Day 97: Hot Springs, NC

I guess i never mentioned it but i have been straddling TN/NC since roan mtn.  Hot springs is a cool little town that the trail goes through.  I stopped at the outfitter where they let SOBO's use a computer to print out their smokies permit.  I ate at the smoky mtn diner a huge dinner.  I also stopped by the P.O. to get my 2nd mail magic from the Larkin family.  The last one they sent was in Fort Montgomery, NY.  I appreciate their support greatly and everybody that writes comments on the letters inside the package.  I did 20 miles today.  I promised myself from before i started that the one town i would stay in was hot springs so i am staying at the hostel at laughing heart lodge.  I am the only one at the hostel yet again.  Its nice not having a ton of other smelly thru hikers running around but it sure is a total different experience doing a sobo thru compared to a nobo thru.  There just is nobody ever around for the most part going south.  Its almost absolute isolation unless you are hiking with somebody.  One thing i would like to mention is that TN/NC is very tough.  The climbs are very steep and long with no switchbacks south of Erwin.  My black shirt is covered in soooo much sweat.  I haven't done laundry since kincora hostel.  Everybody south of there charges 5+ dollars just to do laundry which i dont want to pay.  Also, since i brought up the "mental challenge" of an AT thru hike everybody i talk to on the phone has been worried about me.  I said in that post that this is normal and unless you absolutely love living in the woods and hiking with a pack every day this is probably tough for you.  Yes, for me it is tough getting up every day and doing this because i dont have to be here i am choosing to put my body through this.  Yes, it has been mentally tough for majority of the hike and no i am not going to quit.  I never have been remotely close to the point of convincing myself that it i am going to quit.  I have hiked 1911.4 miles... 273.9 left to go.  That 2000 mile mark will be a sweet moment.