4/15-4/19 Snowbird Mountain to Hot Springs, NC

4/15 Since I stayed underneath a canopy last night, I was awoken by a man named Apple. It was his canopy I slept under. Apple was here from Ohio to give trail magic. I had some doughnuts as I helped him put on the walls of the canopy to keep the rain out. I finally left and only hiked 2 miles to Groundhog Creek Shelter. As I got there it started to snow, so I snuggled up in my sleeping bag. Now this shelter has a max capacity of 6 people. We had 10 in there already and it was really cramped. Then the French couple arrived..... Now this couple didn't speak a lick of English and they wanted to get in the shelter. I kept telling them there was no room. Their response was to put their sleeping pads right on top of me. I had enough space to curl up in the fetal position and that's it I couldn't move. I got absolutely no sleep at all having 12 people in a 6 person shelter in no bueno.

4/16 Today I hiked with Longstride and Green Lantern all day. The highlight of the day was Max Patch. Max Patch is a giant grassy bald and there were 360* views. It was phenomenal. When we left there we went down to lemon gap to camp.

Longstride and El Borrego on Max patch

             Blue and Green Lantern

                       Max patch

4/17 Today I hiked 15 miles into Hot Springs, North Carolina. It was a nice hike. I got to the Hostel of the Laughing Heart. Here I realized I lost my debit card. The hostel owner Chuck Norris let me stay the night and helped me out a lot.

                  Inside the hostel

4/18 Chuck took me to Weaverville to get cash from the credit union. When I got back I paid him and tried to go enjoy the town.

4/19 I stayed at the hostel again last night. When I woke up I found out I had $60 stolen from me. I was in a bad mood all day. I had lunch at the Smokey Mountain Dinner. I ended up staying up all night watching the surfing contest on my phone until my phone charger broke..

Well after a good time in the Smoky's, my hike turned into shit. It was probably my worst couple of days on the trail but I know it will get better. 

So I've been really busy lately and haven't had much time to update. I'm a little behind in my posts and I'll catch up soon.

Happy trails!!!!

Lucas "Smokie" Varnadore