Sunday June 24, Miles today 11, miles from Springer 285.5

Hellcat and Major Tom left the Holiday Inn at 8 am in order to turn the car in early at Asheville and save a day on the rental.  Rodney and Carmen picked me up at 9 am and we followed them.  I was able to catch up on things going on at work, which I did not miss.  We also talked about their daughters dance career in New York City we well with updates on family and friends.  We picked up Hellcat and Major Tom in Asheville and made the windy drive up to Hot Springs where we had lunch at the Iron Horse Restaurant.  While eating the rain started coming down pretty good and we dawdled around until it ended.

At about 1:30 the rain ended and a very hot sun came out and dried things up pretty good but in the process it became pretty humid.  Rodney and Carmen saw us off as we donned our backpacks and continued on.  The trail crossed the French Broad River then followed it for about a half mile. Then we started the first 1500 foot climb.  The head and humidity was pretty oppressive and we had to stop a couple times in shade to rest.  At about 3 pm another thunder storm came in to cool things off.  It really rained hard and the trail was starting to flood.  We stopped and considered setting up a tent to get some shelter, we were actually shivering from cold even though I doubt the temperature dipped below 70 F.  In a matter of two hours we went from over heating to cold.  Instead we put on our rain gear and started up another climb.  That climb was easier despite the flooding because it was cooler.

We finally arrived at Spring Mountain Shelter at about 7 pm where we met a couple local backpackers.  They had started a small smoky fire to smoke out the mosquitoes and Major Tom snapped at them reminding me of Igor a few weeks earlier coming in wet and tired after a day's hiking.  We patched things up and set up.  Another man came in named "Crossing America for Wounded Veterans".  He was a 32 year old that left the Marine Corps a few years earlier that was trekking and bicycling around America raising money.  He had hike the Pacific Crest Trail, ridden his bicycle from New England to Washington and California to Georgia and now he was hiking the Appalachian trail.  He had acquired some sponsors but was still on a pretty meager budget.  He was planning on hiking the Continental Divide Trail next year.