Was a windy very cold night in our 4.5k foot high open Shelter. Dan, Chris and I burrowed in our sleeping bags and waited for a bettor morning.
The next morning it was near 0s with the 6 inches of crunchy snow. All our shoes were frozen. The only way to heat them up was to keep trying to get your feet in them. We left Chris behind. When he caught up he said it took him an hour.
8 miles later it got warmer and less snow on the ground.
We are staying the night at a hostel just off the trail in Hot Springs. Nice town that caters to hikers. A crystal clear river runs through it with Mountains on both sides.
6 boys who had stopped us yesterday afternoon asking us for cell phone service, we had none, apparently had gotten ahold of the locals a while later saying they were ill prepared for the cold weather and talked a hostel lady into driving up to meet them. She hit a man who had just slid his car off the road and was standing in the road to flag her down. The guy wasn't hurt to bad but the lady went home. Another local in his 4 wheeler did rescue the inconvenienced hikers. Dan and I crossed the 4 wheelers tracks and were impressed that a vehicle could make it up a mountain path in 6" of snow.
Showered, Laundry is drying and then we'll stop in town for dinner and resupply at The Dollar General. No other stores here but a gas station. Hey it's a step up from what we are used to.
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That's the French Broad that flows through Hot Springs... a good whitewater kayaking river. And soon you'll come to the Nolichucky, in Erwin. If it warms up you may want to stop at the Dairy Ace in Erwin, if they're open.
ReplyDeleteJust read the date on your post. You're probably past Erwin by this point.
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