{"id":332,"date":"2014-05-08T10:44:51","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T14:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hnatow.com\/wordpress-happytrails\/?p=332"},"modified":"2014-05-08T10:44:51","modified_gmt":"2014-05-08T14:44:51","slug":"day-22-hot-springs-nc-to-near-allen-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hnatow.com\/happytrails\/?p=332","title":{"rendered":"Day 22 – Hot Springs, NC to near Allen Gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

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. <\/p>\n

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Partial view of Hot Springs<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Mountain pond<\/p><\/div>\n

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We also trekked on some dirt roads for a bit.<\/p>\n

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Road with AT blazes on tree<\/p><\/div>\n

We saw another couple of black snakessssssss…<\/p>\n

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This dude was pissed. Those aren't my poles, another hiker got scared and drop his<\/p><\/div>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Vital stats :<\/strong>
\nMood – hotttttt dogging
\nPhysical state – good other than eating 4 clean hot dogs and 1 dirty dog
\nSmell – kinda like a hot dog
\nSong stuck in my head – On The Road Again by Willie Nelson (I think?), as covered by the Blue Tones<\/p>\n

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