AT Day 15: Allen Gap to Hot Springs, NC

Tuesday - 7/18 (15.1 miles) – Jason, our shuttle driver picked us up bright and early for the trip back to Allen Gap where we finished yesterday, so we could hike through the no camping section and into Hot Springs. As we drove, I saw a historical marker on the side of the road indicating it was the site of the “Shelton Laurel Massacre.” I remembered passing a cemetery a day or two earlier where some of the murdered soldiers were buried.?I looked up the historical story and it is quite brutal; unfortunately civil war is the worst kind of war, often pitting relative against relative.

This was the hottest & driest day yet… aside from the first hour of hiking when it was of course thundering and raining lightly. The views were extremely limited again today due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. I noticed I was wheezing periodically during strenuous uphill climbs for the first time, but didn’t feel the air quality affected me in a major way. The smoke should break with the rainstorms coming tomorrow… I think I’d prefer the heat & smoke though!

We didn’t get too many views today until we were descending into Hot Springs from the ridge. We only took a few pictures as we descended because the rocks we were hiking down were very hot from the strong sun. When we got into town it was 90 with a much higher heat index at the lower elevation of town.

The next 3 days are looking tough again from a weather perspective and I’ll have to decide whether to continue for the last 2 days of my trip in bad weather and miss out on one of the most anticipated experiences for this trip on Max Patch, or cut it short and come back next spring with hopefully better weather. I’ll make that real-time decision in the morning.

We met a guy named Animal at the hostel this evening. He's from GA and has been doing a “work for stay” at the hostel for a while now. His goal is to work periodically to earn enough to hike some more of the AT. He’s hiked from GA to Hot Springs, NC and now he’s hoping to flip-flop up to Katahdin and hike from ME back to here. After finishing the AT, his plans are to work for a while to build up his savings and then head west to hike the Continental Divide Trail (3,028 miles), and then the Pacific Crest Trail (2,650 miles). His lofty goal is to finish the triple crown (AT, PCT, CDT) of long-distance hiking within 5 years. 7,873 miles is a lot of hiking! He’s divorced, in his 50s, and has 2 sons, but is focused on finding himself right now. He's carefree and so laid back. Any time I see him he’s got a smile on his face, a beer in one hand, and a hand-rolled cigarette in the other. Hand rolled butts are very popular for smokers on the trail, I guess you don't have to worry about crushing the cigarettes when they aren't rolled yet.