Date: 2008-03-15
From: walnut mountain shelter

To: sunnybank inn
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: light rain

I didn't sleep well last night. It poured rain much of the night which was a little loud on the metal roof. Also the floor was slanted which wasn't comfortable.I got up early and by multitasking was out of camp in 40 minutes...a record for me (including a hot breakfast). First thing there was a descent and a climb up Bluff Mountain. It was about a thousand feet up, but I made it to the top an hour after I left camp. Not bad. The rest of the day was mostly downhill with a couple 400ish foot climbs.It was partly cloudy in the morning, so I was pushing it to see how far I could get. It was supposed to be severe thunderstorms in the afternoon, so the sooner I got into town the better.As I was descending Bluff Mountain, I came across a campsite that had been used the night before. There were 2 things wrong - they scattered their trash, and they left their campfire roaring (this area is officially in a drought). They attempted to put it out by smothering it with leaves and toilet paper... Genius. Guess what? The leaves and toilet paper caught on fire and helped the fire rebuild itself. Needless to say, I put it out the best I could without using any of my water which was running low. A half mile down the trail I found a really nice hat someone dropped that morning. Had to have been those campers. Its mine now. Karma.The clouds were starting to thicken about this time. It didn't seem like rain yet, but I kept booking because I knew it would rain. Made great time and only stopped briefly. Around noon, I heard the first thunder in the distance. Shortly later it started to sprinkle a little for a while. After a while the storm was upon me. It was raining pretty good and there was thunder in the distance. Not a concern at this point.I rolled into a shelter for a quick lunch. I was getting pretty close to Hot Springs and a good meal. The thunderstorm got closer, and one time there was a 4 second count between the thunder and lightning. Pretty close. Luckily it moved off after that though and I rolled into town. I got to the inn a couple minutes after 2. Not bad for a 13 mile day, I was impressed.Elmer, the owner, is a nice guy and gave me the tour. The inn is an old Victorian house. Looks like I'll have my own private room with a private porch a real bed complete with linens, and a hot shower to boot. This made me really happy, especially for $15. Can't beat it.I relaxed for a bit and exploded my pack to dry it out. Caught up on email and journals and started to read another book. I'll be here for a couple days recovering. My knee has been stronger, so hopefully this will knock it out.Mowgli, a former thru-hiker is here. He gave me some herbal anti-inflammatory cream to try. Hard to tell if it works while I'm here, but I'll use it anyways. Can't hurt, and I don't want to keep taking Motrin.I had dinner at the inn. It was organic and vegetarian, but it was AYCE, which was very nice. I can say that for the first time since I've been out here, I'm absolutely stuffed. I ate about twice as much as everyone else - 3 bowls of soup, dinner plate of salad, lots of buttered crackers, mounding dinner plateful of veggies, four cornbread muffins, and a big piece of pie with ice cream. It was delicious, but I think I'm going to have the meat special at the diner across the street tomorrow morning for breakfast.Just chilling now listening to the rain and glad I'm not out there. Should be a great night.