Looking back down at Hot Springs
We had fairly glorious weather and made steady progress
Towards the end of the day, Slim's hiking partner Jukebox and some hikers he was with caught up with us (Slim does early starts and steady walking, Jukebox sleeps in then runs) and we sped up to match their pace. At a road crossing, we encountered a sign indicating that 0.7 miles along the road we could find a place that would sell us cheeseburgers. The idea of cheeseburgers warred with the idea of walking an extra 1.5 miles that day, and cheeseburgers won.
We did find the establishment, though we had to wait half an hour before the cook was ready to take orders even though we arrived inside of listed business hours. Since there is only so much daylight and I had walking to do, this was less than stellar.
The wait was rewarded by large, juicy, inexpensive burgers. I only had one because I knew if I ate two I wouldn't be able to keep walking, and would instead eat four and stay at that restaurant/hostel. Trail hunger is a fearsome thing, and my body taught me that eating every 45 minutes or so while hiking was critical for being able to keep pace. Town food is just a whole other story and I don't think I have ever eaten so much in single sittings as I have a few times on the AT. I feel this pictures does a good job of illustrating hikers and food. After my burger, I got back on the trail and did the four miles to the shelter that I'd been intending to go to, then ate dinner again. The rest of the crew stayed and some of them ate more - I hadn't expected to see them again that day but they also made to the next shelter, though mostly in darkness.
The next morning took me up on to an extremely exposed ridgeline, so I was extra-glad that the weather was good. The views were pretty solid as well, do check the Flickr set for more of them.
When I encountered this sign, I must admit I wondered "But WHEN are you planning on setting fire to the forest I am currently in? 'Cause that's sort of important!"
The major adventure of the second day was the beagle encounter. I was walking along the trail, minding my own business, when a beagle walking the other direction along the trail plopped down at my feet and looked at me, clearly communicating "I need a human to solve my problems, and I have chosen you." I'd run into a very 'country' gentleman in camo on an ATV earlier in the day who had lost some fox hunting dogs while fox hunting, and I figured this was probably one of those. Of course, the place that I had seen that guy was at least 12 miles back from where I was.
That's my food-bag cord and carabiner as makeshift leash
I offered the dog water, which it didn't want, which was good because I didn't have that much with me for sharing. There was a phone number on the collar, so I waited for hikers behind me to catch up, borrowed a phone, and called the number, which went directly to voicemail, probably because that guy was still up in the mountains looking for his dogs. I couldn't stay where I was (no water there) and I was unwilling to abandon a dog that had clearly asked me for help, so I tried walking it down the trail with me. The dog was not going anywhere - too tired to move more than a few dozen feet. I picked up the dog and carried it the mile or so down to Rice Gap (I'd left a message on the phone saying I would try to get the dog there, being accessible and the nearest landmark) and allow me to inform you that 1) the dog was heavy, and I was carrying it in addition to my normal load and 2) the dog did not smell good and very shortly neither did I. At Rice Gap, I put my bag down hoping that no bears would eat it, and took side trips down the dirt road looking for anything that looked like civilization, where I would be able to turn the dog over to someone with a phone and so forth. I didn't find anything, but while I was looking I believe the guy on the ATV came into the area, because I heard shouting and horns blowing and someone obviously trying to make a ruckus, and the dog took off in that direction. I'm not positive if I helped or hindered that process, but I'm pretty sure the dog made it home. I still had two uphill miles to walk to the shelter, which thankfully wasn't full so I didn't have to set up the tent in the gathering dark.
The next day took me across Big Bald, which is supposed to be another place for outstanding views, but it was in a cloud when I crossed it and everything was pretty much gray.
I meant to get a picture of the Bald Mtn Shelter, because it was one of the nicest I'd seen, but I forgot. I did take a picture of myself going to get water at that shelter, with my sweet hat and scrufftastic trail beard.
The shelter that night was very full, but I still had a spot. There were some weekend hikers there and they built an enormous fire, which was a little annoying because the pit was much too close to the shelter and the smoke blew inside. This was made up for when Two Men and a Dog and Phoenix (other thru-hikers) rolled into camp late and cooked hot dogs over it. They had way too many so I got three hotdogs with buns and mustard to supplement my regular dinner with, and I didn't have to pay for them or carry them to the camp. Trail magic!
It was only 7 miles in to Erwin the next morning, and I left early and hustled because rain was threatening. I just beat the rain to the hostel and was well pleased to not get soaked. Once again, the hostel was right on the trail and Ana was there waiting.
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