Ahhhhh, it was inevitable I suppose – another zero day already. I really didn’t want to, but Elmer’s is amazing and rejuvenating the feet can’t hurt. Every time I think about a zero day or take a zero day I rationalize it by saying, “I’ll make up the miles in Virginia.” Hopefully the long middle section between the start of VA and the White Mountains is as easy as it looks.
Breakfast at Elmer’s lived up to expectations. We had scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, and grits – all hand made from scratch by Elmer and his two man crew, all of whom are former thru-hikers. Everything was full of pepper and delicious, especially the gravy which ended up going on everything. Elmer hiked the trail back in 1976 before it was popular. Back then there weren’t really hostels, a lot of the trail went near farms and he simply met the farmers and stayed with them. Maybe 500 people hiked the trail in a year back then, today it’s more like 5,000. The two man crew are also both thru-hikers who ended up back near the trail after hiking.
I spent some time today slightly revamping my pack. With the Smokies behind me and June approaching I started to unload a bit of the cold weather clothing I have. I wore the convertible pants full length for the first two days in the rain and not since, first using them as shorts and now preferring running shorts. I’m also getting rid of one of two long sleeve shirts, a pair of boxers, a couple extra carabiners, and I got a new bag for my food supply. The one I had been using had a simple draw cord closure that left a small hole at the top – when hung on bear cables rain could fall into it. Some good improvements and some good weight reduction!
I spent some time looking online for information on my latest foot issues, pretty much what I expected. Metatarsalagia caused by overuse, often associated with a change in biomechanics. The boots I got in Franklin seemed nice in the store and for the first day or so, but they are probably just a bit loose and I developed a blister on the bottom of my right heel. The blister changed the way my foot hit the ground, I started landing harder on the ball of my foot and its stayed sore since then. The original blister long since callused but a new one came just slightly below he first one repeating the process. I should have stuck with what I had instead of changing things up. Mom’s sent my Salomon’s in the mail drop for Erwin, TN which is about four days away, but at this point I didn’t want to wait so I went looking for shoes here in Hot Springs. The outfitter only carries almost exclusively HiTec brand shoes, and the two I tried one didn’t seem to compare to standard brands. I ended up ordering a pair of super cushiony trail runners online from REI and having them sent to Erwin as well, so now when I get there I’ll have the old trail runners and the new softer ones. Can always send the new ones right back to REI. So with that I’m really eager to make it to Erwin – change the shoes, and I have my warm weather sleeping bag there as well which is about 12 ounces lighter and 1/3 the size of what I carry now. Going to be nice and light for the summer months.
Dinner at Elmer’s was ready a few minutes early so one of the guys came upstairs to get us before the bell. I made the mistake of not bringing my camera. If breakfast was a deal at $6 I feel like a thief after dinner for $10. It began with soup, all vegetables, mostly cauliflower, and shockingly delicious. Next came salad – lettuce, sprouts, a few carrots and tomatoes with Elmer’s house dressing that tasted slightly like peanut butter. The main course was a Chinese/Mongolian dish with white rice and a brown sauce loaded with more vegies – brocolli, mushrooms, water chestnuts, green beans, etc. Finally there was key lime pie served with hot peppermint tea. I don’t think I ever thought a meat free meal could be that good. The whole thing is completely family style, sit around the table meal time. Elmer even provides topics of conversation with questions like, “if you could have been a fly on the wall to witness any single event in history where would you be?” (I went with Apollo 11 landing on the moon) We started talking about Elmer’s cooking and someone asked if there was tofu in the asian dish. He said there wasn’t, paused for a second, and said, “but for those who were here for breakfast – those eggs were half tofu.” Everyone was stunned, the eggs had been amazing, none of us would ever have even guessed there was anything besides real eggs. Beyond the food, there’s no question this is the best place yet on the trail and I don’t know what could top it. Every other place has been either a hotel or a “hostel” with a bunkhouse – Elmer’s is so much more. There’s newsletter Elmer publishes periodically, the most recent one includes a letter from a previous thru hiker that describes it better than I can:
“First of all: Thank You! I cannot express to you deeply enough my grattitude to you and your staff at Sunnybank! What you do is truly amazing and after hiking the entire trail I can appreciate it even more. You do not simply provide a bed and a shower for hikers (which you know is amazing in and of itself), you provide a true sense of home for people who do not have one, at least not in the traditional sense. You make people feel welcome in your home, you feed them a delicious home-cooked meal, and engage them in wonderful conversation; you give people a space to connect, to laugh or think or play music, to relax and read a good book, or watch a movie with friends. You give hikers that thing that many of us miss so dearly while being on the trail: a home. Thank you so much! Never stop doing what you do and always know how important it is.
- Smiley and Blackfoot”
I was thinking how amazing it is to find Elmer’s Sunnybank Inn as the next stop along the trail right after Standing Bear. They are so proximate in mileage and so disparate in characteristics. Standing bear has Rocket – smoking, drinking, and making making money hand over fist as he sells frozen pizzas and hamburgers and space in the bunkhouse. Sunnybank has Elmer, one time Duke professor of eastern religions, spending four to six hours a day in the kitchen crafting gourmet vegetarian meals and charging nothing beyond what he needs to stay open. Polar opposites, both unique, and both completely a part of the Appalachian Trail experience.
So I guess this was indeed the place for one more zero day. It looks like my journal entries on zero days continue to be longer than on hiking days. The trail is usually just a lot of time alone, walking through the woods, an endless sea of trees. There doesn’t end up being much to write about out there, but the towns and hostels are all different, always new experiences.