Hot Springs, Storms, and Bears- Oh My!

I am writing from a hotel in Asheville, NC where we are lucky to have our first real break from the woods with Kim and Paul!


Since Gatlinburg, we've walked a lot of miles and have had tons of excitement. As we were close to exiting the Smoky Mountains, Collin and I were disappointed with our 0 for 2 record of bear sightings in the heaviest bear populated national park. Davenport Shelter was our home for our last night in the Smokies. This shelter was the first and only that we had seen that was caged in. A sign inside the shelter told us that there was no tenting allowed and hikers must stay inside the cage. This would be our first night staying in a shelter and outside of our tent. We began cooking dinner when a fellow hiker pointed out a bear in the distance in a valley. The group of about 8 of us ran over to look and the bear continued onto the trail and walked away when noticing us. A few minutes later there was another bear sighting but this time she didn't walk away. The bear moved closer and closer to us, leaving her 2 cubs alone further down the alley. Many of the hikers grabbed their cameras and phones to document this event, all very excited about being able to capture it. However, the mama bear was not scared by our presence and continued to move closer and closer to the shelter. Many of us started backing into the caged shelter while the bear moseyed along and munched on plants and grass, now only a few yards away from us. The night before was rainy, so our tent was hanging up drying in a tree. This unusual object interested the bear and she went over and used her teeth to try dragging the rain fly off of the tree. We all shouted at her and she dropped the tent, looked over at us, and then went for the footprint of our tent hanging in another nearby tree. Our loud response made her drop it again, but not without giving us some nice tears and teeth marks to remember her by. This mama hung out with us around the shelter for almost 2 hours while we watched. Hopefully a video of the event can be posted to the blog soon! What an exciting way to end the Smokies :).


Standing Bear Farm was our destination the next morning. This was a hostel unlike any other. The resupply pantry was run by honor system where each hiker wrote down what they took, how much it was, and totaled it at the end themselves. Showers and laundry (hand wash, machine dry) were available as well as places to sleep all over the property including the treehouse over the river, the porch, a bunk-house, or even the backyard trampoline. Beers in the fridge were $2 each and the good company was free. We spent the day walking along the river, relaxing with friends, and resting our body. This was just a day visit for us as we headed onto a nearby campsite that evening.


Mile 254 took us to Max Patch Summit, a beautiful bald on a beautiful day (check Instagram for photos). We like to take breaks at spots like this to take in the views and have a snack or two. Our hike has been full of gorgeous spots to break and relax.


On May 2, we arrived in Hot Springs, NC. The AT actually runs about .7 miles through this town which makes it hard not to stop for a bite to eat or some R&R. Fortunately, that was our plan. With a music festival going on and a beautiful river to camp along, we took our first zero day on May 3. Hot Springs was a hiker friendly town with lots to offer including an outfitters, tons of great food and beer, live music, a roaring river and a hiker resource center with free snacks and wifi! Even though we chose to take a break from hiking the AT that day, it didn't stop us from exploring the area and doing some hiking anyway. Lover's Leap is a cliff above the French Broad River which we climbed the steep hike up to and had some amazing views. We were even able to go further up to other cliffs for more beauty. The thoughts of watching the sunset up there were tempting, but the safer choice was to get down the steep rocks while we could still see. We loved Hot Springs!


Trail Days is a festival in Damascus, VA that many former and current AT hikers attend and the trail runs straight through it! After some calculation, we realized we needed pick up the pace if we want to make it there by May 16 when it begins. So, we've been really hitting the trail hard and hiking long days. Our longest so far was on May 8 when we did 21.9 miles! The next night we planned to camp on a bald .5 miles off the trail. We set up the tent and it started to rain a little bit but we weren't too worried. I cooked dinner while Collin tried to start a fire and then we began to realize that the storm could be getting much worse. Should we be the highest things at the top of this bald during a storm? Probably not... we packed up our things in the rain and headed on to the next shelter, arriving right before we needed to use our headlights. Luckily there was room for us in the shelter so we didn't have to set up our sopping wet tent. Coyotes howled and barked in the distance that night while we awaited the sunrise for our hike to civilization the next day.


We hit the Tennessee border on the 10th and shortly after met my parents at a highway where we took off for Asheville. What a fun town! Time to spend some QT with the family and enjoy our sunny mini-vacation!


Next week we hit Virginia, then trail days in Damascus, and then another visit from home- see you soon Keltron and Gooseberry!


Don't forget to check our Instagram where we post pictures as often as we have internet service (@thewildoutsiders). Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas!