Today was an easy downhill 3 miles into Hot Springs, NC. Hot Springs is one of my favorite trail towns, it's welcoming, fun, and the people love hikers. We hiked straight into the Smoky Mountain Diner where I ordered French Toast with apples and bananas, an apple butter sandwich, and a side of hash browns. Food porn! This is what thru hikers dream about constantly on the trail. After finishing Trics leftovers we headed over to the Sunnybank Inn.
The Sunnybank is a very interesting place. It is owned by Elmer, who is a staunch vegetarian. The house itself is almost 200 years old. During WW1 German aviation POW's were held in Hot Springs. Some of them were allowed to work in the town and legend has it that the only successful escape was from the Sunnybank. Later in history during Earl Shaffers record breaking first thru hike of the Appalachian Trail he stayed at the Sunnybank. And the room he was in just so happened to be the room that we were assigned!
After being given the tour of the house, settling in, and laying our stuff out on our private balcony to dry we made our way around town. We hit Bluff Mountain Outfitter first which has a natural foods store attached on the inside, and a wide assortment of really good gear. I headed straight over to the shoe section and asked to try on a few pairs. My shoes were falling apart after hiking out in that storm to help those guys stuck on the mountain. I ended up going with my first pair of trail runners: Salomon XA Pros. They had my perfect fit! Size 13-wide. I was reluctant to let my Merrels go because they had gotten me almost 700 miles but was excited to have a new pair of shoes.
Old shoes-new shoes.
Every day except for Sunday Elmer hosts a vegetarian dinner and breakfast. We signed up for dinner and it was incredible. It had been so long since I had a healthy meal. This dinner was also the biggest one yet of the year. After dinner we washed up and Tric and I played a really aggressive game of chess. Which I had lost [I was tired! ;)]. The two younger workers in the Sunnybank invited us out to the local tavern for a couple beers and some music. We went. It was a beautiful time at the tavern listening to a wonderful bluegrass band. On our way out we ran into part of our 'trail family' Stacey, Dabs, Jersey Girl, Horse, and Chesapeake. They were just finishing their first 20 mile day and night hike at the same time. The guys we were with directed them to an area of town across the river with free camping and we made plans to see them in the morning. We went to bed loving this small town and excited for another day in it.
Library.
Music room.
Sooooooooo cool that you got to sleepn the same room as Earl Schaffer!!
ReplyDeleteYup! Loved it there.
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