In honor of the holiday or weekend or something, I decided to take a full day off. I actually blame another hiker, Dog, who was at the same hotel. He told me it would probably rain and that he was pulling a zero, so I decided to join him and a few others.

We spent the early part of the day doing laundry and buying food, and the latter part of the day eating and watching the new Captain America movie at the theatre.

There were rumors of a country music concert, which we never found, but we managed to have a good amount of fun without getting kicked out of the hotel. And I acquired a new piece of gear:

And it’s super lightweight too! I may try to get rid of some other weight while in town. I have been moving faster and packing lighter. But for now, Forrest Gump.

What I didn’t mention in yesterday’s post was part of my motivation for hiking so far. My brother Zack had texted me and wanted to meet up today. I pushed the last 11 miles to the town of Erwin, where Zack and my friend Danny were waiting on the bridge.

We talked about the symbolism of meeting on a bridge, ate a few racks of ribs, and just generally horsed around. It was so great to see them. It’s always good to have a bit of home out here.

After spending the afternoon with them, I got a motel room. The original idea was to split the room, but the other hiker ended up just staying at the hostel nearer the trail, so I got a single room for myself instead. For now, I am living in luxury, with all the ice I could ever want, and a bed that is about five times larger than necessary.

Normally, I would have finished my routine and would be ready for sleeping now, but tonight I am watching X-Men, a nice change from the usual evening. And actually, it is surprisingly quiet. I am accustomed to socializing with hikers for a few hours before I sleep, but the quiet alone time has been nice.

The next town, I will probably just pass right through, so I am enjoying being in town today.

Today was such an awesome day. It may have been the best yet, though I feel like I might say that most days. What can I say? It’s awesome out here.

This morning, I had an average start, around 8:00 a.m. The weather was pretty good, and I caught up to Dog to hike with him for a while. Though it got warm today, it was not hot, which is the best for hiking. I am slightly worried about the heat coming, and I’ve heard rumors of hikers night hiking and sleeping during the summer days because it is too hot to hike.

Well, I had hiked 18 miles by mid-afternoon, when I ran into none other than Bandit! She began hiking this year and had to leave the trail because of a foot injury. I thought she was so cool, and even cooler for coming back to bring trail magic to hikers! I was so happy to be hiking through when she was there.

With her friend Remix – he hiked the trail in 2007 – they brought the best trail magic I have experienced. They were both so generous and great to spend time with.

Energized by the surprise, I decided to hike farther than I intended, and farther than I had yet. I did a 31 mile day.

It was tiring, but it felt awesome. I ended up finishing the hike with my headlamp, and set up camp at a gap, where a road crosses the trail. Sleeping will be easy after that.

Well, as I said, the hostel was an interesting experience, but we made it out alive. The owners cooked pretty well too.

The trails were still mostly muddy from yesterday, so I ended up hiking a lot of the “secondary trail,” which is just the area on either side of the trail, where it is usually less muddy.

There was also still a good amount of snow left in some areas, so we had a snowball fight, among other fun activities.

Because of the mud (my excuse), I only hiked ten miles today, but I am planning on pushing a bit faster to get to the upcoming towns and catch some other hikers.

Hoping for a big hike tomorrow. Tonight is supposed to be cold (last night was record low), so I am getting all my warm stuff ready now.

Well, one form of motivation to hike quickly is weather. There was plenty of it today. I woke up to rain, and as I am still learning how to master my new equipment, the take down process this morning was long and wet.

The rain continued for a while, and as I climbed to a higher elevation, the wind picked up quickly. As it got colder, the rain turned to sleet, then hail, and eventually snow. It was cold, wet, and windy for a good portion if the hike. As my hammock was still wet, my options were to aim for a shelter or to aim for a hostel, which sounded very appealing. It was 15 miles, which was definitely doable, but the bad weather made it seem a lot longer.

I stopped for a few minutes at the shelter, where Impact had started a fire! It was an awesome few minutes, steam emanating from my body. I had to brave the cold again for another five miles to reach the hostel.

I’m here! It’s a work-in-progress sort of hostel. I was told only floor space was available, and the shower did not produce water, but hey, there’s heat and dry surfaces, and that is worth it to me.

It was a rough hike. Despite the crazy weather, I am still enjoying myself and my new gear. The tarp I showed yesterday. I also got some new titanium stakes and a silk sleeping bag liner. It is awesome because I can add warmth to my sleeping bag or use it solo if it is super warm out.

Also, I got these!

Another hiker makes them. They’re called Trek Pouches and are exactly what they sound like – pouches for your trekking poles. They provide easy access and move the weight from the pack to the poles. So far, I am pleased with them, and they lasted pretty well through the humidity of today. And they are 100% from the USA! sweet!

Also, I have been talking to some fellow explorers recently who have blogs of their own. Here are a few:

A friend who will be hiking/hitching his own trail

My friend on the AT

Another friend on the AT

My friend living in London

Check them out if you have time! Dinner is soon, so I will write more later.

Well, I officially ate at every restaurant in town. In fact, I think I even ate food from nearly every place that sells food. The amazing breakfast sandwich and the 16 oz burger were awesome, but my favorite restaurant ended up being Iron Horse Station, right on the way out of town this afternoon. It was a classy environment with good food and welcome toward hikers. I came in, smelly and requesting an outlet, and they tolerated me without flinching.

Needless to say, I stayed in town slightly longer than anticipated. Some familiar hikers came into town, and my errands took up a good portion of time. I ended up switching to a tent setup, albeit a simple setup. I sent some clothing home, despite people worrying about the looming cold weather. Most of what I sent home I had only worn once.

Finally getting out of town, just a little ways, I was able to set up my hammock before the rain really hit. It hasn’t yet, so we will see just how wet it actually gets.

I am excited about the new gear I picked up. I will try to show more of it tomorrow.

For now, I plan to listen to the sounds of Hot Springs and of the trail, as I drift toward sleep.

Despite having taken my share of zero days, today was my first zero in a town. However, this is not entirely accurate. The AT actually goes right down Main Street in Hot Springs, which is where I walked for most of today. So technically, I walked a good amount on the trail today, but my backpack only moved across town, where the free sleeping is.

I think I mentioned what an awesome and welcoming town this is, with plenty of resources for hikers. Since it is Sunday, a lot of places are closed, so I plan to take care of business tomorrow before heading back onto the trail. It would be fun to cruise on ahead to Erwin, the next town, but there really is no rush.

Familiar hikers are before and after me on the trail, so whatever pace I choose, I will run into some cool people.

Most of the day was spent resting feet and talking to great people, and I had an awesome breakfast, which I posted a picture of recently. It was an egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich, but instead of bread, they used cream-cheese-stuffed French toast. See what I mean? They know how to take care of hikers here.

I also spent a bit of time trying to update my blog. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

This morning, I got a wake-up call. Barely conscious in my hammock, I heard “Firewalker!” I bolted up and saw Indiana! At first, I assumed it was a dream, since I did a bit of the math in my head. I did around 60 miles since I last saw Indiana, while he was staying in Gatlinburg. But it was reality, he was there. He is one fast hiker.

He was about taking off, so I didn’t have much time to chat, but it was awesome to see him, and I knew. I would see him again soon. “French fries and coke!” he shouted as he started down the trail – motivation for getting into Hot Springs today, which was on everybody’s mind.

It was a somewhat rugged but fairly brief hike into town, and it was so great to get there. The town of Hot Springs is certainly a quirky one, any small town is, but it has a rich history if being a trail town. The trail goes right down Main St., so the town is accustomed to and generally welcoming of hikers.

This weekend also happened to be a Hiker Bash, so there were free meals and events, and quite a few hikers spending time in town. It was awesome to see a few hikers that I had not seen in a while, and have plenty of free time to catch up. While on the trail, everyone is moving, usually at different paces, so it can be difficult to have a conversation at length with many hikers, but not here.

Also, being in town has some great perks: showers, burgers, laundry, and plenty more. So far, I have accomplished the first three and am working on the “plenty more” part. It is a hiker party here! Now that the burger is out of the way, we are headed for the free chili dinner. So many hikers here, it is wonderful.

I wasn’t sure what to expect this morning, but I felt pretty good. I had to tie up some loose ends and grab a bit of food, so I got a bit of a late start this morning, but the weather was beautiful, and hiking was great.

I just got enough food to make it to Hot Springs, only two days or so away. It fit comfortably in my pack, which helped balance the weight and allowed me to hike more comfortably. It worked pretty well. I was able to get into a good hiking groove.

I joined forces with a new acquaintance, Northstar, and the two of us hiked into the evening. I was feeling strong, and it felt great to push on. We arrived at a shelter just before dark, after hiking around 21 miles.

I jumped into my usual evening routine, as follows:
1) check remaining water, get some if needed. Drink a lot if I did not throughout the day (5-6 liters per day)
2) eat. This usually takes a while, and then I brush y teeth and hang my food bag. This is a precise science, as I don’t want to hang it too early and get hungry.
3) set up spot in the shelter or set up tent. This can sometimes be step 1 if spots are limited, rainy out, etc.
4) change clothes, blog, write, or hang out by the fire if there is one.

As with most things out here, this schedule is flexible and depends on each night. Some nights, the fire is the first step, some nights eating is a definite priority.

Since tonight, I didn’t have much light left, I had to be quick and started with eating. After that, I quickly hung my hammock (which I recently added to my pack) It felt great to sleep amongst the trees, especially with an open sky full of stars above.

Then, I simply got my sleeping bag out and got ready for sleep, which was welcome.

A good day, new friends, old friends (relatively). Life is good.