Hot Springs, N.C.

I’ve racked up another 67 miles on the Appalachian Trail and arrived safely in Hot Springs, a very small town which rolls up the sidewalks around 6. Good thing I got here at 3:30.

I left Gatlinburg on May 7, a week ago, aboard one of these Cherokee Transit shuttles. Notice the U.S. government plate. This shuttle runs hikers and tourists between Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Newfound Gap and Cherokee, N.C., where there’s a nice Harrah’s Casino in case you’re out hiking and suddenly get the urge to lose all your money. I had no such urge. The shuttle, though, has a rather inconvenient schedule, so I didn’t get back to Newfound Gap until almost 4 pm, and only hiked as far as Icewater Spring shelter, for 3 miles.

I spent the next few days finishing out the Smokies. There wasn’t nearly as much to see, so I didn’t do a video, nor take as many pictures.

The next day I crossed Charlie’s Bunion, at 5,905 feet, a mountain with a rock outcropping exposed in 1929 and discovered by, well, a guy named Charlie who had a very similar looking bunion. The National Park Service blasted out the path.

I climbed over two more mountains, Mt. Sequoyah at 6,069 feet and Mt. Chapman at 6,417 feet, before it started raining very hard. I pulled into Tricorner Knob shelter around 5, just missing the heavy rain that rolled in that evening, and making 12.6 miles.

Friday I hiked 14.8 miles to Davenport Gap shelter, just short of the park boundary. I would have exited the park, but by the time I got there it was getting dark and more rain was in the forecast, so I didn’t feel like pitching a tent. Along the way I did see a strange triangular formation in the ground, as if some structure had been there but since removed.

Saturday I rolled out of the park, crossing the boundary at Davenport Gap and rolling into Standing Bear Farm hostel, for 3.4 miles, at around 10 am. My feet were killing me so I decided to take the rest of the day — and all of Sunday — off the Trail to rest them up.

Monday morning I rolled out of the hostel and crossed Snowbird Mountain at 4,263 feet, where I found an odd structure at the summit. If you know what this is, please let me know; I’m very curious.

I stopped in at Groundhog Creek shelter that afternoon, because just before I reached the shelter my left knee started complaining painfully. So I cut the day short at 7.5 miles. This afternoon I pitched my tent, because the shelter floor was nowhere near level, slanting much more than the campsite I chose. I can’t imagine how the people who slept in there stood it.

Yesterday I decided to get into Hot Springs as quickly as I could, and so I climbed up to Max Patch at 4,629 feet, where I made some phone calls, including calling my friends up in New Hampshire to have my replacement debit card sent down by UPS Next Day Air. Oh, I didn’t mention that last week: I got notice that one of my debit cards was canceled because the number was stolen from a merchant. So the replacement card got mailed out to New Hampshire. Much of this section was fairly moderate, so I made 13.3 miles to Walnut Mountain shelter.

Last night around 11 pm a bear wandered into the nearby camp of three section hikers who were camped out near the shelter, grabbing one of their packs and dragging it off a hundred yards or so before realizing it didn’t have any food in it. The section hikers were so frightened that they struck camp and piled into the shelter, hanging their food from a nearby tree. Unfortunately they hung it too low, because the bear came back an hour later and grabbed all their food. Mine remained untouched. Around 2 am everyone woke up again when the bear came right into the shelter and went after the section hikers’ packs again. It was finally scared off when a log that someone had leaned up against the wall of the shelter fell onto the bear’s head. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of the bear; it was too dark and I couldn’t get to my camera anyway.

This morning I gave the three hikers a day’s worth of food each, or three days worth for myself, which should have been sufficient to let them get into Hot Springs. For myself, I hiked hard and fast, climbing Bluff Mountain at 4,686 feet in the morning, and got into town around 3:30 pm, making 13.1 fairly easy miles. At least for me; I passed those section hikers halfway up Bluff Mountain, and I have no idea whether they’ll make it into town tonight. I stopped in at the outfitters and picked up my debit card, and all is well there.

The highlight of the day, though, was spotting a Ron Paul sticker on a beer truck.

My knee seems to be doing much better; I haven’t really had trouble with it since that one day. That just about covers it for this section. I’m going to rest and resupply tomorrow and leave on Friday. Next stop will be Erwin, Tenn., about six days later.