Day 26

We decided on a medium long day of 13.9 miles.  First, the weather is good and second, if we do this we can get into Hot Springs to the Laughing Heart Lodge for a bed and shower on Monday night. Hot Springs is a small town of less than a thousand people, known ( you guessed it) for its hot mineral springs.  We can eat at a restaurant there as well.  I’m getting really tired of trail food and boy do I need a shower.  The stink is real especially when you can smell yourself.

We did get some trail magic.  Someone left apples and snacks at a crossing.  I grabbed a green apple and peanuts.  Both were great but the apple was sweet and tart just the way I like them.  Thinking about apples all day after that.

We passed another milestone early today.  We went past the 250 mile mark.  Whew!  

We had good weather.  It’s a little cool but you stay warm while hiking.  We crossed Max Patch which was really pretty but very windy.  I had to strap my Tilley on so it wouldn’t blow off.  It was way too windy to have lunch there so we hiked down a ways until we found a place sheltered from the wind.

The Sun was warm and we would have stayed longer but we have miles to cover.  One section near the end of the day was a steep climb of nearly a mile.😩

Not much wildlife to be seen today except for a small garter snake about 28 inches long.  With its green coloring it blended in with the foliage and I only noticed it when it suddenly streaked off into the woods when I was right up on it.  I could have touched it with my trekking pole.

We ended our day at a camp site at Kale Gap.

My back is aggravating me today.  I am hoping it doesn't develop into a real issue.  I’ll evaluate it tomorrow and see if it gets better.  More worrisone is that I was very woozy while putting up my tent tonight.  Everytime I bent over to put stakes in the ground or secure part of the tent I felt feint.  I had to sit down a couple of times to keep from feinting.  Once I got the tent up and had some dinner I felt better and the dizzy spells passed.

Time to sleep.  💤 .