Day 73 - Sunday, May 23, 2021

Last night we found a cabin at the Hot Springs Spa & Resort in Hot Springs, North Carolina; so we are spending two nights there. Woke up to sunny skies and 68°. I’m still tired and a little stiff from yesterday’s hike. It will take me a few minutes to get going. 

Today we resumed hiking from NC 208, TN 70 Allen Gap (289.7 NoBo)  to NC 209 + US 25/70, Hot Springs, NC (274.9 NoBo) for a total of 15.2 miles. 

We finally began hiking at 9:45 am and the temperature was already 72°.





Starting right off with a climb right out of the box; 4.2 miles long ascending over 1400 feet to an elevation of nearly 3600 feet.


Some thoughtful Trail Angel 👼 left a little Trail Magic... minus the ants🙄.




The Spring Mountain Shelter at 282.8 NoBo.






We came across two more graves so I guess I already answered my question from yesterday. 😉


The Rich Mountain Lookout Tower. 


Having lunch at the lookout tower. I used this time to dry my shirt which was drenched from our earlier climb. 


Isn’t Turtle Power looking quite dapper in his new Columbia hiking attire? 


We met “Batman” who is from St. Petersburg, Florida. He left Springer on April 24th. 





Views from the lookout tower.... making the little side trip off the AT worth while.... amazing!


Sterilizing water with the steri-pen. When you don’t need to filter your water this is do much more easier and faster to replenish water



Fresh cool delicious mountain spring water... as I mentioned previously, I would drink this water untreated if I had to but the steri-pen is so convenient to use removing all doubt that your water may be not 100% potable for use. 




Mountain Laurel in full bloom. Another hiker we spoke with said that there are literally thousands of different species of mountain flowers that grow along the AT making the hiking corridor an ecological wonderland. 



Tennessee may be famous for a lot of things... whiskey and country music to name a couple, but it sure isn’t for their use of switchbacks on the trail. Most ascents and descents are thrown “right in your face” with no care or forgiveness considered  😬.





Views from “Lovers Leap”... things like this make the journey “once in a lifetime” and unforgettable! 





Crossing the French Broad River. 



We finished hiking at 6:25 pm under clear sunny skies. The temperature was again in the low 80’s. The protection provided by the forest canopy is very welcomed; without this partial relief finding and resupplying water would be a full time job while hiking.  



Enjoying a delicious well deserved meal at the Iron Horse Tavern in Hot Springs. I sure do miss Jean’s home cooking 🧑‍🍳.


Till next time.... Happy Hiking  🥾 

😋


“You gotta have passion for life and passion for something that you're going to get up and do,".    

                                Meredith “Sunny” Eberhart  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 163 - Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Image
Looks like we may get wet the next couple days but short of a hurricane we will be hiking to stay on track for an October 8th completion of our thru hike 🙏🏻.  Today was not quite a “Nero” but it was a coincidence that it was shorter aligning with our slack packing parking 😉. We hiked  from  PA 645 (1194.0 NoBo) to Pass Under PA 72 & Across PA 443 (1183.2 NoBo) for a total of 10.8 miles. We began hiking at 9:00 am under threatening skies. Pre-gaming thanks to some Trail Magic left in the parking lot. Since before I have been on the trail I can’t recall the last time I drank a real Coke or any soda for that matter; it’s nearly the norm now as you want to consume all the carbs you can 🤭. And it was too early for the PBR 😂. Crossing the old canal at Swatara Gap. Going underneath I-81. The trail wasn’t as rocky today… and I’m not complaining 🥵. Turtle Power is doing his part to save the environment as he has a new aversion of killing every Spotted Laternfly  he ...
Read more

Day 95 - Friday, June 25, 2021

Image
There are definitely pros and cons when you compare sleeping in a shelter vs sleeping in your tent. Some pros are:  you will stay drier in inclement weather in a shelter (notice I didn’t say “dry”,  just drier or not as wet 🙄) , you can break camp quicker in the am - not packing up a tent, you have more room (if shelter isn’t crowded) and a biggie is -  you can take a chance and hope to always use the shelters and not pack a tent optimizing base pack weight (this could also be the #1 con if you had to sleep outside in the rain w/o a tent 🤭) just to name a few.  Some cons are: sleeping on a hard floor - which I believe is the #1 con against shelters (getting a good nights sleep is key to rest and rejuvenate your weary body), could be noisy, the little varmints 🐁 sneaking around in the middle of the night,  some hikers don’t have a clue about maintaining their “personal” space or they just don’t care, on occasion you have to deal with some “personalities” (I ju...
Read more

The Final Chapter

Image
My favorite scene on the Appalachian Trail near Petites Gap/Highcock Knob, VA, March 26, 2021 (Day 31). Reaching Springer Mountain, the Southern Terminus, June 13, 2021 (Day 90). Summiting Mt. Katahdin, the Northern Terminus, August 25, 2021 (Day 131). Completing our thru hike at Harpers Ferry on October 9, 2021 (Day 174). In the Beginning … This adventure actually started about two years ago in the fall of 2019 when Jim asked me about how I’d like to hike the Appalachian Trail with him. I gave it a good 2 seconds of consideration before I wasn’t politically correct at all in my answer telling him NO…LOL. I was just getting over an injury with my right Achilles tendon as I ruptured it a couple years prior and long distance hiking was the farthest thing on my mind to do.  Now lets back up about 57 years when Jim and I first met. His dad owned and operated a local campground, Coldbrook Campsites in Port Leyden, New York. Port Leyden was also the home of my father and he knew Jim’s da...
Read more