Date: 2017-05-05
From: Hot Springs

To: Hot Springs Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

Typical zero day. Get breakfast at the local, spend way too much and wreck the budget on resupplies, town food and beer (trail towns very efficient at extracting hiker money) wait around doing wash, wait around for hotel room (which had yet to cleaned when we got it) wait around doing nothing all day. Had to replace my shoes. They were comfortable and I liked them, but they were falling apart. Second pair that's done so. Solomon will get an earful - as soon as I get reliable cell service.  Yep that's a pic of Hot Springs. Pretty much captured it all - except for the dollar general. Trail runs right down through town - just to the left of the line of cars. As we are Zeroing today, I thought I would answer some of the questions I'm getting.  First, I know I keep changing person narratives and verb tenses but trying to give both Will and my perspective and too difficult to go back and clean up. Guess that is blog / poetic license.Second, drop me a line, tomgkenyon@gmail.com, or text +1.617.784.1915, if you have any questions. Always a pleasure to get some communication from friends and family. Do we have trail names yet? Not yet. I think because we are limiting time at shelters, haven't been with the same group of people for any length of time, and have yet to do something stupid/dumb/crazy/funny in front of the right person. Apparently doing some stupid/dumb/crazy/funny is a prerequisite.  In general how are you doing?So far all is going extremely well. We exited the Smokies and arrived at hot springs (mile 273) and are feeling great. Better than either of us thought we would be feeling at this time. We read that the first few weeks, everything would be sore. We followed advise from several experienced thru hikers and started off real slow. Looks like it paid off. How are your feet are doing?Both Will and I have been extremely fortunate. A few very small blisters. Will had some ankle swelling the first two weeks but it gradually faded. I had two days of a very minor ankle pain, but it went away. Ok, after 4 or 5 miles of downhill our feet and knees kill us, and it feels like our toes are coming out the front of our shoes.How is the sleeping? Much better sleeping when tenting vs Shelters. We have avoided Shelters as much as possible. Had to shelter through in the Smokies. Only one of the three nights it was not good. Way too many people in the shelter due to weather and I had Mr. Snore inches away.  How has the Physical toll been? So far limited/none. Granted some of the days and sections are very challenging but we are getting stronger each day. We are both injury free so far. On the advise of several experienced thru hikers, we started very slowly the first two week. Basically 7 to 8 miles a day, increased to 10. Now doing 15+. That will increase further as we leave the southern most part of the trail. Apparently the two ends of the trail, New Hampshire & maine, Georgia, North Carolina and through the Smokies - are some of the more difficult parts of the trail. Amazingly I've only taking ibuprofen once so far. Will was taking some daily the first two weeks but just for his swollen ankle.  Are you getting bored? First week or so when we were done hiking so early - afternoons and evenings were a bit so. Due to norovirus we were doing our best to avoid crowds/shelters. Now that we are socializing more, no boredom. Views and hiking keep it at bay durning the day. What is your typical day like? We are still working on a routine even after almost a month. But typically up at 7, pack and eat. Off by 8ish. Lunch anywhere 11:30 to 1. Camp/shelter 3 to 4. Dinner by 6, in "bed" by 8. I try to write most of my blog entries in bed. It is really hard to hold the phone - all 4.6 ounces - 12 inches above your head and type. The most annoying part of the iPhone notes app is it keeps wanting to auto correct miles to mikes!!! Needless to say not good when writing about hiking Do we see many signs of civilization? Amazing no. Up till today almost no signs of civilization on the trail. We have gone into 3 towns to resupply and rest - but had to hitchhike 6 to 15 miles to do so. The last day in Smokies we saw the first real views of civilization in the distance. Today we are in the midst of civilization, Hot Springs NC, population 563 (2014).