April 20

Cosmic

When ever you leave a town, or a gap that goes into town, there's only one direction that you are headed.  Up.  Today would have 4 big climbs.  Up for a while, a little down, up some more a bit higher, then another little down....rinse, repeat.  Upon leaving my campsite, I headed out alone up the first mountain to "Lovers Leap".  Great views looking back on the river and Hot Springs.  I saw some beautiful pink blooms, from azaleas I think, for the first time.  I came out of the woods at one point, and walked along a gravel road, across a particularly nice area around Mill Ridge.  Apparently this section is home to wild turkey and grouse, but I didn't see any.  I've seen both of these birds other times on the trail.  I crossed another road at Hurricane Gap, which is right on the Tennessee border.  So really I have no idea where I am right now.  Every day I'm somewhere bouncing back and forth between NC and TN.  Made it to Spring Mountain shelter, and I didn't feel like going further, so I set up camp.  I tried to eat a lot of food, and heavier items in particular, to lighten my food bag.  I cooked two 7 inch pizza kits I had picked up in town.  I had also picked up a box of Little Debbie cosmic brownies, and let me tell you, they are heavy, but they pack about 280 calories each, and satisfy my chocolate fix.  These will become a staple of my hiker diet.  Too cold to fix breakfast?  Cosmic brownies.  Mid-morning snack?  Cosmic brownies.  Lunch, dinner, anytime?  Cosmic brownies.  I've also found honey buns are great, but only the gas station brand ones.  There's at least 600 calories to be found if you look for the right brands.  Can you tell I think about food a lot now?  Haha.  Your burning 4000-6000 calories a day, so anything high in sugar, fat, or carbs is great.  Then some protein at night to help the muscles recover.  

View of Hot Springs from Lovers Leap.