Day 75 - Tuesday, May 25, 2021

So we spent last night in a local hotel in Hot Springs... I’m starting to get the impression that most hikers have very low expectations or accept minimal levels of standard accommodations for lodging when compared to sleeping in their tents on the trail. Let’s just say the bed linens were clean and the shower was hot, and leave it at that 🙄.

I can’t figure it out... when we got here Sunday, the village was packed with people enjoying themselves patronizing all the local eateries and rooms were a premium. We finished  hiking and we’re looking for a place to eat today, most places are closed. One would think that these restaurants would relish the opportunity to be open especially this time of year to help recoup their pandemic losses 🤔.

Anyways we began hiking at 10:10 am and starting from another gap 😡. Hiking from Lemon Gap, NC 1182, TN 107 (260.5 NoBo) to Brown Gap, USFS 148a (251.6 NoBo) for a total of 8.9 miles. 

This is “Apollo”; he left Springer on April 16th. Once he knew I was from New York he talked about the movie “Gangs of New York” and he said I looked like Daniel Day-Lewis 😉.

These gentlemen are treating the local ash trees from the Emerald Ash Borer by injecting the trunk with insecticide. The person on the right is the Natural Resource head from the ATC Asheville office and the person on the left is from AT Arborist who is injecting the trees. The particular treatment they are doing today must be repeated in 3 years.

Views from summit of Max Patch. 

I think as a matter of fair play this should be a “two way street” 😬. 

More rhododendron tunnels or commonly called “hells”. 

This doe was standing in the trail right in front of us then wandered up into the woods.

I have been doing some calculations with regards to any assistance that Turtle Power has been getting wearing his “Flying Nun” hat. When taking basic fundamental aerodynamic principals and lift into consideration it seems that he has been hiking an average of 179.67 less feet than me per day. 

This is “Dr. Don” who completed his thru-hike in 2009. He was doing some section hiking with his girlfriend. I asked her if she had a trail name and she said no... “Dr. Don” pipes in, yes she does... it’s “Barf Noodle” 🙄🤥😂. 

We are scheduled to begin hiking through the Great  Smokey Mountains this Thursday so we finalized some logistics and plans. We should complete this section in 5 days (4 camping overnights). 

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