Apparently town days are big days for us – so I apologize in advance for the length of this post. Thanks for hanging in there.
We left camp at 7:30a. We had a 3.5 mile hike to the parking lot where we would wait for the 9:45a shuttle to take us into town. Before the city shuttle arrived, a free one pulled in. It took us further out of town than we had hoped, but it saved Ben and I $6! Our first priority in town? Showers and laundry at a hostel.
Unfortunately, as we were pushing to get out of the woods, Sputnik fell and rolled his ankle. Neither of us saw it happened and didn’t notice he was hurt until he came limping out to the parking lot.
As we were making our way to the hostel Ben offered that we carry Sputnik’s pack to take the weight off of his ankle. I felt bad that we didn’t think of it earlier. Since my pack was the lightest, I took it. Again, my pack gets lighter as we eat down our food. Ben’s stays the same. So I had my own pack on my back and carried Sputnik’s on my front, like a baby carrier. I don’t know how parents do it – that is awkward!
We arrived at the hostel and got a tour, then immediately took showers. Laundry took so much longer than expected. The hostel staff did it for us, so we weren’t in charge of the schedule. We hung out for a while waiting. To be honest, it was a bit of a culture shock for me. I like things on a schedule and to be efficient with my time. We had a good schedule planned out: leave the parking lot at 9:45a, laundry, showers, resupply, maybe stop by the brewery, and then out to the shuttle at 3p. It was around 1p(ish) when we realized we weren’t going to stay on schedule. We were still waiting on laundry. In fact, Sputnik, whose load was in before ours, still hadn’t gotten his back. That poor guy still needed to get to an urgent care too.
I’m not saying the waiting is bad, it was just culture shock. To be honest, it allowed us to slow down and meet people. One guy who was at the hostel then was particularly interesting. He’s from Luxembourg and is hiking the trail. His education is in psychology and sociology, but his career history is caring for plants. He someday hopes to blend the two. He was amazing. I loved watching him talk as he rolled his cigarette (an actual cigarette, not something else), his hands gesturing largely as he answered all of our questions. His motto is “Be Free”, that’s why he’s on the trail. He said something like, “Being free… you can know the concept but never really understand it until you experience it.” I took him years to acquire the courage to leave his job and get here. He has about 8 months in America and then will see what happens after that. He even taught us Americans a new word: pedagogy (look it up). Unfortunately, we never caught his name or got a photo. Ben and I hope to catch up to him again.
Since we knew it would be several more hours before we got our laundry, Ben and I decided to head into town. There was a “Hiker Feed” happening at the Lazy Hiker Brewing Co. A Hiker Feed is just what it sounds like, basically, it’s trail magic on a large scale. The event was down in their courtyard. They had cornhole/bean bag toss boards out, as well as several tables and chairs. It was the local hiking club putting it on. Even though we were quite a bit late, there was still plenty of food! They offered beef or veggie hotdogs, chili, cilantro, chips, cookies, veggies, fruit, snacks to take as you go… it was awesome. There was beer too. For the most part you had to pay for it. Occasionally the hiking club handed out tickets for free drinks. It was so much fun! We saw a lot of our hiking friends and made new ones too. That’s the magic of food, drink, and music – it brings people together.
Afterwards, we still had a resupply to do. So we walked down to the local outfitters store, Outdoor 76, for more gas and a camp pillow. On our way we met Bill Murray!! We were so excited. We spoke with him for a while and then parted ways. Then went down to Ingles to buy food. Finally, made it back to the hostel. Our laundry was finished and we were ready to leave town but thought we’d grab dinner first.
There was a man and his young son playing together in the driveway and they offered to give us a ride. The dad was “Cool Hand” and his son was “Ridge”. They’ve been section hiking the AT for a while now and just arrived at the hostel – tomorrow they head out for their latest section. Cool Hand and Ridge were also wanting dinner, so we all ate together at the Motor Grille. They were also amazing. I loved seeing their relationship. Cool Hand offered us a lot of advice and shared plenty of stories. You can see that he invests in the people that he meets, not just his family. You can also see his appreciation for experiencing life.
During dinner, I asked Ridge what the biggest backpacking lesson he’s learned so far was. His answer, “Don’t let chipmunks near your pack.” We all laughed and I shared my story about how in the desert southwest a chipmunk gently tasted my friends toe. It was an incredible dinner, we started out as strangers and ended as friends. That’s what the trail does and it’s what I appreciate most about it… the AT allows you to connect to an incredible array of people.
Side Note: Remember that bear fur we saw several days earlier (the one still attached to skin that I originally thought was hog/boar – but I dismissed that idea because I didn’t think those animals were in the area)? Well, Cool Hand confirmed that it actually would have been hog. I didn’t realize that these mountains had them, but he said they do. Even more so, they are all over. It made me a bit nervous, but he proceeded to teach us what to do if we encounter one, etc. So I left the conversation feeling much better.
After dinner, we went back to the hostel and called for a shuttle, a guy the hostel owner suggested. Well, the driver rolled in and I realized I had seen him at the Hiker Feed. He was probably the oldest person at the party. Sam (Yep another one – I think that was his nameanyways) was quite the character! He was smartly dressed in courderouy pants with a blazer and a hat that said, “Disgruntled Veteran”. He drove a Rubicon Jeep with an Army bumper sticker. So I asked if he had served to start conversation. This should give you an idea of how old this man was… he flew P38’s in WWII. He would land in occupied France on roads to deliver communication equipment to the Resistance. He’d sit for about 10 minutes and would take off again. Afterwards, he got his degree in Electrical Engineering and worked as a defense contractor, then the CIA, then the optics and communication department at NASA. Amazing! Ben was blown away that he got to meet this man. The only downside, it was an interesting/terrifying ride. At one point we went over a curb on a turn (no big deal, he has a Jeep), then Ben said we were in the lane of oncoming traffic for a bit… things I was glad I didn’t see. But in the end he dropped us off safe (when he finally got us to the correct location) and that’s the most important part. Plus we met a man who had lived an incredible life. Are you noticing a theme?
It was real late, around 9p or so when we were dropped off. Someone said there was camping right at the parking lot, so we walked back to the site. No one else was there and we set up camp. It was a cloudless night. The moon was out and incredibly bright. It shone almost like a nightlight in our tent. As I stood outside, I was in awe of how beautiful everything was. The stars were shining, you could see the lights from the town below and they looked like more stars. It made it so the tent seemed to be floating in the sky. It was fantastic and I stood for a while, soaking it all in. It was certainly one of the moments that makes me love backpacking.
We slept well that night. Our hearts full of gratitude for the people that we met and for the beauty of the evening.
-ansel