May 15: Hot Springs!

We finally got to experience some hot springs! We arrived around 5pm after good day of hiking and our muscles were excited. Natural hot springs flow out of the side of the mountain and mix with the cold water of Deep Creek. Stones have been built around three large pools or basically hot tubs. There is a small beach area and plenty of swimming potential in the cool creek. This place can be crowed on the weekends, but on a Thurs there were maybe 10 non-hikers there- 8 of whom felt the need to be clothed. We felt like Jello after soaking in the hot water and understood why such a beautiful and refreshing place was so popular.

I told a high school-aged guy I was talking with that I hoped to find some people cooking burgers. He replied, "I tell you what I got a double cheeseburger in my backpack" and he passed it right over. McDonalds never tasted so good!

This day we also spent a lunch break with 5 older hikers who refered to themselves as the Geriatrics Group since they are all over 60. They consisted of two couples and a single lady who all just met on the trail and decided to hike together. They were a lot of fun and joked with each other. I learned about all these great discounts AARP can get. And they have had fun hitching rides to town. One guy pulled over and said, "I don't normally pick up hitch-hikers but you just looked so OLD!"

Later we hiked ahead of them and I left 5 peanut M&Ms in a row for them as a treat. When they caught us at the hot spring they shared the famous AT (Appalachian Trail) quote, "The difference between a thru-hiker and a weekend hiker is that the weekend hiker will step over an M&M on the trail."

Total Miles: 308.6
Today's miles: 22.2
Camp 18: Arched Bridge

------------------------------
Tell your friend about PocketMail and let the savings start rolling in!