Hot Springs, NC to Hemlock Hollow Hostel (6/19/14; mile 290.2)

A shot of the river, by the river.

Thirty minutes later, the river from above.

A flower I saw on the trail today.

More flowers on the trail.

Today's hike, though shorter than yesterday's was a much more difficult hike. There were a LOT of ups on the trail today. My feet are very unhappy with me. It was pretty much a straight climb up for about 5 miles out of Hot Springs. I was pretty tired by the time I got here to the hostel.

Unlike yesterday, there actually were some good sights on the trail today. The one that sealed the deal for me was the promontory overlooking the river (I believe it was the French Broad River, but I'm not sure).  Other than that, the views were pretty mediocre. I wanted to see more, but there just wasn't more to see, other than the same things I've seen. I know that sounds bad, but if you hike the trail, you see the same things over and over and you long to see something spectacular! Though, at this point, those are coming further and further apart. But, I'm outside, I get a lot of thinking done, and I am meeting a lot of interesting people. That is something. Though I think staying in the shelters I meet more interesting people, though the hostels are cheap, give me a chance to get a shower and let me get on wifi since there seems to be a cell service blackhole surrounding the North Carolina/Tennessee border along which the Appalachian Trail runs. And that is quite annoying. I think as I was searching for this hostel, which is well off the beaten path, I let out a few expletives as I was wanting to use a map to find it but no signal, so it was to no avail. I took a leap of faith and walked down the road and happened to stumble onto it. That was good. I'm now drinking a Pepsi and will have ramen later (hasn't had it in a while and it sounded good!). Usually the hostel serves breakfast but the lady told me they took a lightning strike and it wiped out some equipment. The repair man can't get here until Monday, so I'm back to a granola and snickers breakfast (which I will probably augment with a Pepsi or two).

Anyway, not much else to report today. Happy Birthday to me tomorrow! And I'll keep hiking!