Appalachian Trail Lover's Leap

I'm sitting in a big, beautiful barn right now. Why? There is no wifi except in the barn, and there is no phone signal here either. So when I walk back to the van for the night, I will be off the grid. Emergency calls only. I'm at this cute little place called Paint Rock Farm for the night. Planning to open the bottle of red wine I bought and maybe set up the grill. It is quite chilly though.

After leaving the spa, I parked in town by the railroad tracks and walked to the outfitters store. Evidently, Bridge St in Hot Springs is part of the Appalachian Trail. As I was driving in, I saw many hikers with backpacks, walking sticks and long beards. Speaking of... I haven't shaved in 3 days. Like I didn't even go that long after my surgery.

So, I go to the outfitter store. It's amazing the things they have in there for camping and hiking. So cool. For some reason I couldn't remember why I wanted to go there before my hike. So after looking around awhile, I left for the 2 plus mile hike from town up to Lover's Leap via the Appalachian Trail. Once I got on the trail I remembered why I wanted to go to the outfitters store.... to get a walking stick.

The trail starts out asking the French basin river, and there is a small waterfall there. I was alone on the trail, just like my drive into Hot Springs this morning, no one to be seen. It is absolutely gorgeous. I did see a couple of campsites along the river, but no persons. Once I started the hike up, the trail got pretty steep. I was wishing for those walking sticks. The further up the trail i climbed, the quieter it became as the river became further away. After stopping about 5 times to slow my heart rate down from about 180 bpm I finally made it to the overlook. The view was amazing.

I walked quite a bit more and was looking for the orange markers for the trail back to the road, but they weren't there. I kept climbing up, and I was saying outloud to myself, I got to be coming down this mountain soon. I looked on the map and it looked like I was half way to Tennessee or something. All I could think of was having a heart attack, falling down the mountain and the panthers licking my contusions. I was so afraid of getting lost and didn't have a good map. I took that picture of the trail after I came back down the mountain. So I turned around and walked back down the way I came. I passed about a dozen hikers coming back down, almost all of which had hiking sticks.

I made it down and walked back into town to the outfitters store to look at hiking sticks. I pick a set up and they were $150 so I decided I would do some research first before making a purchase. The I went next door to see what they had there. It was an exquisite selection of gourmet foods. I chose a bottle of red wine from Barcelona. Danny recommended it; he said it had peppery notes. I also grabbed some crackers and went to check out. When I went to get my wallet out of my orange Italian leather backpack, it was not there!

So I walked back to the van to look for my wallet... no where. I looked everywhere 5 times. Checked my discover card activity and it was silent. So I looked around outside the van, nada. I walked down the street to the brewery and inquired to see if anyone turned in a wallet. One guy asked another guy who asked another guy and then the guy sitting next to him yells out "Kimberly". I jumped, put my hand up in the air and said, "That's me!". They asked me where I was from and they said you check out. They have your wallet over at City Hall. But alas it was 5:45 pm and City Hall was closed. I went back to the van to get some cash. Thankfully, all of my cash was in my purse and not in my card holder pocket. By golly, I went back to the gourmet store to buy that wine and crackers. That's when Danny said he would text the mayor and see if she could help me.

A couple minutes later the Mayor Norton of Hot Springs, NC called me. She was two doors down so she came over to City Hall and found my wallet for me. Miracle on Bridge Street.

I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost that. So that's my day. Now going to go off grid and turn in for the night. 🌙 night nightЧитать далее