Day 32 – Zero Day in Hot Springs, NC

“Got nothing against a big town,

Still hayseed enough to say,

Look who’s in the big town,

But my bed is in a small town,

Oh, and that’s good enough for me” – John Mellencamp

Showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Up at 7:00. Didn’t sleep well. Not sure why.  But it was a bed and a roof!

Today will be rainy, tomorrow partly sunny, then bad thunderstorms and rain Friday through Sunday. Part of me wants to slackpack about 15 miles tomorrow to take advantage of the good weather and get the worst of the elevation out of the way in dry weather. But my knee is not happy with me after my fall yesterday afternoon. Also, I’m not sure there are any good last-minute slackpacking shuttle options in town. I’ll ask at the outfitters. Or I just hike out and try hitching back to town. Probably gonna be a game-time decision based on my body. 52 miles in the past 3 days is wearing on me a bit.

Had coffee at the hostel then walked 10 minutes to the Smoky Mountain Diner for breakfast. Very nice country diner. Huge portions. I got scolded for not finishing all of my breakfast.

Meandered through town to Artisun Gallery and Cafe for a latte while I wait for the local outfitter to open at 9:30. The AT goes directly through town. The sidewalk has AT logos to make sure you don’t get lost in this sprawling metropolis.

Artisun Cafe is very nice. Indoor and outdoor seating. Chilled out with free WiFi and Latte for a while.

Got some cash out of the ATM at the outfitter and resupplied for 5 days and 4 nights on trail with 4 lbs of food. Also got a new dry bag to replace the one for my quilt that tore, fresh fuel can, and a new stick of Body Glide (it’s gonna rain a lot for the next week).

On that note, saying goodbye to some loyal companions. The dry bag that was a bit too small for my 10-degree quilt tore, and my Injinji Toesocks have several holes torn in them and are threadbare. All that rain and mud in the Smoky Mountains didn’t do them much good. These are actually sock liners, so they are very thin to begin with. Replaced with the exact same socks. See old and new below.

Yes, those are my dirty, torn socks next to my brand-new ones. You try walking 75 miles in the dirt, mud, and rain without changing your clothes, washing, and see what your socks and feet look like!

Moved out of the bunk room and into my private room for the next two nights. Nice little room with AC. AC is important not for the heat but the humidity! The owner of the outfitter described Hot Springs as a rainforest, and it feels like it.

Did laundry, prepped my food for the next 5 days, charged electronics, back-flushed my water filter several times, cleaned the outside of my pack somewhat, and worked on blogs all afternoon. All written, just need to do the tedious uploading 🙁

I signed the 2024 thru-hiker banner in the hostel. Every hostel has one.

I have a Poolesville Planning Commission meeting at 7:00 tonight. I read all the material for the meeting and made notes. Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi here is not stable, so I’m going to have to do audio-only for tonight’s meeting. That is frustrating, but I don’t want my technical issues to interfere with the meeting.

About 5:00, I started feeling very nauseous. I never get nauseous! Eventually, I talked to hostel staff to give them a heads up since everyone is very worried about Norovirus on the trail. They decided to move me to an isolated room in their old staff quarters just to be safe. Got moved into semi-quarantine about 6:45.

Attended the Poolesville planning commission meeting virtually. The meeting ran until 8:30. Then I FaceTimed with Dana until 11:00. By that time, I was no longer nauseous and never did throw up, so I had a pair of Pop-Tarts for dinner. 

I expect to be fine tomorrow and move back into the hostel. I have no idea what made me sick. 

 Went to sleep about midnight.

Technical Notes:

• Skillet breakfast: 1200
• Large Latte: 220
• Pop-Tarts: 370
• Fritos: 500
• Water liters: 0
• Miles: 0
• Time: 0
• Elevation gain: 0
• Elevation descent: 0
• Calories consumed: 2110
• Calories burned: 0

Everest: 29000

Climbing from base camp: 11000