Day 23- Stopping Hurts
Miles hike today 16.3. Total miles 289.8.
Had an appointment at the medical clinic at 8:30 this morning. I saw the doctor, he poked around on my foot, determined nothing was broken. Said I had been doing the correct thing with ice and ibuprofen. So it was time to walk again. I left Hot Springs, Tennessee around 10:30 AM. I love how they put white blazes on anything to show you the way.
For a little bit the trail followed the river. It was quite nice to be down low for a little while.
Then of course the trail went up! Here is a picture with Hot Springs in the background.
The young man below is Captain Caveman. He broke his leg the day before, and needed to get to the hardware store in Hot Springs for replacement parts. I had breakfast with him this morning at the diner and he had me in stitches, then met him again on the trail.
While walking along the trail I came upon this wall – very strange.
Until you got to the top and realized it was a dam.
Again today there was no outstanding vistas, but there were sure some pretty meadows with great scenery behind them.
And for the first time we had a touch of some dirt road walking lasting about a quarter of a mile before once again winding up a mountain.
Crossed over a highway, notice the white blaze on the bridge.
And then once again came across some fire damage. This time the trail actually stopped the fire. There wasn’t enough debris on the trail for it to burn and the demarcation line was quite evident.
When I looked at my 80 Hiker app on my phone I realized a hostel was close by and gave the extra push to get there. Here is the bunkhouse where I’m staying tonight. I walked pretty steadily all day long. Because stopping gave time for my foot to stiffen up. Then it would take about 100 steps for it to really loosen up. So not much stopping today.
Ready to get off my foot and hit the hay.
