Date: 2008-06-05
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We woke up at 5:00 AM, packed up and ate a quick breakfast and by sunrise we were on the trail. By 7:00 we hit our first uphill and were dripping in sweat right away. At 7:00 AM! We heard the temps got into the 90s today. Thankfully we didn't have too many uphills. We pulled into Hot Springs right around noon.Coming down off the mountain we came to Lover's Leap Rock. Tigger needed to rest and stopped to sit on a rock. She said 'Wow, this rock is cool!' So we all found spots on the rock and stretched out soaking up what little coolness we could find.We saw our second snake on the trail today. It moved too quickly to identify it, but it definitely wasn't a blacksnake. It was either a copperhead or water snake. We are going with water snake since it was next to the river.We also passed an amazing field of Queen Anne's Lace. I'm not sure I've ever seen it grow so tall, or so many together. It was very pretty.When we arrived in Hot Springs we headed straight to the post office only to find that it was closed for lunch, a common occurrence for small town POs. We only had a few minutes to wait and we were able to pick up our bounce boxes. Next on to the laundry mat.I have to say I was surprised at the dinkiness of this laundry. We've gotten used to trail towns having pretty good laundry facilities, but this was pitiful. I don't know what they do in the height of NOBO season. So anyway, despite only having two working dryers we managed to get everything washed.While waiting for laundry we started working on where we would stay. We wanted to stay in the cabins at the spa, but they were booked. Next stop was the Sunnybank Inn, but Elmer was out and first glance appeared he may have been filled up as well. A quick walk around town and a few phone calls turned up no openings. This seemed strange. Then I overheard a couple of hikers say that there was a big wedding happening in town this weekend. Ah, that would explain it.About that time Soaring came back with good news that Elmer did have room for us at the Sunnybank. Yes! God is still good.The Sunnybank Inn is a Victorian house built in 1840 with a long and interesting history. It's just a really cool building. To be honest from the first time I heard about it up the trail I really didn't want to stay here. I know myself well enough to know that this is the kind of house I would have some envy problems with. It is so fascinating... the history, the uniqueness of each room, the intricate woodwork, the antique furniture... I just tell myself 'It's just a great place to zero for a day and don't think anymore about it' and move on.Meanwhile Owl and I are in this old bedroom. She has a fourposter bed to herself and I'm on a trundle bed in the window alcove. We have a fireplace in our room, that of course we have no desire to use tonight. Outside our front window is a balcony porch. We have two doors to our room, one leading to the curved staircase leading downstairs to the front hallway. The other leads to the reading room filled with books. At the foot of the stairs is the music room with any instrument Owl would care to play... except of course the fiddle which has a broken string. That's becoming a theme for us.So we got quickly settled in at the Sunnybank after our laundry. I was to meet my Dad at the Paddler's Pub at 4:00 to pass Roo off to him. That gave me just enough time for a real quick shower and a stop by the Dollar Store to pick up some puppy food.We walked into the Peddler's Pub right at 4:00 and saw someone waving to us from inside the screened porch. Dad had been waiting there for 15 minutes.We all sat down outside to have some dinner before he and Roo headed out. The food was really good and they graciously brought Roo a big bowl of water too. The temps were still ridiculously hot, but in the shade it was tolerable.After dinner Dad drove us back to the Sunnybank, we sorted out our drop box supplies that he had brought and we said our goodbyes. It was really hard to say goodbye to Roo. She is such an important part of our team. But I know she will have so much fun playing with Dad's Great Pyrenese pup, Bashful...and she can swim in Dad's pond anytime she wants. The trail the past couple of days has been very hot for her. AND it's only for two weeks. ...I'm missing her already and I think everyone else is too.So tomorrow is a real zero day. Just resting. We haven't done that for awhile...except when sick. We've even got an appointment for a massage. I was really hoping for a facial, but massages are all they do a the spa here, so massage it is.First we get to sleep in and then experience Elmer's famous vegetarian breakfast. Yum...Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9