Standing Bear to Hot Springs

April 25th, 26th and 27th
The past three days have been very eventful! We hiked out of the Smokies and to Standing Bear Farm, which is a hostel. The hike was very beautiful! It had many springs and bridges; something we hadn't seen in the Smokies very much. We were walking down the trail and we saw a butterfly on a step. It had an injured wing! Max moved it on the trail onto some leaves. All day we saw butterflies. Then we reached Standing Bear Farm. What a sad place. It had great facilities but the employees (we never met the owners) were not so great. They made us feel uncomfortable. They were very womanizing and crass with their guests. I would not recommend staying there at all! We unfortunately did.

Th next day we left as soon as we could. Making sure to say goodbye to our friend's dog! We hiked ten miles into a gap where a man approached us with some deviled eggs! There was trail magic! It was a bunch of people cooking up breakfast, lunch and dinner! There must've been at least 15 thru-hikers staying there that night and we did as well. One of the volunteers played his guitar next to the fire that night and it was a real thru-hiker family experience. We had ham, chicken, and salmon with some sweet potatoes for dinner and we ate sausage eggs and bacon for breakfast there! It was so delicious and made up for our not so great stay at the Standing Bear. When we decided to leave the next day we were one of the first to go. Before we left one of the volunteers gave us a box of Samoas!

That morning after breakfast we left. With Hot Springs only 23 miles away we wanted to at least make it to the shelter 10 miles away. As we walked we were surprised yet again by more trail magic! We ate second breakfast there consisting of hard boiled eggs sausage and pancakes! We even got a shot of whiskey and some chocolate milk! With all this new energy we suddenly wanted to go more miles. Before we knew it we were heading to Hot Springs. We hiked in the rain up and over 3 mountains for 23 miles! It took us about nine and a half agonizing hours but we made it! We made it to Hot Springs! We met up with our friends Why Not and Rammy and got some dinner. It has been a very rewarding day for us! Now we are really sore and tired and its time for bed!
With love,
Comrade and Sara

P.S. Max got his trail name today!