Day 25 - 3/26

Daily mileage: 20.1
Total trail mileage: 272.1
Starting location: Max Patch Summit
Ending location: Hot Springs, NC
Weather: Partly cloudy all day, scattered showers from late morning to
early afternoon. 45-50 degrees

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.892894,+-82.827032

First day over 20 miles! I wasn't planning to go that far but my
plans fell through ;).

Unfortunately over night a few clouds moved in. So, the sunrise
wasn't as good as it could have been, but it was still really cool to
wake up on a grassy patch surrounded by mountains. And, our food bags
were not plundered during the night. We fit my food and most of Flying
Turtle's into my bear-proof bag and tied it to one of the AT marker
posts so even if our food was attacked we had enough for the 3 of us
to survive.

We packed up and went down to the shelter to eat breakfast. After
that, I started down the trail and surprisingly picked up a pretty
good pace, even with something like 1700 feet of elevation gain.

So, I hit my goal quite a bit ahead of schedule, looked at my watch,
and realized I could finish the 3 remaining miles into town at a
reasonable time. So, the plan I made just last night went out the
window. I can now leave town late tomorrow afternoon and get back on
the trail a day ahead of schedule.

Hot Springs is the first time the trail actually runs through the
town. There are embedded AT symbols into the sidewalk. I had
intended to stay at the Duckett bed and breakfast, but nobody was
there when I got there. There was a note to call a phone number or go
into town to see a guy. The problem was that I have no cell reception
and the B&B was in the opposite direction of the trail, food, etc.
So, instead I am staying at the Iron Horse Station tavern. The bonus
is that the tavern was in the direction of the trail, so the extra
little bit pushed me over the 20 mile mark for the day.

It looks also like I accidentally lucked out with weather. It is
supposed to rain tonight and then stop in the morning before I get
back on trail. At least that is what the highly unreliable weather
report says.

I am planning on doing only 5 miles or so to a supposed pond with
campsites, so I have time during the day to check out the town. Hot
Springs is named for the natural hot springs that flow in this area so
I might check them out in the morning.