Slack Packing

I had planned on spending an extra zero here in Hot Springs, everyone else here seems to be doing 2 or 3 but I had a last minute change of plans. I was able to arrange a day of slackpacking with the hostel 17 miles up the trail. Slackpacking is essentially day hiking without your gear. Just the essentials for the day. I hiked with my rain coat, sunscreen, guide book, lunch, sun gloves, water filter, phone, and wallet. The Hemlock Hostel sent someone over to pick up my pack for me and gave me a small lightweight day pack and I was off! While leaving town I was convinced to check out this hiker mini house cabin thing which someone purchased just for the hikers. It's a small hangout with couches and a kitchen and wifi. There's usually a volunteer there making cookies. I got three cookies and had my photo taken. The owners like to have a photo of each of the hikers that come through holding a whiteboard with their trail name and date. I had my photo taken in a rush while I was still eating a cookie!

Trail markers that are in the sidewalk that runs through town. 

The local river flooded from all the rain. 

It was so nice to have the lightweight pack on for a day. I was still so sore from the 20 mile day but I figured that I could do it since it's almost like carrying nothing on my back. I was going probably 2.5 miles per hour, maybe a bit faster. There were a lot of rough uphills that made me extra greatful of the light pack. I had a particularly late start because this was so last minute, I left at 11:30 and had 17 miles to go. I didn't have much of a choice but to get there since I don't have anything for camping in or dinner. It misted slightly towards the end of the day. I am so done with rain.

There was a damn in the woods

With a pretty lake at the top

The view from the top of a firetower near the trail. 

The trail came up to a road and I was really confused on if it was the road or not. It turns out that the forrest service won't let the hostel put a sign up there saying to keep going. A lot of people got lost here walking down the road for miles trying to find the hostel. I walked a bit down the road myself then decided to get back on the trail and keep going. I was so stressed out worried if I was going the right way or if I was just walking further and further from the hostel. I did however come upon the road and a little sign that said Hostel with an arrow. The opposite direction had a purple blaze which kinda looked like a blue blaze from a distance.  Apparently purple means private property. The guide book even says that it's private property but of coarse they have to put up a perfectly shaped rectangle that looks like it's the trail to the hostel. I went the other direction where the arrow pointed. The whole way there was ill marked and it looked like northern Wisconson until the dirt road hit the more main road. Then it looked like the deep south with falling apart run down trailer homes with unkept yards and everything. The road got to an intersection with a house with maybe 10 large dogs who bolted up to the fence in their yard barking up a storm. They had two great danes, when they barked you could hear it echo back from the mountains. It was so loud and jarring to pass this house. There was a worn out sign that said the hostel was .4 miles up the road. I was so afraid of being lost out there. There were faint blue blazes very far spread apart that I was following. I did however make it and they had room in the bunk house!

Farm along the way to the hostel. 

I was able to get sheets and a towel. I ended up with one of the small hard towels that you are meant to put on the floor in front of the shower. Before leaving the office I got a chicken pot pie, a cresant sandwich, and a pint of ice cream. I was told that there was a freezer in the bunk room since i was worried about it melting by the time i was ready to eat it.

The hostel was pretty empty despite what they seemed to think it would be like over the phone (fully booked). Alex was there. I met him like 2 weeks ago at the start of the Great Smokey Mountains. He's one of the many people that I keep running into. There's also another girl I met named Pogo. It was nice there. By the time I got to my icecream it turned out to be melted! I stuffed i further back into the freezer hoping it would freeze overnight.

 I had been putting gauze and athletic tape over my heels to protect my raw heels. I didn't think about it before but I aparently taped over that giant blister which I drained days ago. I pulled the tape off and it ripped off the blister and pulled up and ripped my healthy skin too causing it to start bleeding.

Tonight at Hemlock Hollow Inn I'm at mile 289.7 with 1900.1 left to go.

Hot Springs

Another hard day to get up. After each particularly long day it is so hard to get myself up out of bed. As part of the hiker fest happening here in Hot Springs there's a pancake breakfast in town so I had to go! It was a $5 charge but it was a lot of food too! I ran into Buzokie at the restaurant! From there I went across to the outfitters store to pick up some needed gear like sock liners, I'm hoping that those will be the solution to my foot trouble at this point. I also got a new food bag because the strap on my second one melted awhile back. I got a better one this time. I picked up a T-shirt and some snacks and other small supplise too. Also my drop box with food and gear, I was able to pick that up. There was a scale at the store. I lost 10lbs since starting a month ago.

Not the shirt I bought but I found it funny.

Scout and Pots made it in to the hostel after I got back, we went back to town to split a load of laundry. While the laundry was going I walked over to the art gallery and café. I got some delicious berry swirl ice cream in a fresh waffle cone then a smoothie. Technically 2 smoothies since she didn't measure anything and it filled up my glass and filled it up a second time after I finished. Malibou was there with her chihuahua, Roo. She's planning on going to the pound tomorrow to adopt another dog to join her on the trail. She's more of a big dog person anyways but if she does get a larger dog she could have Roo ride in one of the dog back pack pouches.

Where thru hiker belong

The town of hot springs didn't get it's name from cold water. There's a natural hot spring here. There aren't many on this side of the country. I walked over to the resort and spa and got an hour in the spring. You get your own private hot tub essentially that looks out onto the nearby river which was flooding since it's still raining and has been for days. They fill up the hot tub fresh for each person and drain and clean the tub after so it's all natural water and natural temperature . Plus the jets on the tub work as well. It was so relaxing and nice. Towards the end a few layers of skin started pealing away from the back of my large toenails. Ick!

I was able to get their last massage appointment for the day too. It was a 30 min slot, someone had a cancellation so I was able to get in. Otherwise they were fully booked for days. I'm glad I got in! The massage was great and she was used to getting hikers and gave me a few stretches for me to do to help with the parts of my body that are particularly tight which can lead to injuries like shin splints for example if I don't stretch out these areas. I've run into a few people who gave up on the trail from shin splints.

After the spa I was just crazy hungry. I wanted to check out the dinner in town because everyone had such great things to say about it but it closed at 2pm. There are only 3 places to eat in town, 4 if you consider the art gallery which had smoothies and a few pasteries in the afternoon. And I didn't want to go to the place I went last night that put mushrooms instead of chicken on my pizza so to the Iron horse Station it was! The only person I knew there was Grey Eagle so I joined him at the bar. He's a solo hiker, I think that he's in his 70's. While I was waiting for a massage earlier he was also waiting for one too. I joked that I was stalking him because we keep running into each other for the past 2 weeks. I got a locally caught rainbow trout meal which was fantastic and a chocolate peanut butter pie. When the bills came around he took my check and said he'd pay for it. That was so nice of him!

I saw am opossum on the tail

I might do another zero tomorrow depending on how I feel. Most people here are taking 2-3 zeros. Anther vortex town that sucks you in. It's a really charming town though.

Rain for Days

I got a late start to the day because of the trail magic. I was really excited for their cresant roll linned breakfast egg casserole but I found out that they mixed salsa throughout the casserole! It sounded so good, I was really looking forward to it. I think I'll try making my own when I get home. I didn't have enough toilet paper to get me to Hot Springs (the next town) if I ate the tomatoes in that casserole. I did however get freshly fire roasted pineapple slices, another blood orange, and some delicious banana bread muffins!

My new plan was to make it to the shelter before Hot Springs for the night. I ended up pushing all the way to Hot Springs anyways which was like a 19 mile day. I was flying today, I was going faster than 2 miles per hour because it took me just under 9 hours to get there. I even stopped for a longer lunch break and cooked a mountain house meal. There was a good amount of downhill so that really helped. It rained on and off all day long. I'm so tired of the rain! There was a good long section of downhill when the sun came out from hiding and it was just long sloping switchbacks for miles. It was really beautiful. I really liked that stretch. I probably wouldn't feel the same if I was going southbound though.

I made it into Hot Springs right at the end of three Hiker Fest happening. The trail goes straight through town, the first trail town! I got a little bit of banana bread and some strawberry lemonade from the free hiker dinner that was happening at the Laughing Heart Hostel. I was expecting to not be and to find a place to stay for the night but one of the semi-private rooms had an open bed! Malibou and her Chihuahua, Roo, were just checking in and got the second to last bed in the same room. It's essentially a room with 3 twin beds that comes with towels and a full set of sheets. It's nice,  clean, and dry. Just what I want.

A lot of people that I know are here that I haven't seen in awhile like Spur, Jole, or now is Jule (i think), Sweetheart, I can't even remember everyone. It was like a small hiker reunion. I didn't get a real meal so I wanted to go to town to get some food. It really started to downpour. Sweetheart joined me and halfway there I ran into another couple who did the same hike as me today who also wanted food. Everyone keeps saying that I should go to the Smoky Mountain Diner but none of us had our guide books so we couldn't find it. We found another place called Spring Creek Tavern, the food was great but the service was horribly slow and inattentive. I ordered a chicken pizza and I got a mushroom pizza instead. I was so hungry that I ate it anyways. At least they remembered to not put sauce on it! I left still hungry. I could have eaten 2 of those pizzas.

Tonight at Laughing Heart Hostel I am at mile 273.4 with 1916.4 left to go!

Strange Creatures

I didn't really want to leave Standing Bear Farm but I did. I was warned that there would be thunderstorms around 2 and that it would rain the rest of the evening. There's an event happening in the town over called Trail Fest today and tomorrow. I would like to go to it. If I can make 17 miles today and tomorrow I can get there for it. Or ideally more today so I can get there earlier in the day tomorrow. Before I left I met my first southbound through hiker. He started last fall before Katahdin closed in October.

The climb out of Standing Bear Farm was brutal. 5 miles of just straight uphill climbing. I saw more of the milipede things.
I'm curious what they actually are.

I came across a small rattle snake on the trail that very quickly took off as I approached and hid in the leaves. It's a very hot and sunny day, more hot because of the humidity. I ended up running into another rattlesnake on the trail. It was right at the edge of the trail, it was about 5 feet and quite round. I didn't even see it. I had such a good momentum going and it blended right in. It moved really fast and rattled as I came upon it. I probably leaped 3 feet in the air and almost pissed myself.

I think I'm turning into a roll of bubble wrap. I started getting heat blisters on my upper arms. I've seen other girls getting them. It doesn't hurt, itch, or burn but when i run my fingers over them they pop like bubble wrap. It's really satisfying to do and really strange.

There was a tower at the top for air traffic.

  
It did eventually rain. It was a light on and off that was actually really nice because it cooled things off. Around 3 it started to downpour right on my way up to Max Patch. There was a group camped at the bottom and it was so tempting to do the same right as it was starting but I hiked on, at least it was fairly warm rain. I wanted to make it to Trail Fest. Then it just poured and thundered

The road before Max Patch had some trail magic going on.  The rain had just stopped and the sun starting coming back out. I just sat on one of the dry chairs to rest, they had a bunch of things that I don't like, but I really liked the dry chair! They were about to start grilling burgers and hot dogs so there were a bunch of hikers collecting around. I hiked on and up to Max Patch.

I think that Max Patch is my new favorite spot on the trail. It was just a massive grassy bald, it was just rolling and had this amazing view of all the mountains around. I stopped up there for lunch then the fog started rolling in heavily. I took some quick photos and tucked my phone away in my pack before everything disappeared into a thick white. There are sign posts with the trail blazes on them every so many feet but those started disappearing too the fog was so thick. The stretch on top of Max Patch went on for at least a mile. A lot of people die up here from being struck by lightening. There was a pair of boots up high on the top. I think that those belonged to someone who was struck by lightening up here. 

Towards the far end of the bald the fog cleared up and the sun came out. I saw two white tailed deer, they saw me and shot down the side of the mountain. It was later in the day so the sun just hit everything so beautifully. This place felt so familiar.  It was just like a dream I had years ago of my Grandmother living in a place like this after she passed away. While climbing down I started crying, not because I was necessarily sad. It was just really emotional.

At the bottom there was trail magic. I could see it from the whole stretch of Max Patch but I thought that it wasn't on the trail since the trail seemed to go a different direction. I pulled myself together and it was just fanatic.  This trail magic is not on a road. It's in the middle of the trail and it's a huge set up. The group putting this on all finished their thruhikes in 2014. This was their trail family, they all hiked together on and off and made it to the finish. Many of them are tripple crowners or are in the process of being tripple crowners. The tripple crown is when you hike the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. They came from all over to put this on. They had a big wagon to haul things from the road all the way over here. They have a grill, tables, many tents, probably 10 coolers, plus all of their own tents and gear. There's probably 15 of them. A bunch of other hikers decided to stop here, it was getting late and I decided to just stick around. There was so much food, this is like the best trail magic. They had music playing and it was a party until late in the night.

My first time eating a blood orange

I got a fresh coconut 

Tonight I'm camped at mile 254.1 with 1935.2 miles left to go.

Standing Bear Farm

Getting out of bed was the hardest thing. All of my body said NOPE. Everything is so incredibly sore from yesterday. I had to stretch a bunch before getting up. I was sound asleep for most of the night and i was in bed for almost 10 hours and I would have just kept laying there if I could! It must have been one of the most comfortable nights I've had so far on the trail. I wasn't warm or cold, it was just right and everything was just so comfortable. I'm sure being so sore that most anything would be comfortable though.

I managed to get going at 8AM. It just started raining again. It ended up raining on and off all morning. It was rough going at first but as I walked I warmed up my muscles and it got better. It was all a heavy fog until the afternoon too. The trail just shot straight down. Maybe 8 miles of downhill today. I lost about X,000 feet of elevation today. My ears would occasionally pop.

The scenery changed so much as I decended all of the coniferous trees went away and all of the lower elevation trees now have leaves. There's green leaves everywhere and so many new wildflowers. There's a lot of interesting insects and crazy colored milipedes, at least I think that's what they are.

I exited the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. It was a great feeling to finally be out of there. I followed this river for quite a ways and it turned into a waterfall that just kept on falling down new levels. It was so beautiful. The sun came out and the rain stopped. I still had my phone safely packed away because who knows with this weather so I didn't get any pictures. As soon as I left the park there was a set of power lines and the sounds of a nearby highway. The trail went down to a road and followed it for quite awhile. It crossed over a large river with rapids. There was a group on a bus getting off to go white water rafting, just like I did back at the NOC. The road continued to go under the major highway then up a gravel road before going back into the woods. It's definitely interesting following the road as part of the trail. It mixed things up that's for sure.

I only hiked 10 miles today to Standing Bear Farm, a hostel along the trail. I was able to get one of the last few bunks left. There's a cabinet with clean sheet sets. The mattresses are pretty gross so I'm happy that there's sheets. They also had towels and showers! This place is just so interesting though. I did laundry. I've only seen people use a washing board in movies but that was the washing "machine" I guess that I'm actually the machine. It took awhile to get most of the dirt out. The water kept turning brown from my clothes. There's a little store building. Each person gets an envelope to write their name, bunk number, and anything that they take in the store including the price and you pay the morning that you leave, there's so much trust in the hikers here.

The back of my left knee down to the top of my calf started pealing in thin large sections. A couple of my smaller toenails are turning brownish. I think that I may loose those ones.

Today the hostel is celebrating "Earth Day", today is 4/20 and they normally have a celebration for it but someone invited the sheriff so it's now an earth day celebration which is probably for the best. They went all out. They had a live band, a full on pig roast where they burried it in the ground, and a giant array of other food that everyone and their dog brought over. Seriously though, it's like the whole town was invited over and there must have been like 20 dogs. There were dogs everywhere. It was fantastic! I got to eat tons of great food and relax. I even saw my first bear! It was tastey.

My first bear sighting

I heard a rumor that the bear was breaking into someone's car so they shot it. It was like a tougher chicken with a darker color and tasted pretty great. I keep joking that it's the first bear I've seen on the trail. I'm not wrong though. Dessert was fantastic too. I ate so much that I felt kinda sick afterward.

I popped the worst of my blisters before heading to bed. I hope that the start healing up well overnight.

Tonight at Standing Bear Farm I'm at mile 240.3 with 1949.5 miles left to go.