Day 38

Pretty uneventful day. Not every day can be amazing. Some days you just have to put in the miles. I’m getting close to the 300 mark though. I think I set up camp at mile 286. It was a cold climb out of Hot Springs but that’s because of the wind gusts. The wind lately has just been CRAZY! At times, it almost pushes me off the trail. It was a nice view along the water and looking down on Hot Springs. I think I’ll miss the brewery the most. Pictured is me with a bunch of other thru hikers. It was a great way to end the last night there. From left to right: Taps, Moose Boy, Spreadsheet, Dynamite (his real name is Napoleon ?), Mad Monkey, Donuts, Cautious K, Buck and Crafty Girl. Oh, and then me, Last Call. ? The only thing really interesting thing today was the dammed pond that conveniently had a couple benches next to it. Nice for a quick break. Quite a bit of road walking and crossings today including my first overpass bridge crossing. I had to take a picture of the tree with the white blaze that is now fallen across the path. Oops! I stopped at Spring Mountain Shelter, pictured, which is a really tiny shelter. The tent spots are just north of it but not the flattest location, except for the perfect spot Moose Boy and Crafty Girl grabbed (married couple from Maine). I continued on just a few hundred more feet and found another unofficial camp location that’s nicely flat so I stopped here. It gives me a private area all to myself but it’s still not too far to walk back to enjoy the ease of using the bear cables to hang my food. So much easier than throwing a line over the right tree branch. Anyway, I had a shorter day planned tomorrow because even though the elevation map looks pretty even with smaller ups and downs, comments on the guide say it’s a beast of a section with big rock scrambles. We’ll see. If I can push faster than expected then I’ll go past my planned stop and see how much further I can go.