The Cinnamon Roll March

I woke up so many times throughout the night. I don’t know if it was due to the excitement over the cinnamon rolls or the fear of the butter socks. I was in a light sleep when the 4:45 alarm went off. I ate a couple granola bars and snuck off into the woods to go to the bathroom while it was dark and no one was up so I didn’t have to go to far.

As I was walking to my tent my watch hit 5:00. “GOOOOOOOOD MORNING! TIME TO GET SOME CINNAMON ROLLSSSSS!” I yelled. A couple people cheered but everyone popped up. Within 30 minutes, everyone was ready with their packs on. Duck led the way and I felt as though we were in a full on sprint. He was booking it despite the fact that his trekking pole broke part way down. Everyone was very energetic given that it was still very early in the morning.

In record time, we were coming down into Hot Springs. We went straight for the diner. Upon seeing it’s beautiful sign, we dropped our packs at the porch and made our way inside to find the biggest table to fit our hiker trashy selves. We ended up with 12 people at our table. Slide, another thru hiker who had spent the night in Hot Springs the night before, rolled up and joined us.

When we got the menu, I started scanning for cinnamon rolls. We couldn’t find them, so when our sweet waitress, Nancy, came over I asked her if they had them. “Only on Saturday,” the words I definitely did not want to hear came out of her mouth. Since it was Thursday, we were for sure not having cinnamon rolls. That was okay, because I got something equally as good...the pancake sundae. It’s just as good as it sounds, two fluffy pancakes covered in strawberries, whipped cream, ice cream, and syrup.

Breakfast was incredible. I also had half of Pimento’s grilled apple butter and bacon sandwich and some of Christina’s home fries. I knew already that this was just the beginning of trying to make up for the major calorie deficiency I’ve got going on. We were all giving Light Saber a hard time cause he was having a hard time finishing his food.

After we ate, we walked back up the stairs to Laughing Heart Hostel. At this point, it was only 8am and we had already hiked and ate breakfast. Everyone at the hostel was just getting up and we couldn’t check in for another 3 hours. Some of our group decided to walk back into town. I was lazy and knew I’d be going later so I just chilled and said hey to everyone as they were leaving to head to breakfast.

For the next couple hours, I started going through pictures of my phone, because I hadn’t posted anything in over a week since I was in the Smokies. In the meantime, Little John and Scott, who had been renamed Dingo, came strolling in. I hadn’t seen them in about a week. They were with another guy I hadn’t met, 22. I spent the rest of the time FaceTiming Mom & Dad until it was time to move inside.

I claimed a bed in the less crowded room which also had a couch and a TV. Da Machine and Panhandler, which is Coleson’s new trail name, were running a load of laundry so I threw my clothes in there with their stuff.

While we were waiting, Light Saber, Little John, Dingo, 22, and I went down to town to resupply. We hit up the Dollar General, which you could tell had been ransacked by hikers, because it was the hiker food that was all picked over. I also decided I was just going to eat snacks for lunch. I think my lunch had at least 2000 calories: full size bag of cheddar Sun Chips, a sharing size bag of Fudge Brownie M&Ms, a pint of Rolo ice cream, and a liter of Sprite.

When we got back, Da Machine put on some rom com, Guess Who I think it was called. It was pretty funny. Once it was over, I took a quick shower so I would be ready for dinner.

Little John, Dingo, 22, French Fry, Light Saber, and I went down to town to get dinner. The wait for the tavern was really long, so we just opted to go to the brewery. They had super overpriced tacos, but French Fry and I got their rice something bowl which was pretty filling and was just the perfect amount of food.

Tonight I was trying to convince everyone that came by to hike 20 miles out of Hot Springs. I told everyone that it looked like the elevation was going to suck, but at least we would get it over with in one day. 22 was trying to convince everyone by bribing them with the fact that he was packing out a box of wine and taking it to the shelter. I had a decent amount of people convinced or at least open to the idea. On the walk back to the hostel, I was pretty sure I’d lost three of my potential yes’s. As I walked by the tavern, Duck and the Mississippi Boys were sitting there and Duck yelled out “No 20.” I chuckled knowing that, between their trip to the brewery and whatever monstrosity of food they were eating, they were not in the mood to join in tomorrow. While my numbers were dwindling, I was going to stay optimistic as I knew I had at least a few crazies willing to hike that far.

When I got back to the hostel, a group was watching Karate Kid in my room. While they finished, I went to the kitchen to chat with Burp, Salamander, Cinderella, YTM, and Birdbath. I was out there for a while until I heard they’d turned Mama Mia on the TV. That was my cue. It was highly entertaining, because when I walked in the room, there were like 6 guys just chilling watching Mama Mia. While I watched the movie, I sorted my resupply and folded my clothes.

Today was such a fun day. There were many laughs to be had, food to be ate, and I managed to avoid getting hit with butter socks. A group of us are getting up to go to the diner at 7 so we can get an earlyish start tomorrow.