Hot Springs, Elmer's Hostel, Karaoke, etc - End of Hike!

May 29, 2014 (friday) - What turned out to be our last night on the trail, was quite enjoyable. We had the good company of a couple who had done a lot of hiking, and they were accompanied by their dog.  They guy was a math teacher, as I recall.  Anyway, lots of stories and cheap talk, plus a little threatened karaoke. More on that later.  Good night sleep, good morning of a hearty, hot breakfast and double coffee, then pack up and GO!  The hike from where we were to Hot Springs we knew would be largely downhill, although not completely.  We were getting some delays as our water filtration system seemed a bit clogged and it was taking like an hour to filter a bag of water, and we really needed close to two for all of us.  Built in rest stops.  So we are pumped up, cruising along, committed to NOT camping on fri night, but enjoying all that Hot Springs could offer!  We across somewhere about 3.5 miles out called 'Pump Gap'.  I am not sure why the name but it should have been called 'Pump Brakes'.  As we got really close to Hot Springs, it turned out the final hiking indignity was that we had a straight down decent on a skinny trail, with rock scrambling in between.  There were other hikers littered along the trail, either dying going down, or dying going up. We came to Lovers Leap Rock, where there was a group already sitting there, so we moved on. You were basically looking straight down at the river running next to the town.  Thank go we did not hike this OUT of Hot Springs, as I think that would have been worse.  Once we finally, mercifully hit bottom, there was still about a mile and a half riverbed stroll to get to town.  As we came up off the river, hit the bridge and crossed it, Curtis threatened to throw his pack overboard.  It was enticing.  We strolled victoriously to Cori's car, dumped our stuff, and wandered up to Elmer's Hostel, which is actually on the other side of town from where we came in.  Don't get me wrong, its a small town.  Nevertheless, every step matters. Elmer had room and we were DONE!  We signed up for the spectacular breakfast the next morning, the B&B pricing coming in around $23-24. Very nice.  We cleaned up, headed in to town to find pizza and craft beer.  HS has exactly 3 places to hang out, and we hit each one!  At the Spring Creek Tavern we found pizza and live music - two brothers from Asheville playing...let's call it country music (?).  The third stop had the biggest crowd,,well, the outdoor patio had a few people, and there was a live...country band (surprise)!  Before we went in, we ran in to our friends from the night before, and as promised, if this happened (and it was bound to happen, since HS is so small), we had impromptu Karaoke performance - acapella version!  He did that song 'Trailers for sale or rent, rooms for a mere 50 cent..". It was his 'Go To' Song.  You know my Go To Song - Rappers Delight!  We were standing in the middle of the street, in 'downtown Hot Springs'.  Don, Cori, Curtis decided to save their Go To Karaoke song for 'next time'.  Cori did get asked to dance to some country two step song, and she obliged the kind gentleman. It no doubt made his month.  She is a good sport.  And that's it! A good night's sleep, a good breakfast, and off we go until the next hike! 67 Miles on this hike. Curtis and Cori did the 'warm up' hike from Roan Mt to Erwin, so they did an impressive 115 miles!
Here I am at the top of some mountain, sporting my TB Rays hat! Go RAYS!

And a trail sign. The arrows point both ways since you can go Northbound or Southbound.  Either that, or hikers are an indecisive bunch and this sign makes it easy for us!  I'm not sure which it is.  (Get it?)

A little something for you engineers..plus a waterfall picture!

Bonus picture here.  When out on the trail, you do come across some creativity in other's attempts to gather water in the best possible way.  Since in order to run the water through the filter, you either have to have enough to pump or to gather in a device, you have to have a minimal of volume.  Check this out.  Not done by us, just found by us for our use!  When you are hurtin' for water, which is frequent, you love coming across this 'offering'!

I will also add here the obligatory waterfall picture.  Always enjoyable to stumble across nature in this way:

20.9 miles to go, not 24! (Happy Dance)

May 28, 2014 (Thursday) - We had planned food through to Saturday lunch, just because we really didn't know what our pace would be.  Early in the week, we were behind, but with yesterday's big day of 18 miles, it changed everything.  Plus due to some bad math on my part, when we went to sleep, I thought we still needed 24 miles, which would be two decent days of hiking, but it was actually only 20.9 miles!  We were now confident we would be to Elmer's hostel for Friday night sleeping in Hot Springs!  this lead to eating some of the Saturday food early - why not, you know?  It was a DOUBLE COFFEE morning!! Woohoo!  Starbucks Via Italian Roast.  You cannot beat it on the trail.  As well, I found a pair of fresh socks in the bag I guess I was saving 'for a rainy day'.  Side note- the only rain all week was the night we stayed in a shelter (night #2), so we managed to stay dry all week, a real benefit for sure.  We saw the old ladies from the day before pass us before we got going, so..it was time to leave.  At this point, we had our hiking legs under us for sure, and it was a day of just...hiking.  We passed the infamous Allen Gap around lunchtime, wandered through some fields, and did some more uphills...and some more downhills.  I am not exactly sure where we ended up - I think Rich Mountain, which put us about 8 or so miles out from Hot Springs.  Here are some pictures - Cori sherpa-ing up the hill, and then Don and Curtis coming up the same hill.

"Hot Springs Tonight!" (not really)

May 27, 2014 (Wednesday) - We have about 28 miles under our belts now, out of 67 we must go to reach Hot Springs.  At this point, it was a question of when we would get in on Saturday, considering our pace and the miles left.  That was before we tackled hump day!  We started out (we think) at a place called Big Flat where we camped overnight.  It was just us on the ridge (even though Curtis pitched his tent right on the trail, I guess so he could 'meet people', which didn't happen).  We started out hoping to do about what we did the previous day - maybe 12-13 miles. We had some limping going on, a few blisters, Don was starting to get really creative with the Duct Tape as footwear, and our socks could stand up by themselves.  But you know, otherwise, we were good!  Well, about 7-8 miles in to hit, when we were close to hitting what we came to describe as the '8 mile wall', we started a little climp out of Flint Gap.  Unbeknownst to us, this climb would go on for over 1000 feet up, and last a solid hour.  Up, up, and up, once step after another.  As brutal a climb as any I have ever encountered. Every turn lead to more climb.  We went from about 2450' to 4750' - the top of Big Butt Mountain.  At least we were at the top, how could it be worse?  Well, since we were at the top, we were on the 'scenic route', which led up some rocks to a great view.  Again, unbeknownst to us, besides the view, there was a solid 1/2 mile of rock scrambling to be done, and I mean rock to rock, no trail.  Started to get sick of that 'vista' for sure.  Here is a picture though, so I guess if you are reading this, you will think wow, great!  We will remember it somewhat differently.

The final indignity was we ran out of water, and there were no water options 'at the top'.  We had to press on...and press on.  Cori took to muttering 'Hot Springs Tonight'!  certainly, a 40 mile day would have been ambitious!  We did come across a shelter, where there was a guy resting. He looked just like Dale Earnhardt.  Friendly guy who then produced a picture of himself with another guy at a previous shelter who looked just like...Chuck Norris.  We needed to move on.  :)   Campsite somewhere around the 16 mile mark where there was a trickle of water, but it was filled with about 15 people already, so we watered up and moved on.  Some of the women came over, acting like they didnt know there was a water source, and curious about us.  They were like 60 years old so I am sure they saw my brother and just wanted to socialize.  We moved on with the new battlecry (from Cori) "I'm going to Allen Gap!"  That would have been a 25 mile day!  We didnt make it but we did climb another 2 miles mostly up, to get to where we finally gave up and pitched tents.  It was dusk - enough to get the tents up and gather wood.  Great fire.  My hot chocolate ( a new twist this year, one that will be repeated in the future) was fantastic.  I am sure I shared too!  One other memory...we did stumble into a rushing river very early in the day (before we had any idea we would run out of water) and got to do the full head dunk/wash.  You don't get many of those, so that was very nice.

Trail Magic

May 27, 2014 - Still Tuesday, or back to Tuesday, I experienced something I had only heard about - Trail Magic.  Imagine yourself, Day 3 of a wilderness hike, nothing but water and the food on your back, and about 20+ miles in to it, and you come across a...cooler!  A big white cooler, with a sign above it that says 'Trail Magic'.  It is honestly, like from a dream.  Like a scene out of Forest Gump, we start running in slow motion, slowly dropping our packs as we move/run/limp, letting out a gutteral yet silent scream as we approach....THE COOLER.  It is all a fog..I don't recall who got their first, maybe Curtis.  Maybe Cori. They popped the top and there it was, like a gift from the Hiking gods - COCA COLA, Slices of Carrot Cake, Homemade cookies, a jug of milk, candy, fresh fruit, etc.  Cori and I wrestled over the coke while Curtis crammed chocolate whatevers down his throat.  Don might have hit the grapes and hit them hard, washed down with cookies.  We forced ourselves to stop before it got disgusting.  Man, what a beatiful moment.  I love those people, whoever they are. I really do.

Big Bad Bald - before 9 am!

May 26, 2014 - Last night was interesting.  besides the rain, there were others in the camp who were sure we were visited by a bear.  Crunching around and whatnot.  I don't know. I was double dog tired. A number of others were staying there last night - a couple of guys from Akron, a couple from Hot Springs/NC, and a guy named Devon who was convinced he was a through hiker.  We were not convinced he would make it.  In fact, he felt he was going to do the Triple thing - AT, PCT, and the Colorado Mts trail. I don't recall the name but all 3 are monstrous.  So, since we stayed in the shelter, our tents were not wet, and we could eat, pack up, and off we go, to the top of the mountain!  1.2 miles later we crested over Big Bald at 5516 ft and then headed downhill.  I recall we met a guy who stayed on the top, and we found a chair up there when we got there.  Someone had carried a chair to the top, I guess so they could enjoy the view better!  As for us, we were in the clouds, so not that great a view, to be honest.  And then mostly down hill.  We passed quite a few NOBOs or Northbounders (we were Southbound, which is atypical, just the way we like it!).  We made 12.3 miles today, so better again today. We had a spectacular campsite at the top of a ridge.  I like this pic of the big 3, so I'm showing it:

But here is maybe a better view of our campsite, and...look how happy they are, sharing their stump, fire, and food! 

Up...The...Hill....All...Day....

May 25, 2014 - Monday, who doesn't love Monday?  lol...well we got the initial 6 miles out of the way yesterday, and we were looking for more!  A good night's sleep, we loaded up with water, and 10 miles up the hill we went. We had started at Uncle Johnny's at 2057 feet. We were headed to the Bald Mt Shelter, now 16 miles from Erwin, and it was at 5096 ft! This gave us plenty of time to come up with trail names, since we had none, me included.  Cori, thanks to her..small but powerful stature is now known on the AT as 'Sherpa'.  Curtis, complement to his trail 'bathing technique', is to be forever known as 'Gold Bond'.  Not James Bond.  Gold Bond.  My brother Don, well...he had an interesting sleeping bag and setup, which made him look like King Tut. So, 'King Tut' it is!  As for me, well...if you have read this blog, you know of my various leg/foot issues, thus it was time to face facts, and my name is 'Bad Wheel'.  Good news from today, no new blisters, including me! my Injinji Toe Socks (thanks BP) in combination with my new low rider Merrells, and I was traveling with NO ISSUES.  SWEET JESUS!

Here is Curtis filtering water for us (good man):

And here is our Shelter, the only time this week we slept in a shelter! And...I might add a good thing.  It was the only night it rained!  Someone is watching over us....

Top o' the Ridge - Let's camp!

May 25, 2014 - With renewed energy from Curtis and Cori and fresh energy from Don and Ron, we plowed up Heart Attack Ridge and I am going to say - I have seen worse. In fact, saw worse later in this hike, but I will save that for now.   We did 6 miles straight up and ended at the No Business Knob Shelter where we found 8 people already camped out there.  They had a music machine. That's a first out here.  So we found a spot and pitched tents.  Fabulous night = fireplace, excellent mountain food, water - all good! This the view from half way up the ridge:

This is the our first campsite!  Check out the happen' shirts of the college kids.  Lookin' good! 

Cori's toe

 May 25, 2014 - Really, I think it speaks for itself.  The amazing part is, Cori hiked with this thing for the entire week!  Mad props to my niece!

Back to Erwin - new hike!

May 24, 2014 - A beautiful Sunday morning near Erwin, TN, I found myself being picked up by nephew Curtis.  He had a real bath at Uncle Johnny's Hostel the night before, so he didn't look like he had already hiked the 47 miles from Roan Mt to Erwin, TN, the hike I did last year with Beeper and Scott. However, I came to find out he had a 'frozen knee'.  this was child's play considering my niece, who was on her first major hiking trip, had gained a 6th toe (blister) and IT Band tightness - the same problem I had a few years back. It is a killer.  Kind of like someone sticking a knife in your knee ever step down a hill.  Well, you know, we were only going to go 67 miles so...she can make it!! We waited for my brother Don to arrive.  When he did, we hit McDonalds HARD, picked up a lame poncho for me, parked the car, and headed out for heartattack hill! This is a picture of my nephew and niece doing their best Tennessee 'style', hangin' in the back of Curtis truck!