Appalachian Trail 2024, Days 27-29: Roaring Fork Shelter to Spring Mountain Shelter

Part two of this Appalachian Trail section hike takes me from the Roaring Fork Shelter, over a surprise bald covered in blueberries, into the trail town of Hot Springs, North Carolina, and back out again toward the Spring Mountain Shelter. Watch here!

A Cold Night and a Big Push

Starting from the Roaring Fork Shelter around mile 257, it had dropped to about 45 degrees overnight and my aging 36-degree bag was starting to show its age too. With favorable terrain ahead — a gradual climb for a few miles, then a small up and down into Hot Springs — I decided to go for it: almost 18 miles in a single push, all the way into town.

A Surprise Bald Full of Blueberries

Climbing Walnut Mountain, I stepped out of the woods onto what turned out to be a bald covered in blueberry bushes — not quite ripe yet, but clearly going to be incredible in late June or early July. The 360-degree views from up there were some of the best of the whole section. Just past the bald sits the Walnut Mountain Shelter, a rustic old log structure built right on the trail itself, a telltale sign of just how old it is.

From there the trail climbed toward Bluff Mountain, with fields of yellow wildflowers along the ridge. By the time I reached Garenflo Gap around mile 267, my legs were telling me the truth: I wasn't going to make Hot Springs that day without rushing, and rushing wasn't worth missing a real dinner and a hostel bed. So I called it a Nero — almost zero miles the next morning — and stopped for the night at the Deer Park Mountain Shelter, mile 272, just three miles shy of town. I had the shelter to myself that night, played some country music out loud, and even got a phone call in to my wife.

Hot Springs

The next morning I covered those last three miles quickly and rolled into Hot Springs, checking into the Laughing Heart Hostel for a genuinely restful night. A Nero really is the way to go in a town like this — you get almost a full day to enjoy it without paying for two nights of lodging. The Appalachian Trail runs right through downtown Hot Springs, marked with logos on the sidewalk the whole way, past the hardware store, an outfitter, and a handful of restaurants. I'd had pizza at the Brick Oven the night before and a country fried steak breakfast at the Smoky Mountain Diner that more than lived up to the hype.

Climbing Out and the Rich Mountain Fire Tower

Leaving town meant crossing the French Broad River — the same river that runs through Asheville and Knoxville — and then climbing straight back up into the mountains on a nice run of rock steps, with views back down over the town and the bridge the whole way up. A side trail led out to the Rich Mountain Fire Tower, and even though the clouds had rolled in and killed the views for the day, it was still worth climbing up into a sturdy old tower that didn't budge even in the wind.

The Mountain Laurel and flame azalea were really starting to pop by this point, with reds and oranges showing up alongside the whites. But the elephant in the room for this leg was rain — on the way down from the tower I started feeling the first drops of what would turn into roughly 48 hours of on-and-off rain. I'd picked up a rain jacket, rain pants, and an eight-dollar Dollar General umbrella, so between resupplying in Hot Springs and gearing up for the weather, I felt ready to push on toward the Spring Mountain Shelter and whatever the next couple of wet days had in store.