Day 26 (updated)

This morning was cloudy and cold, with a lot of moisture in the air, but no real rain. We made a quick cup of coffee and took off for Hot Springs which was only 1.5-2 miles away. We walked down out of the mountains and into a REALLY small southern town, but we felt welcomed by the blazes which were in the sidewalk and crosswalks. Now strolling down main street towards "downtown", we decided to stop for breakfast at the Smoky Mountain Diner. The porch was full of hikers packs, and although we're a little sceptical about leaving our stuff we were hungry for breakfast so down are packs went and in we went. After we ate, it was off to the Doller General and then the landromat. Next, we treated ourselves to a couple of beers at the only pub as we filled out postcards and wrote more in our journal. Once we felt up to it, we headed to the library to use the free computers to post some journal entries, and after some frustration Mike decided it was taking too long so we headed back toward the trail. Now it was after 6pm, and almost everything in town was closed for the night, so we went to the 'warm springs resort' (as we dubbed it after reading a historical marker that said that was the original name) which was near the river at the edge of town where we read we could get a shower. From there, we were sent across the road to the campground where we each paid $5 to use the COLD "hiker" showers (outside located next to an actual indoor shower building). Laura was very peeved by this and made it know to any unlucky stranger within earshot because it was not even close to $2 hiker friendly special that was listed in our guidebook. Now cold, and very awake, we were ready to be done with Hot Springs so we grabbed our stuff and walked to the trail. Through town, over the bridge, and down the side we came across a hiker named G-hippie from NY who we had an awesome conversation with about the local wildflowers. Walking along the trail by the river, we found a bunch of campsites and decided to claim a discreet one for the night. We built a small fire and sat until dark listening to the river.