Woohoo! I made it another 13 miles today and have made it into Hot Springs. I’m staying at a place called The Iron Horse Station. This place is located 50 feet away from a heavily-used train track. Every couple hours, a long train plows through the tracks leaving loud sonic booms in its wake. The situation reminds me of the film “My Cousin Vinny” where Vinny and Lisa are staying in some hotel in Beechum County, Alabama and are constantly awakened by trains passing next to their room. So far I’ve heard trains pass at 7pm, 9pm, 11pm and 11:30pm.
So my day started early, as planned. I was up and packing by 7:00am and hiking by 9:00am. One secret to this faster start was skipping the coffee, which I hated. I also dispensed with the hot breakfast and went for breakfast bars instead.
The difference between being physically and mentally challenged can sometimes be hard to distinguish. Today’s hike was definitely the most painful for me yet. I can’t tell if it was due to physical exhaustion, or from mental weakness. See, the pain is always there. Sometimes it moves around from foot to ankle to leg to knee, but it’s always there. The mental challenge is to “push through the pain” so to speak.
I’m not sure what genius coined the phrase “pain is just weakness leaving the body,” but personally I think that’s a load of crap. If that were true, then at some point while thru hiking, the pain would stop once you’ve reached a certain level of fitness. Well, I have reached a certain level of fitness, evidenced by hiking 274 miles through the mountains. The pain is still here, but weakness doesn’t get you 274 miles through the mountains. So again, I call that a crap phrase. “Push through the pain” is more appropriate I think.
So I did indeed push through the pain and got my ass here to Hot Springs. Again, it was a tough tough day. I was not hiking with “good attack” as I’ve called it before. Each step was a reaction to the trail, rather than one step of a well-read trail. While hiking downhill, usually my knees and trekking poles do a great job acting as shock absorbers. But not today; no, each step downhill produced a jarring sensation throughout my entire frame. I was also having back pain, which is rare for me while hiking.
I covered my first 6 miles by 11:30am and took a short break. The morning was chilly, so I was hiking in my fleece and long pants. By break time, I was working up a serious sweat and had to loose the fleece and pants legs. The gnats I’ve mentioned before had gone nowhere; they were right there with me. In fact, it might’ve been the exact same swarm. I keep challenging them to land in my mouth because, if they do, I will simply eat them.
Back on the trail to cover the remaining 7 miles, my next planned stop was lunch at Deer Park Mountain Shelter 4 miles ahead. I arrived at 2:00pm and took a long meal break. I also took a bunch of Ibuprofen, which we call Vitamin I on the trail. I needed that the help get me through the last three miles to Hot Springs.
From the shelter, the trail was all downhill to the town. There were occasional views through the trees where you could see the whole town in the valley below with the French Broad River snaking through the town. Nice sight, but sadly no pictures since the view never really opened up.
I’ve stated before that the A.T. literally goes right through the town, along the sidewalk. The transition from the forest into town was pretty surreal. The trail comes off the mountain literally in someone’s backyard, onto their side and front yard and then right across the street onto the sidewalk. On the sidewalk, the trail is marked by the official A.T. symbol stamped into the concrete, rather than the traditional white blazes.
I made it to the Iron Horse Station and checked in at 4:00pm. I’d made excellent time for the day, covering 13 miles in just 7 hours. That included about 1.5 hours worth of breaks. So, despite the pain and mental challenges, my hiking pace and stamina continues to improve.
I retrieved my bounce and resupply boxes at Bluff Mountain Outfitters shortly after checking in. I had to move fast, as the outfitter closed at 5:00pm. After getting settled, I took a much-needed shower before heading out to dinner. The Iron Horse Station has a restaurant and tavern just downstairs, so that’s where I went. I ordered a Ribeye steak with a side salad and macaroni and cheese. It was super awesome! They had collard greens too, which I was interested in. However, when I asked whether they were cooked with seasoning meats, the server replied, “oh no, they’re vegetarian style.” So I said, “the hell with that!” and ordered the macaroni and cheese instead. haha
Remember MotMot and Zeeba? I’ve been trying to catch up with them – they’re now two days ahead of me. Shortly after dinner, I received a text message from them. Sadly, they have had to leave the trail due to a possible shin splint and severe foot pain. At this point, they are holed up in Ashville, NC and don’t know if they’re coming back to the trail or not. I feel so bad for them; they are super nice people and are definitely serious hikers. I’ve read before that about 50% of a successful thru hike is luck, stemming from hikers having to leave due to injury. It’s saddening to know they may have fallen victim.
But, as they say, the fat lady has not sung yet. MotMot said they are hoping to heal – so time will tell.
After a few phone calls, Mojo was off to sleep…
Wandering on…
Mojo