First Trail Town. Hot Springs NC

It has been a fantastic few days. I left Standing Bear Hostel, a funky homestead in the Tennessee woods just outside of the Smokies after a night that included a full on Pete Townsend style guitar smashing incident, and began the climb up and over to Hot Springs. There are several balds in between. Balds are these funky mountains that are surrounded by forest that suddenly near the summit become a massive lawn of kentucky blue grass. Max Patch is about 4 football fields across on top with a staggering 360 degree view of the Smokies and North Carolina mountains. As we climbed our way toward the summit we came across a couple of thru-hikers from years past giving out hotdogs, pastry, beer, soda, Little Debbie snacks and fruit. Thanks "Hotpants" and "Ramblin Man". Fresh fruit is a serious treat. As we walked away from that and got to the top of Max Patch we found "PB" and "Climber" giving out fruit and soda. We sat there for a few minutes and "Dragonslayer" and  "Mousetrap" and their friends and family showed up with a grill and beer. So needless to say, about 15 of us never made it off Max Patch that night. We watched the sunset over the Smokies and woke to an equally brilliant sunrise after a chilly night under the stars.
Today I strolled into the first true trail town. The AT walks down main street and they have custom markers embedded in the sidewalk. There is a spa here and I plan to take a zero tomorrow to enjoy the town and rest up a bit. I was lucky enough to get into the hiker hostel - Sunnybank Inn, where Ellmer is a legend who makes an organic vegetarian 4 course dinner and a breakfast that sticks to the ribs. Can't wait!  I have access to real computers at the library so pictures and thank you's to all the trail angels will be coming in the next day or so.