4/13/01
Trail towns. I like the sound of that. After a very rainy night (thank goodness for shelters!) we awoke this morning to a light pitter patter on the tin roof. We did our pre-daylight shelter routine in the shelter, packing up completely in the dark by feel alone. Once we were packed, Creeper and I looked at each other, wondering why we packed so early and so quickly just to leave the comfort of the dry shelter for a wet day on the trail. Are we nuts? Before heading out, we decided to listen to my trusty weather radio for the latest and greatest weather forecast. By now the other shelter inhabitants were stirring but no one expressed a passion for cruising outside very quickly! The 7 a.m. report said thunderstorms with some cloud to ground lightning would be passing through this morning. Since we had 2 mountains to cross early, we decided to sit tight in the shelter. After an hour of sitting, we listened again. When we heard that as of 8 a.m. the wind direction in Asheville, NC (east of us) was from the north, we knew that the frontal boundary had passed (I should have been a meteorologist!!) and we donned our rain gear and headed out.
I was ahead of Creeper and climbed up and over the first mountain. On the other side was the next shelter...when I approached I found Sea Wolf alone inside, sipping on coffee. I was happy that he wasn't in our shelter, but also relieved that he had a semi-dry place to sleep for the night (his shelter leaked!). When Creeper caught up I took off again and made the 1000 foot climb of Bluff Mtn. very quickly. At the top, I decided to stand and wait for Creeper again. This was a very beautiful place, especially in the rain, and I had 25 minutes alone to contemplate the beauty of the wilderness and to appreciate the beauty in the rain! There were some very spiritually moving moments and thoughts during that 25 minutes. Wow, what a feeling! I was truly overcome with emotion during that time alone, standing still, listening, looking, absorbing and reflecting. Oh, during this spiritual episode, a rabbit (the real thing) hopped out of the rhododendron bushes onto the trail and bounded toward me, then turned around and scampered back into the bushes. (It must have been a distant cousin???).
Anyway, Creeper caught up and we then hiked together the balance of the day. He had decided that we should hike all the way in to Hot Springs rather than stay at the last shelter 3 miles out for his last night on the trail. We stopped for a late lunch at the Deer Park Mountain shelter and emptied our packs of remaining food for Dimples and Freebird who were staying at the shelter instead of coming into town (to save some money). We arrived in downtown Hot Springs around 4:30 p.m. Hot Springs is only about 4 blocks long, has no stoplights and no fast food restaurants, but is a true trail town! The trail literally runs down the main street before exiting back to the mountain wilderness. When we arrived, we stopped at a famous thru-hiker boarding house called Elmer's, which was full to capacity. We hiked through a neighborhood to the Hiker Hostel which had plenty of room. Randy, the proprietor, was the perfect host, giving us a quick tour of our $10/night bunk quarters which included kitchen privileges and hot shower and towel. Not bad.
After showering and doing our laundry, we headed to the Paddler's Pub for dinner. There was a two-piece jazz/blues band at the outside deck, and we joined 25 other thru-hikers who were scarfing down REAL FOOD and soaking in the tunes. Creeper treated me to a wonderful dinner as a celebratory "last supper" together. We both had the LARGEST steak on the menu and had no problem making it disappear in quick order. It was a great evening in a great trail town with lots of great new friends to enjoy it with. We got a surprise when we returned to the hostel. The return of Sea Wolf!! It was just the three of us in the basement bunks for the night, and I actually did get some sleep. For a Friday the 13th and Good Friday, it was a very fun day and a great conclusion to our AT journey together. Creeper has been a fantastic partner and we were both skeptical about how a long distance hike with a partner would work, but there were truly all positives and no negatives the whole time we spent together. OK, here are the stats for the day: low 50 degrees, high 70. Rain a.m., sunny p.m. Mileage 14.9 ,Cumulative mileage 270.9.
