Date: 2007-06-10
From: Groundhog Creek Shelter

To: Lemon Gap-Hot Springs
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Well, Little Bear's leg was feeling a little better today, but we got a late start rolling out of camp around 10am. The climbs started immediately as we had two 2000 foot climbs one right after the other. This would prove to be bad for Little Bear's leg as it was hurting him far more than he let on as we climbed to the top of Max Patch around 2pm. There were numberous tourists up there doing the walk up the hill, walk back down the hill get in the car and go home. We on the other hand decided to lay out up top while eating lunch. We received trail magic from several people in the form of ice cold beverages and some peaches. Finally it was time to head off for Walnut Creek Shelter and so we started moving making good time, but about a mile before Lemon Gap I began to outdistance Little Bear, but didn't give it much thought, as I came to the gap there were a coupla guys packing up their truck in anticipation of driving up to Max Patch to camp for the night, and as I stood there I saw Little Bear come up and walk over to the road to talk to some people in a car, not giving it much thought at the time I stood there and waited for him, when he finally came up it was obvious that he was in quite a bit of pain, as the pain now wrapped around his entire upper leg and was almost unbearable. We chatted briefle with the old guys who gave us some ice cold "malt juice" to help ease the pain. The old guys left and we sat there discussing our options, and he decided that he didn't think he could make it up to Walnut Mountain, and besides we didn't want to risk the chance that he wouldn't be able to hike at all the next day, so we decided to try and get back to Hot Springs and take a zero or two to see how his leg was feeling. I was able to flag down a young couple who took us back up to Max Patch where they were going to camp for the evening, they were great people, and we sat there chatting for about a half hour with them as we waited for people to hit up for a ride to Hot Springs, it took awhile but we finally found an older couple who took us right to the center of town and dropped us off.Now, Hot Springs is an intersting town in that it is a huge tourist trap and priced accordingly, you know, one of those little towns where there is a price for locals, and a huge, jacked up price for hikers, tourists, bikers, etc. So I ate a $10 cheeseburger, had a $4 draft beer, and got us a room for $77 dollars that had one queen bed, a bunkbed, and no tv. What's the big deal? Well, in Damascus I could get a cheeseburger for $6, a draft beer for $2, and I could get a room with two queens and tv at a BnB that includes a phenomenal breakfast for under $70...so as you can see Hot Springs is good to pass thru, resupply and get the heck out of. We did meet Elmer, and I gotta say, I don't get the draw, other than the price of a room, we were gonna stay but decided to move on as I couldn't sleep in an 80 degree plus room. After all the moving around we finally settled down to hanging out at the Paddler's Pub talking with some locals. After which we retired to our room I hung outside for a while drinking free beer with the workers who were very cool.Anyways, I am showered and sleepy, so good night!