Date: 2009-06-09
From: The Diner, Hot Springs, NC

To: Camped on top of Rich Mountain
Miles today: 8.3

After a good sleep, I wake up on the back porch of the diner and pack up. I order a breakfast skillet piled with homefries, mushrooms, onions, peppers, ham, and cheese w/ a side plate of 2 eggs and toast. It is delicious and I use the toast to make a sandwich out of the skillet stuff and piece of egg. This is so much better than if I put butter and jelly on the toast. I finish typing this. I think all this journaling took like 5 and a half serious hours and 3 emails 6800 characters. Oh, another random tidbit. I got new AA lithium batteries for the pocketmail, but I put the old ones in the camera and camera likes them and says full.I am happy and health for sure after that zero day. I pay for breakfast with a hefty tip for their kindness and say see you up the trail. She wouldn't accept any money. All I could do was leave a 4.50 tip. There are awesome people in the world. Fin. Kyle----------NEW STUFF-----------I sent the last pocketmail which took like 12 minutes to complete. It was so slow and the lights were not changing, that I thought it was not working. I took it away from the phone and the pocketmail kept trying to communicate, so I put it back and the lights changed quite soon after. The other 2 lights went rather fast/ normal. Then I go stop in the dollar general to pick up some new AAA's (Dollar General "Heavy Duty" 4 pack that cost $1) for my headlamp. They have been lasting. I start out of the town, Hot Springs, up the trail and I have my breast pockets bursting with random crap like the pocketmail, so I need to drop pack and organize stuff some time. I have the feeling I am missing something. The trail finally turns into something that looks like a trail instead a stroll through society. I drop pack, start organizing stuff and notice the pocketmail is missing its home in the large ziplock with the guide book. So, I am like crap. I leave the pack and start back to town. I pretty well know where the guide book is because I had to take it out of my pack side pocket to send the pocketmail at the payphone. I am heading back to the payphone to check. I am taking picture as I go back too. I get there finally and see it sitting on top of the payphone. I'm still energized by the breakfast and now the foolery of forgetting something, so I take 2 photos. I am rather proud of how the 2 make an animation quite well. I'm still feeling super high happy energy and I am bored walking back. I do some sort of voice journaling thing that I don't think was very productive. I forget though. Get back to pack, organize pack, do some stetching, and then start up the trail.The trail goes along the French Broad River which is entertaining to watch. I pass a camped couple with a dog that I saw camped out at Fontana Dam (I was confused/shocked). Now the trail starts going up and switchbacking. It almost instantly zaps all energy I had. I just want to take a nap. I am thinking, what just happened?, what is going on? I get to a view point and just relax there for like 30 mins just looking back on Hot Spring, taking pictures. I try to nap. I have too many insects attracted to me by now. They make it impossible. I finally decide to go since I am not being productive in anyway. I just go up a bit and I am just not feeling like hiking at all. I see a spot on the side of trail with little vegetation so I try to nap there but in like 3 mins ants are swamping. 30 secs later they are deciding to crawling on me. This time I try and endure. All I can do is close my eyes for a bit and lie down, which I guess revitalizes you a little.Then a huge group of senior hikers come and I can hear them coming. I get up and throw pack on to not worry them or something. I let like 8 pass and have a quick word with over half of them and this energizes me in a way. I start up and pass a group of like 5. I have a quick word with them. Start up more and pass like 4 more. Then I keep going and pass 3 more groups of 1 or 2. I have a word with mostly all of these and this is enough to get me to slowly trudge up Rich Mtn constantly. I am going slow enough that I actually take time to look and consider picking up walking sticks. I see a thin branch, pick it up, break it in half, and check out both halves. Both are pretty proper size and sturdy, but one is rotting from being wet. I am peeling the wet and bark from them a little and start up the trail with them. I could here a rowdy group of boy scouts near by the whole time I was getting the walking stick. I know I am close to camp and the top of Rich mtn. I get to the side trail and just head to the fire tower because I am not wanting to hang around the boy scouts all evening. I have had enough of them at this point. This is like the 5th boy scout troop I have bumped into on the AT so far. These were the wacky loud type. I get up to the top of the fire tower. I am too out of it to really absorb the beauty. I take a good look off at 180 of it. I see there is trail magic of oatmeal and Knorrs. I take an oatmeal and have a ramen chicken. I try a new trick of the trail I learned from a boy scout troop first, but then more so from Wobbler at Elmer's. I just poured water straight into the oatmeal packet and then I added ramen to the pot after that and had a lazy meal up there. I take a break to take pictures and look at the view. I shave the walking sticks and try to make them drier and sturdy. I watch the sunset, but lose track with the eating, playing with camera, and the talking with other people visiting the fire tower. All of a sudden the sun was missing from the sky but it is still bright so I am like confused and like well it is late and I am done with everything. I go into the woods and it is like walking into night. It is a weird feeling (enough light open area of a firetower both not to break through trees). I walk to camp and wonder if there is enough room. The scout leader was up on the tower and said there was enough room for 1 or 2. I bump into Win wrapping up her evening with dishes and brushing teeth at the "spring" (a puddle type) and she says there is room to join the campsite. I get over there and the Scouts are sing koom-by-yah loudly, so that thrills me... I just walk in and find a spot and set up in the dark. I ask about bear bags and they say the forest is too dense so there are no good branches they could see. They are just keeping food in tents. Considering the numbers I am satisfied. Now I don't have to do anymore work. I have too much food to have an easy hang anyway and I am too tired. I am last in my tent I am quite sure which makes me quite happy.