05/08
It was hard to get out of bed this morning. The sound of water rolling off the cliff below made for perfect white noise, and my buff pulled over my eyes worked better than any blackout curtain. I could’ve slept until noon. Our bodies were wrecked.
Nick woke up with a fever, which gave us even more reason to push the last few miles into Hot Springs and make it to the hostel we’d booked. Motivation via medical necessity.
“The Appalachian Trail-er” as advertised, was a double-wide with ten bunks and two bathrooms. Not exactly the Ritz, but it had a roof, hot water, and a porch. That’s practically luxury on trail.
We spent most of the day loitering on that porch, mingling with other hikers in various states of decay before venturing into town. Hot Springs is only about half a mile wide, and the damage from Hurricane Helene was still painfully visible. Storefronts boarded up, sidewalks cracked, entire businesses reduced to storage rooms. You could tell it used to be a lively little spot. Now it’s just hanging on.
We did our best to support what was left. Grabbed groceries at the Dollar General (trail tradition at this point) then made a pilgrimage to Hillbilly Market and Smoky Mountain Diner to eat like we hadn’t just eaten. Twice.
Back at the hostel, a few of the hikers were nursing injuries and weighing whether or not to get off trail. A quiet reminder that none of this is guaranteed. One wrong step and it’s game over. Which makes every little moment feel more important, even if that moment is eating a microwaved Jimmy Dean on a plastic chair outside a double-wide in rural North Carolina.
That night, I climbed into the top bunk of a room packed with six other hikers. There’s always one who snores like a chainsaw, and of course he was directly below me. I wasn’t sick, but I was more tired than usual. Bone-tired. The kind that doesn’t go away after just one night off trail.
Still, we made plans to move on in the morning. I would’ve liked to linger, maybe explore more of the town. But time keeps marching, and out here, you either follow it or get left behind.