The Laughing Heart Hostel

Monday, April 22, 2013
Destination: Laughing Heart Hostel, Hot Springs
Starting Location: Bluff  Mountain tent site
Today's Miles: 10.90 Trip Miles: 262.22

Up and out by 0745 after a cold breakfast. No other tents were in site this morning and I think only one hiker past by after I set up last night.  I met Prayerwalker  less than a quarter mile up the trail as she had just broken camp and was coming onto the trail and we hiked together for a while but she soon got ahead of me. I caught up with her when she stopped for lunch.  I joined her and had my lunch as this was a great spot.

I showed her a US Army wrist band that I found on trail a day or so back. She said it was hers, that she had lost a couple of days ago. She said she used it to remember which way to turn when leaving a shelter, by putting it on her left or right wrist to indicate the direction after spending the night at a shelter.  She was glad to have it back! Maybe if I had such a system I would not have done Jacobs Ladder the second time!

I got to Laughing Heart Hostel, about one hundred feet from the trail and at the very edge of Hot Springs, but it was nearly full. I wanted a private room because of my cold. Prayerwalker  had just gotten the last single and they only had doubles left but 'Chuck Norris' gave me a deal for being alone and doing two nights.  When I arrived a hiker told me to see Chuck Norris, the operator of the hostel, and when I stepped inside I knew him as soon as I saw him.  He could have passed for the real Chuck Norris' brother! 

The rest of the consisted of town stuff and I picked up my food drop. I now have 17 pounds of food. Will have to bounce some of it to Erwin, the next trail trow. I met Glo Bug, Tin Man, and Yukon, the remains of the group I started with.  'Spider' was tire of going so slow and moved on and Gweejo had been picked up by his wife and and rested in Hot Springs for a while before skipping ahead to Erwin to avoid the noro virus that hikers were picking up at the shelters between the two towns.

Laughing Heart is the best hostel on the trail so far and Chuck is a great host!  Very informal and there is a full kitchen, dining area, and a TV room with lots of DVDs.


 "All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost" -J.R.R. Tolkien