Day 19 Downhill to Hot Springs

Writing from my tent next to the French Broad River, listening to the river. 


I slept well last night and we woke up at 7:30 to begin packing up before sunrise. One other thru hiker camped at our tent site but he was inside his tent when he showed up. In the morning he packed up without saying a word and took off. I figured he would at least say hello, but oh well. Some people hike the AT looking for solitude and I don’t blame them for that. 


We started hiking by 9 and only planned to hike 15.5 miles for the day. We began the morning with an 800 foot ascent up Walnut Mountain. Walnut isn’t a bald top so the views from the summit were decent but not great. 



After Walnut we quickly ascended and descended Bluff Mountain. After Bluff we lost elevation the rest of the day until we made it to the town of Hot Springs. On the descent we could see back to Bluff, it’s always cool seeing where we were a couple hours before. 



Once in Hot Springs we went to the post office, a diner, the library to charge our devices, and bought a resupply at the Hillbilly Market. 


Once our town adventures ended we hiked a mile out of town along the river before pitching our tents.



Tomorrow we plan to go 21.5 miles and make the most of the good weather. If successful we will take a big chunk out of the 68.5 miles between us and Erwin TN, our next resupply. 


I didn’t take an ibuprofen today and my ankle bothered me a little bit for the last hour of the day. But without the ibuprofen I still consider this progress. If healing continues as it has been, my ankle should be fully recovered within 2-3 days. 


I’m headed to bed.


Goodnight,

Walker 




If you want to follow Tyler or Spencer, here are their logs as well:


Tyler: https://tylerat2024.blogspot.com/?m=1


Spencer: https://www.instagram.com/baxter.bound?utm_source=qr&igsh=MWx4MzRqa3M4dGk3Mw==

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