less for each of us but we just haven't figured that out yet. We know we could save a few pounds if we bought ultra lite packs but those are around $250 each and we're not quite ready to make that choice. We said our goodbyes to Tequila Sunshine and Happy Feet around noon and they hiked off North. I'm sure we'll see them again soon. Ginger went to the library to update this journal and Fatboy went to the various places around town where they stamped our AT Passport. Then Fatboy visited a styling salon and got a much needed haircut and beard trim. It felt really good to be somewhat groomed again. We met after the haircut and went to lunch. It's really hard to resist town food after you've eaten mostly one pot meals for a while. After lunch Ginger completed the journal updates and we decided to hike out of town. It started to rain about this time so we delayed until the rain stopped. The weather was very changeable and we decided to just go. That turned out to be a great choice for us. We did get rained on some but the trail was almost deserted and the rain felt good and kept us cool as we climbed out of town over Lovers Leap Rock. The view from the top was very nice as we looked over the town and the French Broad River.We only hiked a few miles but they were important ones. Our conversation about why we were hiking and how we were managing our schedule and mileage was really good for us both. Fatboy just isn't able to hike the 12 and 14 mile days back to back and still be able to enjoy this adventure. It's just too painful. Fatboy compared how this hike is going to his prior experiences of long distance motorcycle rides. He's ridden his Harley over 1000 miles in one day twice and 972 miles one day on a different occasion. This might be worth something in bragging rights but actually it means nothing but pain and exhaustion during the event. The rides that he recalled that were a lot more fun didn't include any mileage notation but did include sights and memorable locations or events. This is how we decided we were going to approach the AT from now on. Everyone has heard the mantra: Hike your own hike. It's sometimes hard to remember that and why you're actually doing this when you're looking at the maps and trying to figure out resupply locations or mail drop dates. We found a lovely quiet site to tent near a water source and actually had a pleasant evening without much stress. Yes, Fatboy's feet and legs are still sore but it's manageable. Yes, Fatboy lost another rock bag (sock) up in a tree as he was hanging the food out of reach of animals. Yes, it did begin to rain as Fatboy was filtering water and trying to prepare dinner. We also saw a box turtle sitting in the middle of the trail and he pulled everything back in his shell as we passed and we heard a wipporwill as the sun went down. How could you top that? Yes, we had the privilege of spending our day together doing something few people ever attempt and we chose to spend that time being loving and kind to ourselves and to each other. It was a great day!From Ginger:What a relief. If we're going to do this in a more enjoyable way, "this is not an endurance test." We'll choose memorable moments over memorable mileage.