Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 09:47:18 -0400 From: Daniel Eisenbud Subject: Hot Springs, NC Dear Y'all, I'm on email for the first time since starting my hike. I'm in Hot Springs, North Carolina, a cute little town which the Appalachian Trail runs through (literally down its main street, in fact.) I've come about 270 miles in about three weeks. Right now the trail is hugging the Tennessee-North Carolina border -- sometimes the trail is the border, as far as I can tell. In a little while we'll move into Tennessee for real, and then cross into Virginia. The trail goes through Virginia for about 500 miles, so I'll be there for a while. I've been generally having a wonderful time. There are definitely days when I wonder why I'm out here at all instead of among the comforts of civilization, but the good days more than make up for it. The woods have been beautiful, and the first signs of spring are just appearing. I'm definitely not sorry to be saying goodbye to winter: the snow and ice on the trail in Georgia and in the Smokies were hard going. I was glad that I heeded the possibly false rumor that the Smokies were covered with ice and you needed crampons to traverse them: I bought a little pair of instep crampons weighing a few ounces for $10, and while there was no ice at all when I entered the park, in our first night there we got a few inches which a few days later was slippery ice for some long stretches. In fact, while hiking through this one day, I came up with the following adaptation of the famous Robert Frost poem: Steel and Ice Some say the world will end in steel, some in ice. From how I've learned that crampons feel, I hold with those who favor steel. But if it had to perish twice, I've fallen on my ass enough to know that for destruction, ice is also great, and would suffice. I've met lots of nice people on the trip. I started out moving faster than the crowd, though, so so far I've mostly met people, seen them for a day or two, and then passed them. But that's starting to change, and lately I've been seeing the same people again and again, which is for the most part a really good thing. A few people off the trail have also been incredibly helpful: Karen, the woman who gave me a ride to the trailhead, was incredibly nice, and even sent me brownies in the first town I stopped in (thanks Karen!) Last night I experienced another big dose of "trail magic": I got into Hot Springs after dark, after an exhausting 23 mile day. I went to the Paddler's Pub, one of the only local restaurants to be open that late, to get some food and a beer. When I was done, I tried to pay my bill, only to be informed that it had already been paid for. Apparently a couple, who I didn't even get a really good look at before they left, had paid for the four thru-hikers eating there. I wish I had seen them so I could thank them if I saw them around town today. It's nice to feel like people are looking out for you, in any case. I have a trail name, which is an amusing story. When I was getting on the plane from Tampa (near where I had been visiting my grandparents) to Atlanta, the woman checking my backpack put a big bright orange tag saying "HEAVY" on it. At that point my pack was 46 pounds. I got it down to 38 with food and water to start, which is actually on the light side, but I kept the tag on, and that has since become my trail name. Most people's trail names are much easier to remember than there real names, so in fact I don't know most of my friends' real first names offhand. Healthwise, I'm mostly doing fine. My knee has been bothering me a bit, but at the moment I'm taking advil and a wait and see attitude. If it doesn't get better after a day of rest today, I may try to go to a doctor here or in Erwin. If the scale at the hostel I'm staying at is to be believed, I've lost ten pounds already, which worries me because I don't have a lot more weight that I can afford to lose. It's pretty much impossible to eat enough calories on the trail, so the strategy is to bring lots of fatty foods (more calories per pound) and then just stuff your face whenever you're in a town and can do so. They sell Ben & Jerry's ice cream at the store where I'm writing this from, by happy coincidence. :-) Over all, I'm having a great time! Thanks to those of you who've already written to me -- I'm looking forward to getting another batch of mail in Erwin. Love, Dan(iel) -- Daniel E. Eisenbud eisenbud@cs.swarthmore.edu