Hot Springs

After leaving Erwin the weather turned extreme!  Snow and freezing temperatures.  We recorded 19 degrees on Saturday morning on top of Big Bald.  The weather has slowed me down a bit, but I made it into Hot Springs yesterday morning.  I waited until 1 pm for the post office to open.  Mom sent me a food package to include trail mix, natural peanut butter, and dried fruit.  After eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's and picking up my box, I found a nice man to take me all the way to Julie and Carl's  (Mountain Harvest Organic ) for 10 dollars....also the farmers here gave him a cabbage and tomatoes.  So the cost of the ride was 10 dollars, and an arm full of organic vegetables.



Julie, Carl, and Tractor



The farm looks stunning in fall colors.  THe remay has kept the plants warm through this cold snap,.  The wood stove has kept the green houses warm.  Carl gets up in the middle of the night to add wood. The goats are healthy and living in the barn so they don't escape.  There are many new chickens.....not ready to lay yet....but I dumped a load of greens in their coop and they dove right in to feast.  They have a cute little dog named HARMON that was sitting in the passager seat when I arrived.  REminded me of how Leif would sit in the drivers seat waiting to drive the truck to the next spot.....this was when he was 8 or 9, before [city] kids are allowed. 

The farmers and Sabrina (intern) were prepaing for todays market: weighing, & packing the food harvested earlier that morning.  I helped (a tiny bit) and enjoyed, so much conversing and reconnecting!  I kept sampling the "culls."  Everything was so fresh and delicious.  Beautiful leaves of spinach with droplets of water skimming across the ruffled green surface.  Sweet, sassy radishes. Cherry tomatoes fresh from the vine....some with splits were culled but I ate them.   Later, that night Julie and Carl prepared a fresh salad with the bouty of Mountain Harvest.  And Carl made pasta lasagna with chard.  It was incredibly delicious! 

I opened the box I had picked up in Hot Springs.  I  read the edits my mom made to the article.  She improved it one hundred fold.  THank You.  I'll add in the part she suggested...why I wanted to hike the AT??? and send it on to the ATC.  I can't thank her enough.  I had planned to write an alternate, short version but had no time or energy. I have been in survival mode with this cold weather!  Just wanting to keep warm.  Thank  you for the wonderful food.  I just put the inserts into my boots.  I am glad for them because the others were worn out and I threw them out back in Damascus.

My cell phone has not been getting good reception in  NC.  Also, the SPOT has been taking a very long time to transmitt.  After Erwin I stayed at Big Bald shelter.  Then Flint Mountain Shelter.  Then Spring Mt Shelter.   Finally, Hot Springs.  I don't think my electronics work well in the cold weather. 

On Big Bald the snow and cold snap made me feel cautious about sleeping away from the shelter.  Picker, Grinner, Deep Dish and I slept near one another for warmth.  When I awoke there was frozen condensation all over my sleeping bag. The hose to my platypus water sack had burst.   My water filter was frozen and not working.  My boots were frozen and I couldn't get my feet to slide in them until I sat on them for awhile to warm them up.  Then they were very hard and by the end of the day I had new blisters.  Big Bald was extremely beautiful on Sunday morning.  The sun was shining on the snow and from the distant mountains.  The mountains look purple in the winter and will reflected sun light.  There is an indian word for this effect which I will tell you about later.The snow was crisp due to the cold temps and feathery from the wind.  Big Bald is over 4000 ft.  maybe more so all morning we were hiking in snow.  When we came off the moutain, into the valley it was much warmer and drier.

All of us camped at Flint Mt.  Shelter the following night.  Deep Dish gave me a lesson in fire building.  It turns out that I can't build a fire unless I have a quart of lighter fluid.  He showed me how to find a flat rock to build the fire on to keep the snow from dampening it.  He showed me how to collect 3 types of wood:  kindling, medium sized sticks and large logs.  First:  use the tender to get a coal bed started.  Add medium sized sticks to enhance the blaze.  Surround the fire with wet wood so it can dry a bit.  I learned that you can pull down dead wood from the upper branches of trees by throwing your bear line.  Deep Dish had a roaring fire going for all of us and we were so grateful to warm up and dry our boots & socks.

After Flint Shelter we climbed up Big Butt and over the Blackstack Cliffs.  There was a foot of drifft snow to hike through at times but it was mostly 4-5 inches of snow.  Picker and Grinner left camp first and I was so appreciative that they blazed the way.  Following the trail in the snow was tricky and sometimes you can barely tell which way to go.  There were very few white blazes too.  It would have been helpful to have a map and compass.   I ended up following Picker and Grinners tracks all morning.  When the afternoon arrived the snow became slushy and was it grew more difficult to hike through.  Big balls of snow collected on the ends of my trekking poles and under my boots.  It was one step forward and a little slid back for hours.  One thing about cool about the snow;  the animal tracks were super visible.   I saw many bear tracks, including young bears going every which way.  Turkey, Coyote, and perhaps Bob Cat.  I need to look that one up.

As I began to cross the road later that day   [only 4 more miles to camp and it was 3 PM , a 21 mile day too. there was a sign indicating trail magic for November 8 and 9, 9 am to 5 pm.  The sign said to walk up the road to a concrete driveway, and knock at the house door.  You would be served hot waffles, stew, coffe, tea, or juice and you would have a banana split or brownie sundae for desert.  I checked the cell phone.  It was November 8 and it was only 3 Pm.  TOo good to be true!  I went for it.

I arrived at the house and I knew it was the correct location because one of the cars in the driveway had a personalize license plate:  Thruhiker.  A couple. former thru-hikers, welcomed me into their home.  I washed up in their bathroom and sat at their dining room table.  They set me a place with silver ware and a cloth napkin.  Fal, (the woman's trai name} heated the waffle iron and prepared a belgian waffle.  She served it with butter and thick maple syrup.  Then I was served a wonderful hot and spicy ham stew with lots of veggies.  After that I was served a huge banana spit and coffee.  By then Deep Dish had arrived.  I was happy to see him because he was not feeling well.  After Deep Dish arrived the couple gave us a brain teaser.  I am terrible at those and was so glad that Deep Dish was there to help solve the riddle.  More on that later.

After my trail magic I hiked into the sunset.  The mountains were glowing with orange, purple and red.  The moon was a golden sliver in the deep blue sky.  It grew very dark so I turned on my head lamp and eventually found my way into camp.  There were 5 section hikers there when I arrived.  They had a blazing fire going.  I found a tent spot near Picker and Grinner and got myself ready for bed.  The following day I hiked into Hot Springs.  It has warmed up and the next few daYS are predicted to be unseasonable mild.  Carl is going to slack pack me today from Hot Springs to Max Patch.  Also, he is fixing me a huge breakfast; omelet and oatmeal, coffee and everything is HOT!

I have a lot more to tell you about but it will have to wait.  I must get ready to head out.  20 miles today....but it will be slackpacking....the weather looks good...Bluff Mountain here I come!!!