Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 26, Monday, 4/11 – I hiked 7 miles to Hot Springs this morning. There has been a lot of social interaction lately, so I hiked alone for some reflection time. It was a nice hike into Hot Springs, which is on trail. As I arrived in town, I walked right past the Laughing Heart Lodge, where I’m staying tonight and tomorrow. Genie, Splitzy, Willow, Sprite, Parkour, and Jetpack were all outside Laughing Heart waiting for me to arrive. Once I met back up with everyone, we went and got breakfast at the diner in town. I’ve really been craving a greasy spoon type breakfast, and this hit the spot.

I back ran into Corey & Colton again today. They said they just double zero’d in Hot Springs, and are hiking North today. They looked to be in good spirits. They are faster than me, so I’m not sure the next time I’ll see them.

After breakfast, I was able to shower and do laundry. The hostel had loaner clothes, so I didn’t have to wear my rain jacket and rain pants when I was doing my laundry. This really was a real luxury.

For dinner, Willow, Data, Sprite, Ranger Randy, and I ate at the only open restaurant in town. I was concerned that they’d be overwhelmed with the amount of hikers rolling through this small town, but we had great service and great food.

After dinner, we all chatted outside by a fire. Reboot, the hostel owner, joined us and shared her story. She started a thru hike in February of 2019, and had to stay in Gatlinburg for a few days because of bad weather in the Smokies. There were no other hikers around because she started so early, so she decided to start over from the beginning after hiking over 200 miles.

Then she started another thru hike on Jan 1, 2020. This is insanely early. She was sharing stories of hiking in -15 degree weather. She was eating ramen and freeze dried meals dry because she couldn’t get her stove to boil water. She also had to hike through waist deep snow. She hiked up through mid March, but didn’t complete the trail in 2020 because of Covid.

So then in 2021, she started another thru hike. And as she was passing through Hot Springs, saw that a hostel was going up for sale. That’s when she and her husband decided to buy the Laughing Heart hostel.

Now they’re currently managing the hostel through their first hiker season. The hostel is clean and accommodations have been great. I definitely recommend this place as a stop. I enjoyed hearing her talk, she’s enthusiastic about everything related to the AT.

One last thing, Dad texted me and pointed out that my name Double Check is also a chess pun. Double check is a phenomenon in chess where two pieces are attacking the king at one time. I like chess, and can’t believe I didn’t realize the pun until Dad pointed it out, but it makes me like the trail name that much more.