Hot Springs, North Carolina
is last trail town for SoBo Hikers. Zombie overlooks the French Broad River just before getting to town.
When Andrew called on Friday, from Erwin, TN we were reviewing his schedule. When I heard him say he was going to take a Zero Day on Tuesday (November 3rd) I asked if he wanted to take a Zero Day at home??? (Zero Days are non-hiking days) He knew his Dad and I were planning all along to meet him for lunch in Hot Springs, but once I realized how close by it was, I told him we'd be happy to bring him home, and take him back. He said, "Wow! I never thought about doing that, but sure! That would be great!" I asked him if it was possible to let me know how many other Thru-Hikers he was traveling with might want to come too since it would determine if his Dad and I would travel together or only one come to Hot Springs that Monday. He said he'd try to get a cell phone signal and send me a text. (Typically he only turns his phone on when he resupplies in towns, but this was an understandable exception.)
7:00 a.m. I got his text message: It's just me and Tiger, so you and Dad can meet us in Hot Springs about 1:00 p.m.
Chris and I had a lovely drive discovering a new part of the state we had never been to. We arrived in this charming, quaint town, known for it's natural hot springs. Since we were early, we drove around to explore things a bit, then parked at The Smokey Mountain Diner, famous with the AT Thru-Hikers. The AT Trail is literally the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street, in front of the diner. (The diner, and other places in Hot Springs were written up in the recent October's edition of Southern Living... read about it on page 26). We asked the waitress if we could wait on the front porch till our Thru-Hiker arrived, and were told "by all means!"
... Rocking on the front porch, I'm knitting, we're both waiting... then Dad Chris sends Andrew a text "Hurry up... I'm hungry!" (that's "love you, miss you, is everything OK" in guy-speak :-)) Shortly afterward, Andrew sends a text back "In town, but had to stop at the Outfitters...be there soon" Chris goes to the sidewalk with the "AT" symbol embedded into the cement and stands waiting... When I asked where was the camera, I discovered we obviously had a communications mix-up about getting it into the car before we left home, so my only pictures of the reunion hugs between father and son are on my cell phone, and written on my heart.
We get to meet Tiger (aka Matthew) from a town near Hershey, Pennsylvania... he gets hugs too, since he's adopted for these two days. We head on back to The Smokey Mt. Diner for lunch... now there are THREE hungry guys! It was a Chamber of Commerce perfect Fall day, so we found a sunny table on the back porch, and enjoy catching up while our "Hiker Specials" and a normal hamburger for Mom are being prepared. It was fun to watch these guys eat...everything, including half of Chris' too big hamburger, fries, and my too many onion rings. Good thing I knew to cook up lots of stuff on Sunday afternoon... There were feasts waiting for them at the house!!!
We headed back to Bluff Mountain Outfitters so Chris could purchase the few things he needs to be prepared for his 30-mile section hike when he meets Andrew at Neal's Gap in NE Georgia, to hike the last 30 miles with him to Springer. Andrew and Tiger had already purchased their permit needed for The Great Smokey Mountains, but they wanted to re-supply, and mail some food to the next mail town so they would only have to carry 3 days of food. The mountains surrounding Hot Springs are beautiful... and steep!!! A lot of up and down elevation changes lay between mail towns, so any lightness to their packs will be very helpful. Chris and I had seen the place where the trail leaves town to continue southbound... about a 300 feet off the road, it ascends to a ridge, looking more like a wall than a trail to me.
None the less, we enjoyed Matthew and Andrew's visit. Too brief, but great to have the unexpected fun in having them home. We thought Ledge and Country Runner would be joining us, but they were a half day and full day behind because Ledge was having shin splints and needed to ease his pace for a few days. Tiger and Zombie were hoping to meet them when they returned to Hot Springs, and checked in for their overnight at Elmer's Sunnybank Inn, a hostel legendary to the AT hiker community since 1978. It's known for the delicious gourmet vegetarian, organic meals, where no one goes away hungry... (after splitting a pound of bacon and a pound of sausage for breakfast, with an inch of ham, pastrami, turkey with cheese for lunch, their bodies probably appreciated a vegetarian dinner! Ha Ha!) At the Inn, there are several big porches, a music room and extensive library and many other wonderful things to make a hiker feel at home. It was dusk, and too dark to get a snapshot of the lovely Victorian home when I dropped them off, but it was light enough to see it's quite nice. There's a historical marker out front, so I'm sure there is a wonderful story about it that we'll learn over Thanksgiving once his SoBo Thru-hike is completed.
I caught a glimpse in Andrew's Trail Journal where he'd written 11/2/09 Trail Day + 145...
271.7 miles remain...
Look for a special adventure in your day today, and find blessings within the adventure,
Mom Harriet
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