Date: 2009-05-04
To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Total 298.2 We finally made it into the much awaited Hot Springs, NC on May 1, a Friday. The first thing we did was pull into the diner at the south end of town which had a large sign that just said "Restaurant" to let hikers know where they should stop after they had built up days of hunger in the Smokies. On the outside of the restaurant, there were a series of hooks in which to hang packs from before entering the restaurant. When I got to the restaurant, The Dude and Tyler's packs were both hanging up so I joined them on the back porch of the restaurant where they had segregated themselves from the townies due to the stink we had accumulated. We had a few bouts with our unusually bitchy waitress and then were dazzled by the "Hungry Hiker" plate. We were told that all the lodging in town was probably full due to some festival that was going on in town. As luck would have it, the event was the French Broad River Festival, something I have wanted to go to for years but could never convince anyone to go with me to. What was supposed to be a lazy zero day in town soon turned into an alcohol fueled party where we ended up taxing our bodies with dancing and camping in the rain. The bands were awesome and once again I was surrounded by the culture and lore of river life. Vendors from Eno, Astral, Redneck Rafter, NRS, etc. were there to promote their new river gear. We met some really great people camped near us who come to the festival each year for the events as well as the great mountain biking nearby. They really enjoyed our stories and that we were setting out on such a great adventure; enough so that they shared their beer, food, and campsite with us. The generosity that people show towards hikers has become something really magical and frequent these days. We also met "Opossum Whisperer," a super nice lady who rehabilitates small mammals, namely opossums. At first she seemed a bit spacy, but once we warmed up to her she was as nice and caring as she could be. We saw her all throughout the weekend and when it was finally time for us to pack up and head back to the trail, it was like we were departing from an old friend. The hike out of Hot Springs was just brutal. My pack felt heavier than it ever had and my body was run down. The PBR and greasy food slowed me down to a snail's pace; as if this wasn't bad enough, the rain decided to dump on us for most of the day. Our clean laundry didn't stand a chance in the deluge. Due to the forecast of the upcoming days, I decided to shelter it last night in the tiny shelter. I actually got some pretty good sleep even with all the people crammed in there. I uaully get really fitfull sleep in shelters, but this night was not as bad. The mice there were especially bad, it was if they had gotten into a bag of cocaine or something. All night I could hear them running on the roof, gnawing on who know's what, scattering, and squeaking. I really didn't know that mice made noises, but these guys were shreaking and chattering all night. Most mice seem to come out right after dusk and be done by the early morning hours, but not these. The Spring Mountain Shelter were even active when the sun came up the following day. I slept in this morning, all of us unmotivated to venture out in the drizzling rain. The day actually turned out to have decent weather, but I had my pack cover on just in case. There was a really neat part of the trail that followed a narrow, exposed ridgeline. There were parts that climbed on the sides of rock faces that made it feel like we were in Peru or somewhere tropical; pretty cool walking. Saw Ned the Fed walking in the opposite direction as I was. He likes to get checked into a nice hotel room, get dropped up 20 or so miles up the trail, slackpack back, and then go back to the starting point and continue north again. It's a good idea and you can take a lot of stress off the body by slacking, but it takes a lot of planning and costs extra money to have to be shuttled back and forth. One of the best treats on the trail is coming up on a cooler full of trail magic; on the flipside, coming up on a cooler full of trash and exhausted supplies is a real kick in the balls. This was the case today and the would-have-been magic was Budweiser and soft drinks! Anyway- tenting in the rain right now, supposed to meet a friend of Tyler's tomorrow for some possible trail magic!