Day 22 – Hot Springs, NC to near Allen Gap

We woke up in the comfort of Elmer’s Inn and had breakfast with Elmer, Jesse (Elmer’s employee), and another thru-hiker named Firefox (or maybe Foxfire). Breakfast and the conversation was great. We headed back on the trail around 10am. The trail ascended out of Hot Springs pretty quickly.

image

Partial view of Hot Springs

The day was hot and summery. With our packs full of many snacks and treats, the going was a bit slower than our normal pace. We didn’t climb any crazy mountains today, but had some interesting scenery as we hiked back towards the TN/NC border. The trail wound around a cool old pond.

image

Mountain pond

We also trekked on some dirt roads for a bit.

image

Road with AT blazes on tree

We saw another couple of black snakessssssss…

image

This dude was pissed. Those aren't my poles, another hiker got scared and drop his

We hiked some hot dogs and baked beans out of town and made them over a campfire for dinner. I can check a major item off of my bucket list after tonight…I successfully ate 5 hot dogs in one meal (plus the baked beans and Snickers), including the one that fell off my skewer into the fire and was covered in ashes and dirt…mmm…dirty food. We called it a day after around 15 miles because of the later start, heat, and extra packweight. Tomorrow we plan to ramp back up to 20+ mile days.

Vital stats :
Mood – hotttttt dogging
Physical state – good other than eating 4 clean hot dogs and 1 dirty dog
Smell – kinda like a hot dog
Song stuck in my head – On The Road Again by Willie Nelson (I think?), as covered by the Blue Tones

4 thoughts on “Day 22 – Hot Springs, NC to near Allen Gap

  1. Mom / Tapey

    Hot dog – that was a good post! I particularly like the song stuck in your head – On the Road Again – (which is now stuck in my head) and the reference to the Bluetones! 🙂 You should have seen Dad’s face! Too funny! Stay safe and healthy. Happy hiking. Sending all good thoughts, prayers and lots of love.

    Reply
  2. Proud Dad

    Should I (packy) pack some dirty dogs for the next mail drop??? That was nice of the snake to stop and pose on the poles while you took a pic of him! I hope you used your body as a shield from the snake for Katie’s safety!! ….very cool pics.

    Reply
  3. Ma Heiser

    Found myself feeling nostalgic for green, (and a bit jealous too) looking at the leafed out trees, wonderful pics true to form. Still have mostly bare branches here. Wish you could have been a fly on the wall on a recent family ride to W-B riffing on what I call camp names. Been dealing with them for 20 plus years w/ camp staff. Fun stuff!!! Always liked the Foxfire books series. Enjoy those clean and dirty dogs. Writing of which, Pat says yip yip and on into infinity.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to AL Cancel reply