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!