Hot Springs Bound
Day 26 of the Trail: Approximately 18.5 miles hiked
Today we woke up eager to get moving but we weren't going to go anywhere without having breakfast first. We sat on the back porch and watched the sun rise as we scarfed down homemade pancakes, free range chicken eggs, local sausage, and fresh squeezed apple cider. After the delicious breakfast Thomas, John, and I said said our good byes and started the half mile walk back to the trail.
About four miles into the hike we saw Michelle from last year's hike and a couple other people putting flags in the ground just along the trail welcoming us into Lemon Gap. There we met Rebecca and Tom who were scheduled to host us at their resort which was about a thirty minute drive out of Hot Springs. Rebecca and Tom where cooking food and giving trail magic to the WH's and anyone else happening along. They are awesome people and even offered to hold onto our packs till we got to Hot Springs and from there they would pick us up and drive us to their resort.
Essentially they were giving us the chance to "slack pack" the remaining miles into Hot Springs; of course we jumped at the opportunity. Hiking without a pack is still hiking and in all honesty if I could hike everyday without one, I would. A thru hike is just a continuous path of footsteps from start to end and the backpack is just an unfortunate necessity. Without our packs we flew up and down the mountains and before we knew it we were more than half way thru. We carried some snacks and our water filters and took short breaks. We made it to the last decent into Hot Springs and it looked like a postcard coming into town.
The AT goes directly through town and it's a picturesque little community with a beautiful river running through town. Once in town, we resupplied at the Dollar Store and then headed to the local tavern where we were scheduled to meet up later. This is where we ran into Tom Gathman (AKA The Real Hiking Viking AKA Jabba). He was one of the original WH'ers and he had a ton of insight. He said he was about 8 days from completing his southbound thru hike of the AT. I was amazed he was going to finish what took me three weeks in about 1 week, but to be fair, he was hiking with ultra light gear, had no event commitments, and was hiking between 30-40 miles a day.
After a good conversation more WH'ers showed up and the party at the tavern started. I was honestly ready to call it a day but it was a group thing so I enjoyed it the best I could. We got to the resort about 10 pm that night and I claimed my bed and before I knew it I was sleeping comfortably.
Tomorrow is a zero day full of rest!
