More hiking in Hot Springs

I woke up around 6:30am and just laid in my hammock, listening to the light rain pitter pat on my tarp. I finally got out and walked to the bathrooms, changed clothes and washed my face. When I got back, Boo was up and chit chatting with the others who had started making the community breakfast. We pulled our camp chairs around the morning fire that someone had lit and soaked in the atmosphere. Now I'm not normally a coffee drinker, but a hot cup of coffee with a hot chocolate packet stirred in was a perfect morning beverage. YUMMY! Breakfast was good. They had plates and plates of cheesey scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, livermush (don't ask), fruit, and krispy cremes. I had a scoop of eggs, bacon, a sausage that Boo swears was the livermush, but I swear it wasn't, and a banana.

Afterwards, a group of us decided to go for a hike. On the Appalachian Trail (AT) from Tanyards Gap back into Hot Springs. It was only 6 miles, so Boo decided to test out his ankle for this hike. We all car pool up and park at the trail head. It starts with a walk on a pedestrian bridge over the highway then the AT climbs up for a good 1/2 mile. I didn't expect the climb right away. But felt confident about it when I didn't stop the entire way up :) Darby, Shrek, Macintyre, and Capital Bill put on a fast pace, but I was able to hang with the big boys and hold my own. We then hiked down into a gap talking about the music we listen to or sing in our head while hiking. I was surprised to find out that I'm not the only one that gets a song stuck in my head when I hike. For the next couple of miles the trail terrain was nice and rolling.

I decided to take a break before another big climb and so did everyone else. Darby was the only one that kept going! I found out later he made it into Hot Spings in 2 hours. He's a bad ass. As I was chit chatting away, guess who comes around the trail? Boo! He was only a few minutes behind us. :) We all start the climb together and soon Shrek and I kick it into gear and lose everyone. I think my heart rate and lungs are starting to play nicely together, (Finally!) cause on the climb I only stopped once. Shrek and I finally make it to the overlook (Lovers Leap) and take our time snapping photos, admiring the view of Hot Springs and the French Broad River below. Boo catches up to us for a bit. Now, I'm normally pretty fast on the down hill, but I was hiking with Shrek, and he hikes extremely slow going down hill, so it took us a while to climb down to Hot Springs. We made it back in 3 hours, but I know I could of easily shaved off at least 1/2 hour. When we get back to the campground we run into Darby and he asks if we saw anything interesting on the section of trail along the river. I look at Shrek, he looks at me and we both say "No, why?" Then he shows us the pictures he took of TWO copperhead snakes he came upon. He said it looked like they were in the middle of some snake love when he interuppted them. When snakes do "It", they get all tangled up and wrapped around one another. Thank GOD I didn't happen upon the snake loving session. I hate snakes.

Back at our campsite, I plop down in the camp chair and pull out a vitamin water from the cooler and chit chat with Shrek while I wait for Boo to arrive. Once he gets in, we all decide to walk down to Bluff Mountain Outfitters. NO trip to Hot Springs is complete without a trip into Bluff Mountain Outfitters. hahaha! I walk in, ooohh and ahhhing all the new stuff and realize it's freaking HOT in there. Boo decides he can't handle the stuffiness, so he tells me he'll wait outside, then asks if I noticed that sales guys I always see has cut his hair. I look over and dredlock guy chopped off his locks! how sad :( I finally get what I'm there for. Some Dr. Bonners soap. This stuff is like magic. I can use it to wash my hair, wash my laundry, wash my face, clean my camp dishes, AND brush my teeth with. All this in one little bottle. I picked up the lavender scent for future backpack outings. Shrek and I meet up with Boo and I notice he's limping. He's ankle swelled up a bit, so we decide to take it easy the rest of the night.

We get back in time for the community hot dog dinner to pick our pokers and start grilling up some dogs over an open fire. I love cooking hot dogs this way. They seem to taste better cooked over an open flame. After dinner everyone breaks off into circles of conversations around the fire. Boo and I relax in the camp chairs, watch the fire, and talk for hours. Around 9pm, we decide to take a stroll into town just to keep from falling asleep. If you've ever been to Hot Springs, you know it's an itty bitty little town. So it didn't take us long to walk the entire length. We stopped in front of Rock Bottoms and listened to the live musician strumming his guitar and in true music snobbery, Boo had to let me know how the guy didn't play the song right and left out a bunch of notes and rifts. To the untrained ear, it sounded pretty good. hahaha! We got back to the campground and decided to hang by the fire some more til others start hitting their hammocks. I open up the brownies that Boo made and soon everyone is enjoying them. Around 10:30 pm, we call it a night and crawl into our hammocks just in time. It started to rain. I slept snug as a bug all night and didn't wake up til 7:30am. Around 8am, Boo nudges me out of the hammock. We pack up, say our good byes, and drive home in the rain. It rained all weekend long and regardless, I had a nice time in the woods. Til next time. GET OUTDOORS!!!